Tigers stay home, play UIC at 6 p.m. Friday

Friday, November 8

Memphis, Tenn.

6 PM

University of Memphis

UIC

Tickets

Freshman center James Wiseman had 28 points and 11 rebounds in his debut Tuesday against S.C. State.

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Nov 07, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Notes (vs. UIC)UIC Notes (vs. Memphis)

Wiseman, Achiuwa hope to build on strong debuts for the UofM

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Three days after an impressive debut by University of Memphis All-American center James Wiseman, the Tigers return to the court, with Wiseman, to play host to UIC. Tip-off is 6 p.m. at FedExForum.

Wiseman, a 7-foot-1 freshman center, scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the UofM's 97-64 victory Tuesday night over South Carolina State in the season-opener. He made 11-of-14 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws in his debut.

"I was taking it possession by possession, not trying to rush anything, but stay in the flow of the game and trust my teammates," Wiseman said.

The 14^th-ranked Tigers will be playing a UIC team that returns three senior guards: Tarkus Ferguson, Marcus Ottey and Godwin Boahen. Boahen scored the game-winning field goal in the closing seconds Tuesday to defeat Olivet Nazarene.

Each of the three senior guards has topped 1,000 career points. No Division 1 program features two guards (Ottey and Ferguson) who have scored 2,500 points combined. Ferguson is coming off a junior season in which he led the team in every major statistical category: points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocks and minutes.

Tiger coach Penny Hardaway was generally pleased with how his team played in its opener, but realizes there is ample room for improvement, and cohesion, with a group that includes seven newcomers and three others who did not play last season.

The team's freshmen: Wiseman, Precious Achiuwa, Damion Baugh, Lester Quinones, D.J. Jeffries, Boogie Ellis and Jayden Hardaway combined to score 80 of the UofM's 97 points.

"Obviously, we are still young and we have to play against ourselves (and) keep building on sharing the basketball," Hardaway said. "I think the biggest thing right now basketball-wise is we still have work to do with more rebounding, getting more assists, trying to get more steals and blocks because the games are going to get tougher."

Achiuwa was the only other Tigers' player to score in double figures in the opener. He had 14 points and eight rebounds in 17 minutes. Jayden Hardaway added nine points in 11 minutes.

After playing UIC, the Tigers travel to Portland, Oregon next week to participate in the Phil Knight Invitational against Oregon. Later this month, the Tigers play host to Ole Miss and travel to New York to play in the Barclays Center Classic.

Friday's game against UIC will be carried by ESPNU.