Tigers look to stay hot Saturday afternoon against East Carolina

Saturday, February 6

Memphis, Tenn.

1 p.m.

University of Memphis

East Carolina

Memphis Tigers v Central Florida Knights

Photo by: Joe Murphy

Tigers look to stay hot Saturday afternoon against East Carolina

Feb 05, 2021 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Game Notes (PDF)East Carolina Game Notes (PDF)AAC Notes (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – With five wins in the last six games, the Memphis Tigers conclude a stretch of seven contests in 17 days Saturday afternoon against East Carolina. The game can be seen on ESPN, with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m.

Memphis (11-6, 7-3 AAC) swept a pair of games with UCF earlier in the week to move to 7-3 in American Athletic Conference action. The Tigers are in the thick of the race for the AAC title and currently sit one loss behind Houston (10-2) and Wichita State (6-2) in the standings.

East Carolina (8-6, 2-6 AAC) enters the game riding arguably the conference's best win of the season. The Pirates took down No. 5 Houston Wednesday night, handing the Cougars their second loss of the season both overall and in AAC action.

East Carolina started the season 7-1 before dropping five-straight games, including an 80-53 decision to Memphis on Jan. 24. Moussa Cisse had a career-high 15 points and nine rebounds in that game in Greenville.

Good passing should be on display Saturday afternoon, as this game is a matchup of the two best assist-dishing teams in the AAC. East Carolina leads the conference with an average of 16.5 per game, and Memphis is right behind at 16.2.

The Pirates bring Jayden Gardner into the game, who is second in the AAC in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Memphis held him to 10 points on 4-of-12 shooting in the game earlier this season

Saturday's game is game three of a four-game AAC homestand for the Tigers. This is the first time the Tigers have played four-straight conference games at home since Feb. 2-13, 2008 as part of Conference USA.

Saturday's game is presented by First Horizon.

Game Details
Memphis (11-6, 7-3 AAC) vs. East Carolina (8-6, 2-6 AAC)
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021 | 1 p.m. CT
FedExForum; Memphis, Tenn.
Television: ESPN (John Schriffen, pxp; Brooke Weisbrod, analysis)
Radio: 102.7 FM/600 AM (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)
Internet: WatchESPN.com

By The Numbers
- 2016-17: The last time Memphis started 7-3 in conference play; the Tigers' last 8-3 start in league action was in 2013-14.
- 46: Spot increase, from 105 to 59, in the NCAA NET Rankings for Memphis on its current stretch of five wins in six games.
- 33: Steals in the last two games for Memphis, its most since having 33 in games against Jackson State on Dec. 21 and New Orleans on Dec. 28, 2019.
- 27: Games since Memphis shot 50.0 percent or better from the field before the Tigers did it four times in the last five games; the last time before this stretch was Jan. 12, 2020, at South Florida.
- 19.0: Points per game for Landers Nolley II in the last three; he is also shooting 51.2 percent from the field (21-41) and 45.0 percent from 3-point range (9-20).

The Last Time Out
- After UCF cut the Memphis lead to 42-38 with 13:30 left in the game, the Tigers went on an impressive 13-2 run to re-take control of the game en route to a 75-61 win over the Knights Wednesday night at FedExForum.
- Memphis led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Knights (4-9, 2-8 AAC) chipped away and came within two possession as the second half got underway.
- But the Tigers regrouped and put more distance between themselves and UCF by scoring 13 of the game's next 15 points.
- During the run, Alex Lomax had six points, two assists, a steal, and a rebound, and Jayden Hardaway had a clutch and-1 and a steal.
- Memphis first scored eight-straight points and then five more in a row after a UCF jumper, and the Tiger lead quickly ballooned back to 55-40 with 9:48 left in the game.
- From there, UCF got no closer than eight points, and the Tigers notched the win in their fifth game in the last 11 days.
- Landers Nolley II recorded his first double-double as a Tiger with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
- Four of his rebounds came on the offensive end.
- He also had two steals and two blocked shots.
- D.J. Jeffries was also in double figures for Memphis with 11 points.
- Moussa Cisse and Boogie Ellis had nine points apiece, and Alex Lomax ended the game with eight points and six assists.
- Memphis shot 50.9 percent from the floor (28-55) and made 72.7 percent of its free throws (16-22).
- After setting the American Athletic Conference single-game record with 20 steals Monday night against UCF, the Tigers had 13 more in Wednesday's game.
- Those steals came from nine different players.

Noting the Pirates
- The Pirates began the season with a 7-1 record before dropping five-straight.
- But that losing streak was emphatically stopped with an 82-73 win over No. 5 Houston Wednesday night.
- The squad's 7-2 record through nine games was its best since also going 7-2 in 2013-14.
- East Carolina is third in the nation in assists-per-field-goal-made, with 65.5 percent of its baskets coming from a dish.
- The Pirates were picked to finish ninth in the AAC's preseason poll.
- They return all five starters from a season ago, when they went 11-20 overall and 5-13 in conference play.
- This is reflected in their minutes continuity, as 83.5 percent of the Pirates' minutes are played by the same player as last season.
- That leads the nation.

Looking Ahead
The last game on Memphis' four-game home stretch is Thursday against Cincinnati at 6 p.m. on either ESPN2 or ESPNU. The Tigers then hit the road for crucial road games at Houston (Feb. 14) and Wichita State (Feb. 18).

A limited number of tickets are available for home games with social distancing safety guidelines in place. Tickets may be purchased online at www.GoTigersGoTix.com or by calling (901) 678-2331. Fans with existing season tickets or ticket packages can use their current tickets for upcoming games. More information can be found at www.GoTigersGo.com.