Tigers hosting Central Arkansas at FedExForum on Friday

Friday, December 4

Memphis, Tenn.

7 p.m.

University of Memphis

Central Arkansas

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers hosting Central Arkansas at FedExForum on Friday

Dec 03, 2020 | Men's Basketball

By: Trent Shadid

Memphis is back at FedExForum for a 7 p.m. tipoff on Friday night against Central Arkansas after opening its 2020-21 home schedule with an 83-54 victory over Arkansas State on Wednesday.

The Tigers (2-2) will face the Bears (0-0) for the fourth time in series history. Memphis won the most recent matchup with UCA 81-49 at FedExForum in 2009. The Bears won the first two contests between the teams played in 1924 and 1940.

"The quick turnaround between games is good for us because we feel like we have strength in numbers," said Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway. "We also need more games under our belt, so to have two in three days will be great for us because we have to get better."

Game Details

Memphis vs. Central Arkansas
Tip-off: 7 p.m. CT
Location: FedExForum; Memphis, Tenn.
Broadcast: ESPN+ (Greg Gaston, pxp; Jon Albright, analysis)
Radio: 102.7 FM/NewsRadio 600 AM WREC (Jeff Brightwell, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)
FedExForum fan guidelines: Click here

Lineup watch

Hardaway adjusted his starting lineup for the first time this season against Arkansas State, moving guards Boogie Ellis and Damion Baugh into the starting five and shifting guards Alex Lomax and Landers Nolley II to the bench. Moussa Cisse (C), D.J. Jeffries (F) and Lester Quinones (G) remained starters for the fourth consecutive game.

Nolley II, who had a game-high 23 points, continued to score in bunches despite coming off the bench for just the fourth time in 36 career games. He leads the Tigers with 16 points per game. The lineup changes also produced impressive advantages for Memphis in both fast-break (17-2) and bench (39-17) points on its way to a comfortable victory.

Whether the Tigers will stick with the same lineup against UCA is unknown, but they are very likely to continue deploying a deep rotation after nine players saw at least 14 minutes Wednesday.

"We are deep enough that we feel like we have 10 starters," Hardaway said.

Scouting Central Arkansas

UCA is yet to play this season after having its first four games postponed or canceled due to opponents having positive COVID-19 cases.

The Bears were 10-21 last season and are picked to finish seventh among 13 teams in the Southland Conference, a league that had five different teams receive a first-place vote. They are led by senior guards Rylan Bergersen and DeAndre Jones, who were also teammates in high school at Link Year Prep in Boise, Idaho.

Bergersen appeared in 50 games over two seasons at BYU before transferring to UCA. The shooting guard is a preseason first-team all-conference selection who averaged 15.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists for the Bears last season.

Jones, a point guard, enters the season as UCA's career assist leader while averaging five per game over three seasons as a starter. He is a preseason second-team all-conference pick.

Late addition

Memphis was initially set to play at Ole Miss this Saturday, but the game was canceled last week after the Rebels paused team activities due to COVID-19 cases. With hopes of playing as many games as possible for NCAA Tournament resume purposes, the Tigers quickly added UCA to the schedule.

"Putting that Central Arkansas game together at the last minute was something that we needed," Hardaway said. "We just want to get games in and keep playing, so we're just trying to schedule as many as we can."

UCA's schedule was also impacted by the situation at Ole Miss. The Bears were scheduled to open their season last week with three games in the Justin Reed Ole Miss Classic, which was canceled two days before the first game.

Looking ahead

Following their matchup with UCA, the Tigers will conclude a three-game homestand Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Mississippi Valley State inside FedExForum. A limited number of single-game tickets are available at www.GoTigersGoTix.com.