Men's basketball to close regular season schedule against Tulsa

Saturday, March 9

Memphis, Tenn.

8:30 PM

University of Memphis

Tulsa

Tickets

Mike Parks Jr. will be one of five seniors honored before Saturday's game against Tulsa.

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Men's basketball to close regular season schedule against Tulsa

Mar 08, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Notes (vs. Tulsa)Tulsa Notes (vs. Memphis)

Tigers to honor five seniors: Martin, Davenport, Brewton, Thornton and Parks

By: Phil Stukenborg

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – University of Memphis first-year coach Penny Hardaway will end his first regular season Saturday night against Tulsa by helping honor five departing seniors.

Senior Night festivities begin at 8:08 p.m. – 22 minutes before the Tigers take on the Golden Hurricane in an American Athletic Conference game at FedExForum. Senior point guard Jeremiah Martin, a candidate for league player of the year, will headline the group that includes Kyvon Davenport, Kareem Brewton Jr., Mike Parks Jr., and Raynere Thornton.

A breakdown of the seniors:

Martin arrived four years ago as an unheralded guard from Mitchell High, but has developed into one of the top players in the school's long and storied history. He enters the game as the program's No. 11 scorer following a remarkable second half of the season that included averaging 30.6 points in February.

Martin scored a career-high 43 points against Tulane Feb. 20, three weeks after dropping in 41 points against USF. Martin is the only player in UofM history to have two games with 40 or more points.

Davenport was recruited by the previous staff and has started 51 of 64 games, including all 34 last season. Davenport, a 6-foot-8 forward from Gainesville, Ga., averaged 13.3 points last season, the same he is averaging through 30 games this season.

Davenport scored a career-high 31 points in a loss to nationally ranked Tennessee in December and grabbed a career-best 15 rebounds Feb. 20 vs. Tulane, the same game in which Martin exploded for 43 points. His 7.0 rebounds per game leads the team.

Brewton, a 6-foot-2 guard from Claxton, Ga., also joined the team last season. He arrived from Eastern Florida State and stepped in late in his first season for an injured Martin at point guard. He started the team's final six games and had two buzzer-beaters during the season, including a 3-pointer to beat Tulsa in the quarterfinals of the AAC Championship.

Brewton, like Davenport, is averaging roughly what he did last season: 9.1 a year ago and 8.9 entering Saturday's game against Tulsa. Brewton scored a career-high 25 points – on 10-of-13 shooting -- in a loss at nationally ranked Houston Jan. 6. He has started 15 of the team's past 18 games and had a career-high 9 rebounds in the Feb. 20 win over Tulane.

Thornton, a 6-foot-6 forward from Marietta, Ga., emerged as the team's defensive stopper under Hardaway. After starting 10 of 34 games a year ago, he was inserted into the starting lineup Nov. 23 vs. Canisius and has made 26 consecutive starts.
In addition to drawing the opponents' top scoring threat each game, Thornton has become more of an offensive threat. He boosted his average from last season (5.4) by more than two points. He enters Saturday's game averaging 7.6 points per game. He scored a season-high 16 points and grabbed 9 rebounds in a memorable road win at Wichita State Feb. 23.

Parks was the only other Tiger to start all 34 games last season, his first with the program. A 6-foot-8 forward from Cleveland, Ohio, Parks averaged 8.1 points as a junior and scored a career-high 21 points in a Jan. 16, 2018 win over UConn.

This season, Parks has started 20 games, including the past nine. He scored a season-high 14 points vs. Canisius in late November and a season-high 9 rebounds vs. Cincinnati in a Feb. 7 loss to the nationally ranked Bearcats at home.

After Saturday's game, the Tigers will prepare for next week's American Athletic Conference Championship at FedExForum. The TIgers will open play at 2 p.m. Thursday against Tulane.