Tigers Prepped for No. 2 Houston Sunday Afternoon on ESPN

Sunday, February 19

Houston, Texas

2 p.m.

University of Memphis

#2/2 Houston

Tigers Prepped for No. 2 Houston Sunday Afternoon on ESPN

Feb 18, 2023 | Men's Basketball

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Memphis and No. 2/2 Houston are set for the first of two regular-season clashes Sunday afternoon in Houston. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m., and the game can be seen on ESPN.

On the strength of an 64-63 win over UCF Thursday night, their third-straight victory, the Tigers moved into second place in the American Athletic Conference standings with a 10-3 league record. Houston leads the way at 12-1 in conference action, and Tulane is right behind at 9-3.

The win also gave Memphis (20-6) its sixth-straight 20-win season, including all five campaigns under head coach Penny Hardaway.

Ranked No. 1 in the NCAA NET, a win Sunday would be a Quad I victory for the Tigers. As of Feb. 18, Memphis is 1-2 this season in Quad I games, with a victory over Auburn (27) and losses to Alabama (2) and UCF (56). The Tigers were 4-5 in Quad I games last season.

The Cougars are 13-2 inside the Fertitta Center this season with defeats to Alabama (71-65) and Temple (56-55). The Tigers handed Houston its only home loss of the year last season, a 69-59 decision. It was the first home defeat for the Cougars since Dec. 15, 2019. Houston is 73-6 (.924) in the Fertitta Center during the facility's history.

Memphis has one ranked victory this season, an 82-73 win over No. 11 Auburn on Dec. 10 in Atlanta. It nearly pulled off a top-5 road win three days later in Tuscaloosa when No. 4 Alabama squeaked out a 91-88 victory.

UP NEXT
Following Sunday's game, the Tigers remain on the road at Wichita State Thursday night at 6 CT on ESPN2. Memphis then returns to FedExForum to host Cincinnati on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 1 p.m.

GAME DETAILS
Memphis Tigers (20-6, 10-3 AAC) at #2/2 Houston (24-2, 12-1 AAC)
Sunday, Feb. 19, 2022 | 2:00 p.m. CT
Fertitta Center (7,035); Houston, Texas
Television: ESPN (Jay Alter, pxp; Mark Adams, analysis)
Radio: 98.9 THE ROAR OF MEMPHIS (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)

BY THE NUMBERS

16: Points needed from DeAndre Williams to become the 53^rd Tiger with 1,000 points in their Memphis career. On Dec. 21 against Alabama State, he did reach 1,000 for his career after scoring 273 as a freshman at Evansville.
76.2: Field goal percentage for Elijah McCadden over his last three games (16-21). The fifth-year transfer is averaging 14.0 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the stretch. He's also shooting 67.7 percent over his last five outings (21-31) at 11.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.8 dimes.
14: AAC per-game statistical categories in which Memphis or Houston top the league (scoring defense, scoring margin, field goal percentage, field goal percentage defense, three-point defense, rebounding offense, rebounding defense, rebounding margin, blocked shots, assists, turnover margin, assist/turnover ratio, offensive rebounds and offensive rebound percentage).
54.7: Memphis' field goal percentage over the last three games (94-172); the Tiger defense is holding opponents to 43.9 percent in the last three contests (75-171).
14: Wins in the month of February for the Tigers over the last three seasons (14-2), dating back to Feb. 1, 2021; Memphis is 24-9 in February under head coach Penny Hardaway.
1st: Over the last eight games, dating back to January 19, Memphis leads the AAC in three-point percentage (39.7) after making 54 of 136 attempts.

THE LAST TIME OUT

A steal and a layup by fifth-year guard Damaria Franklin in the game's final seconds pushed the Memphis Tigers past the UCF Knights, 64-63, Thursday night at FedExForum.
Elijah McCadden led the Tigers offensively with 16 points, six rebounds and an assist. Fifth-year forward DeAndre Williams added a dozen points, six rebounds and pair of assists.
Kendric Davis (10 points) left the game in the first half and did not return, but was in long enough to grab the AAC's all-time scoring crown when he buried his first shot of the night.
Davis drained four of his first five shots to give the Tigers a 10-1 lead just five minutes into the action. That advantage quickly grew to 19-4 by the 10:43 mark after Keonte Kennedy drilled the Tigers' first long ball of the night for a 9-0 run.
The Knights drained four triples over the next five-plus minutes to get all the way back to within four points at 29-25.
Following a three-pointer from McCadden to stretch Memphis' lead back to nine, Davis went down in pain under the goal and never returned.
The Tigers pushed their lead to 12 with two minutes to play in the half, but went into the break up 44-35.
Memphis came out of the locker room with another run, this time 6-0 to get its lead back to 15 at 50-35 following a pair of buckets from Kennedy and Williams.
The Knights continued to battle and took advantage of Memphis miscues all night, scoring 32 points off turnovers.
UCF used a 7-0 run off back-to-back Tiger turnovers and took its first lead of the game, 63-62, with 3:10 left on the clock.
Memphis' defense stood tall and stopped UCF on its final six possessions to set the stage for the game-winner.
Following a Memphis turnover with 27 seconds on the clock, Franklin locked up UCF's Darius Johnson at midcourt and knocked the ball away.
Johnathan Lawson scooped up the ball and flung it out in front of a streaking Franklin who drove it to rim and finished with his left hand against a defender with seven seconds on the clock to put the Tigers back in front 64-63.
The defense made one final stop in the final seconds as the clock expired and Memphis emerged victorious.

NOTING THE OPPONENT

Coming off an Elite Eight in 2022 and a Final Four appearance in 2021, Houston was picked as American Athletic Conference favorite in 2022-23.
Memphis was second, 13 points behind the Cougars, in the preseason coaches poll.
The Cougars return Marcus Sasser, who was tabbed AAC Preseason Player of the Year, despite Kendric Davis winning the award last season and leading the league in scoring the last two years.
Sasser leads the team in scoring (16.5), steals (44) and it's the top 3-point maker at 69-185 (.373). He was named to the Wooden Award Late Season Top 20 and the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List.
Jarace Walker is averaging 11.6 points and 6.4 rebounds in 26.4 minutes per game. He's shooting 49.8 percent from the field.
J'Wan Roberts is the team's top rebounder at 7.1 boards each time out, to go along with 9.8 points.
Jamal Shead, a preseason second team All-AAC nod, is averaging 9.3 points, 5.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds in a team-high 32.1 minutes per game. He leads the AAC and ranks fifth in the nation in assist/turnover ratio at 3.15. His 148 total assists are 13^th most in the country.
The Cougars own the top scoring defense in the nation at 55.4 points per game allowed. Their 20.3 scoring margin is also tops nationally.
Houston's three-point defense is holding opponents to just a 26.7-percent clip from deep, the third-best mark in Division I.
The Cougars also rank in the top-10 in the country in fewest turnovers per game (9.6 – 5^th), turnover margin (4.7 – 8^th) and assist/turnover ratio (1.56 – 10^th).
The Cougars stand tops nationally in block percentage (17.3), while ranking fourth in offensive efficiency (120.5) and seventh in defensive efficiency (90.6), according to KenPom.com.

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