Memphis Begins March Thursday Night at South Florida

Thursday, March 3

Tampa, Fla.

8 p.m.

University of Memphis

South Florida

Memphis vs. Wichita State Men’s Basketball Duren

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Memphis Begins March Thursday Night at South Florida

Mar 02, 2022 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Game Notes (PDF)South Florida Game Notes (PDF)AAC Notes (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Tigers are in Tampa, Fla., to take on South Florida Thursday night in the regular season's penultimate game. Tip-off at Yuengling Center is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPNU.

As the stretch run heats up, Memphis went 6-1 in the month of February and has won eight of its last nine games and 11 of the last 15 overall. The Tigers currently sit in third place in the American Athletic Conference standings at 11-5 in league action with two games to play, one-half game behind SMU's 11-4. Houston leads the way with a 14-2 AAC mark.

Memphis is in position to wrap up a first-round bye in the AAC Tournament with a win Thursday. The top-five teams in the league standings avoid playing on the first day of the tournament and begin competition in the quarterfinals.

Also with a win Thursday, the Tigers would claim their 12th AAC victory of the year. That would be their most in a conference season since going 12-6 in 2013-14. The 2013-14 season is also the last time, prior to this year, Memphis had two top-10 wins in the same year as well as the last time it reached the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulls enter Thursday's game fresh off a 56-54 win at Cincinnati Saturday night, which ended a six-game losing streak. South Florida's defense is the second-best in the AAC this season, allowing an average of just 64.4 points per game. The Tigers are scoring at a 76.0-point-per-game clip this year, which ranks second in the league.

After Thursday's game, the Tigers conclude the regular season Sunday morning at FedExForum against No. 14/14 Houston. The game against the Cougars will tip off at 11 a.m. on CBS. The AAC Tournament then runs March 10-13 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

GAME DETAILS
Memphis Tigers (17-9, 11-5 AAC) at South Florida Bulls (8-20, 3-11 AAC)
Thursday, March 3, 2022 | 8 p.m. CT
Yuengling Center (10,411); Tampa, Fla.
Television: ESPNU (Drew Carter, pxp; Sean Harrington, analysis)
Radio: 98.9 THE ROAR OF MEMPHIS (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)

BY THE NUMBERS

84.0: Memphis' free throw percentage over the last five games (68-81) after shooting 57.5 percent in the seven games prior (62-105).
59.1: Landers Nolley II's 3-point percentage over the last five games (13-22) to go along with a 93.3 percent mark from the free throw line (14-15); the redshirt-junior is averaging a team-high 15.8 points per game over the last five.
14.2: Points per game by Jalen Duren during his current nine-game double-digit streak; the freshman is also averaging 7.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.
21:41: Time Memphis has trailed in its last seven wins out of the possible 280:00 of game time; that includes three games it did not trail at all and one game it was behind for 20 total seconds.
12.0: Points per game in four career games against South Florida for Lester Quinones; he is shooting 59.3 percent from the floor, 38.5 percent from 3-point range and 84.6 percent from the line against the Bulls.

THE LAST TIME OUT

The Tigers led wire-to-wire in an 81-57 win over the Wichita State Shockers Sunday afternoon at FedExForum.
The 24-point margin of victory is the largest in the 28 all-time meetings between the two schools dating back to 1958-59.
The Tigers were led by Landers Nolley II's season-high 22 points.
He connected on 4-of-6 3-point attempts and 7-of-10 shots from the field overall.
Jalen Duren added 13 points, seven rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals, and Lester Quinones and DeAndre Williams had 12 points apiece.
Memphis jumped on the Shockers from the get-go, scoring 12 of the game's first 14 points and using an 18-0 run in the latter part of the first half to open a 35-9 advantage.
During that run, the Tiger defense forced 14-straight Wichita State misses.
After leading 39-17 at halftime, the Tigers shot 60.7 percent in the second half (17-28) en route to the victory.
Memphis finished the contest shooting 55.4 percent from the floor (31-56), 50.0 percent from distance (7-14) and 85.7 percent from the free throw line (12-14).
The Tigers led by as many as 28 points Sunday afternoon.
Wichita State 13-12 (4-9 AAC) was led by Tyson Etienne's 11 points.

NOTING THE OPPONENT

South Florida experienced a complete roster overhaul entering the 2021-22 campaign.
The Bulls welcomed back four players (Mark Calleja, Jamir Chaplin, Caleb Murphy, Russel Tchewa) while replacing 10 departures with eight transfers and two true freshmen.
The Bulls' seven Division I transfers and eight total transfers are tied for the most among NCAA Division I teams.
The influx of experienced college players has added great depth to the USF roster.
Eleven of South Florida's 12 regular contributors this season are averaging at least 10 minutes per game.
South Florida's Javon Greene leads the AAC in steals per game with 1.8.
A season ago, Murphy averaged 8.3 points per game on his way to earning all-freshman team honors.
South Florida was picked to finish in a tie for ninth place in the preseason coaches poll along with Tulane, ahead of East Carolina.

How to follow the Tigers: For complete information on Memphis Tiger Men's Basketball, visit www.GoTigersGo.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.