University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Tulane
Memphis Basketball begins conference play Wednesday at Tulane
Dec 15, 2020 | Men's Basketball
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With the non-conference portion of its schedule completed, the Memphis Tigers head to New Orleans to face Tulane at 8 p.m. Wednesday on ESPN2.
The matchup will mark the first American Athletic Conference game for both Memphis (4-3) and Tulane (4-0). The Tigers are 57-11 in the all-time series and 34-2 in the last 36 meetings.
Game Details
Memphis (4-3, 0-0 AAC) at Tulane (4-0, 0-0 AAC)
Tip-off: 8 p.m. CT
Location: Fogelman Arena in Devlin Fieldhouse; New Orleans
Television: ESPN2 (David Saltzman, pxp; Sean Harrington, analysis)
Radio: 102.7 FM/600 AM (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)
Scouting Tulane
The Green Wave have a drastically different roster from last season, replacing more than 80 percent of their scoring on the 2019-20 squad. Only six other Division I programs were tasked with replacing a higher percentage of scoring output coming into this season.
With the overhauled roster, Tulane is off to a 4-0 start under second-year head coach Ron Hunter. It's the program's best start to a season since the Green Wave won their first five games in 2017.
Starting guards Jaylen Forbes (13.8 ppg) and Jordan Walker (13.5 ppg) lead Tulane in scoring. Forbes also leads the team in rebounding with 5.8 per game and Walker is the Green Wave's assist leader at 4.75 per game.
Last time out
Memphis came out on the wrong side of a back-and-forth battle with Auburn on Saturday, falling 74-71 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The game had 16 lead changes with the score tied on nine occasions. Auburn held a 12-8 advantage over the final four minutes to turn a one-point deficit into a three-point win.
"We weren't willing to go to the level we needed to in that game," Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway said. "We have to mature and grow up going into conference play. We're going to keep pushing and fighting every day, but it's up to our kids to make up their mind that they're going to do it."
Sophomore forward D.J. Jeffries led Memphis with 16 points. He added seven rebounds and three steals as he averaged 18.5 points, eight rebounds and three steals over two games last week to earn weekly AAC Honor Roll recognition.
Freshman center Moussa Cisse continued the impressive start to his career with nine points and 14 rebounds. He was named the AAC Freshman of the Week and leads the conference in rebounds (8.9), offensive rebounds (3.6) and blocked shots (1.9) per game.
Looking ahead
Memphis will play its first AAC home game of the season on Monday at 7 p.m. against Tulsa. The Tigers will then have eight days between games over Christmas before a matchup with USF on Tuesday, Dec. 29 at 8 p.m. at FedExForum. A limited number of single-game tickets are available for those home games at www.GoTigersGoTix.com.
