TIgers tip off 2019-20 season

Thursday, October 24

Memphis, Tenn.

7 PM

University of Memphis

Christian Brothers (Exh.)

Tickets

Coach Penny Hardaway's 2019-20 team starts the season ranked 14th nationally.

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Oct 23, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Exhibition Notes (vs. CBU)Christian Brothers Exhibition Notes (vs. Memphis)

Men's basketball faces CBU in exhibition game at FedExForum.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway's second team, which includes the seven-member No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, will make its debut before a home crowd at 7 p.m. Thursday night.

The Tigers, 14th in the Associated Press Preseason Top 25 rankings, will play host to Christian Brothers University in an exhibition game at FedExForum, the first time this group has played against an opponent since the team's foreign tour to The Bahamas in mid-August.

In The Bahamas, the Tigers went unbeaten in four games, but played without top recruits James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa, who were unavailable for different reasons.

D.J. Jeffries, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Olive Branch, Miss., was available and led the team in scoring and rebounding. He averaged 18.5 points and 9.2 rebounds and shot 62 percent.

Returnees Alex Lomax, Tyler Harris and Isaiah Maurice had solid efforts in The Bahamas. Lomax averaged 9.5 points and 4 steals; Harris averaged 15.2 points; and Maurice averaged 8.8 points and 6 rebounds.

Others in the No. 1 recruting class making their debuts will be guards Damion Baugh, Boogie Ellis and Lester Quinones. Center Malcolm Dandridge, recovering from injury, will not play.

Several others will be available for the first time after spending last season as redshirts. They are Jayden Hardaway, Ryan Boyce and Louisville transfer Lance Thomas. Florida transfer and Memphis native Isaiah Stokes is awaiting word on his eligibility for the 2019-20 season.

"We're ready to get going," coach Hardaway said. "We are itching to see how they are going to mesh on the floor."

Memphis finished 22-14 last year, Hardaway's first as head coach at his alma mater. This year's team, bolstered by the recruiting class, was chosen to finish first in the American Athletic Conference in a preseason poll of the league's coaches.

After Thursday's game against CBU, the Tigers will have another tuneup -- a Monday exhibition game against LeMoyne-Owen -- before starting the regular season Nov. 5 against South Carolina State.