Tigers Carry Win Streak to Tulsa Sunday Afternoon on ESPN2

Sunday, January 29

Tulsa, Okla.

4 p.m.

University of Memphis

Tulsa

Tigers Carry Win Streak to Tulsa Sunday Afternoon on ESPN2

Jan 28, 2023 | Men's Basketball

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Tigers wrap up a stretch of three-straight Sunday road games when they make the trek to Tulsa. The contest against the Golden Hurricane is scheduled to tip at 4 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.

The Tigers will look for their fifth-consecutive win and their sixth overall in the month of January.

Playing in Tulsa has been a thorn in Memphis' side in recent seasons, as the Golden Hurricane have won six of the last seven matchups at Reynolds Center. However, the Tigers did snap a losing streak of nearly 10 years inside the building last season with an 83-81 victory on Jan. 23, 2022.

Those six defeats in Tulsa all came against current Tiger assistant coach Frank Haith while he was head coach for the Golden Hurricane from 2014-22.

Haith racked up a 138-108 (.561) record over eight seasons in Tulsa and guided the program to its first AAC Championship in 2020 with a 13-5 league record. He was named the AAC and NABC District 24 Coach of the Year for his efforts.

Tulsa enters the game with just one win in conference play, but three of its seven league defeats have come by five points or fewer. The Golden Hurricane are led by Sam Griffin's 15.8 points and 50 made three-pointers.

After Sunday's game, the Tigers get a week's rest before returning to FedExForum Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. to face Tulane. The contest with the Green Wave will be televised on ESPNU. The game will feature the Lorenzen Wright jersey retirement, and the first 1,000 fans receive a Larry Finch bobblehead as part of the continued celebration of the 50th anniversary of the 1972-73 national runners-up.

GAME DETAILS
Memphis Tigers (16-5, 6-2 AAC) at Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5-14, 1-7 AAC)
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023 | 4 p.m. CT
Reynolds Center (8,355); Tulsa, Okla.
Television: ESPN2 (Kevin Brown, pxp; Mark Adams, analysis)
Radio: 98.9 THE ROAR OF MEMPHIS (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)

BY THE NUMBERS

25: Number of assists by the Tigers in Thursday's win over SMU, which was the most in a game under Coach Hardaway. It was the most in a game for the Tigers since Dec. 7, 2017.
4: Points Kendric Davis needs from reaching 2,000 for his career. He would join a list of only 12 other active Division I players with 2,000 or more points.
60.0: Keonte Kennedy's 3-point percentage over the last three games (9-15), which is best in the AAC during that span of anyone with 10-plus attempts. His nine makes are also tops in the league.
17.7: Points per game by DeAndre Williams during his current 17-game double-digit scoring streak; the senior is also averaging 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 52.5 % in the stretch.
2nd: Kendric Davis' national rank in free throws made. The senior has drained 150 at the charity stripe this season, eight fewer than national leader, Drew Pember (UNC Asheville).

THE LAST TIME OUT

The Memphis Tigers took down the SMU Mustangs, 99-84, Thursday night at FedExForum in front of a "blackout" crowd, for the 100^th win of head coach Penny Hardaway's career and the 16^th-straight at home.
Kendric Davis led the charge against his former team, scoring 25 points to go with 11 assists and seven rebounds.
Senior guard Keonte Kennedy added 16 points, three assists and a pair of rebounds.
Senior DeAndre Williams recorded 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Jayden Hardaway and Chandler Lawson each added 12 points off the bench.
The Tigers were 22-for-30 from the charity stripe in the ballgame (.733) and made nine shots from long distance.
SMU was led by Zhuric Phelps' 20 points in 22 minutes.
From the opening tip, it was clear Davis was on a mission. He buried a triple to get the night started, then went on to score (11) or assist (4) on all 20 points through the first seven minutes of action to help build a 20-15 lead.
A few minutes later, he dished a ball around the defense to Chandler Lawson for a dunk that sparked a 13-1 run en route to Memphis taking a 50-32 lead into the half.
Davis went into the locker room with 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds in 19 minutes on the court. He orchestrated an offense that shot 54.3 percent (19-35) in the half with seven three-pointers and had six players with four or more points.
Memphis outscored SMU 19-0 off the bench and only turned the ball over four times in the first period.
Memphis grew its advantage to as many as 29 points down the stretch en route to the 15-point win. The majority of the second half was played with a 20-point margin until the final minutes of the action when Coach Hardaway called off the dogs.
Memphis won the battle in the paint 44-28 and finished the game shooting 54.0 percent from the field (34-63). The Mustangs shot 36.6 percent from the floor (26-71).

NOTING THE OPPONENT

Tulsa brings back two starters, Sam Griffin and Anthony Pritchard, and eight returnees from last season's squad that went 11-20 overall and finished 10th in the AAC with a 4-14 record.
To the mix, the Golden Hurricane added five newcomers this season.
Among Tulsa's departures from last season includes Jeriah Horne and his team-leading 16.1 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
Eric Konkol is in his first season manning the bench for the Golden Hurricane after being named head coach in March. He joined the program after spending the previous seven seasons at Louisiana Tech, where he compiled a 153-75 mark.
Konkol returned to where he began his collegiate coaching career as he was a student assistant for Tulsa's 2001 NIT Championship team under head coach Buzz Peterson.
Tulsa was picked to finish 10th in the preseason coaches poll, ahead of East Carolina.
The Golden Hurricane have finished higher than their preseason place in seven of nine seasons in The American.
Tulsa leads the AAC in 3-pointers attempted per game (25.5) and ranks second in 3-point percentage defense (29.8).
Tulsa is last in field goal defense (.459), rebounds per game (32.9), scoring defense (76.1) and assist/turnover ratio (0.92).
On the historic side, Memphis played its first game in the 2007-08 season as the nation's No. 1 team at Tulsa on Jan. 23, 2008.
The Tigers moved to the top of both polls on Jan. 21.

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