Tigers Look To Get Back on Track Wednesday at South Florida

Wednesday, February 8

Tampa, Fla.

6 p.m.

University of Memphis

South Florida

Photo by: Matthew A. Smith

Tigers Look To Get Back on Track Wednesday at South Florida

Feb 07, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Watch Live Live Stats Listen Live Memphis Game Notes (PDF)USF Game Notes (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Tigers are in Tampa to take on South Florida Wednesday night in the first road game of February. Tip inside the Yuengling Center is set for 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.

As the back half of the conference season heats up, Memphis is coming off a 6-1 stretch the last three weeks. It enters Wednesday fourth place in the American Athletic Conference standings at 7-3 in league action with eight games to play. The Tigers are one-half game behind Temple and Tulane at 8-3. Houston leads the way with a 10-1 AAC mark.

Memphis has been led all season by its two-headed monster, Kendric Davis and DeAndre Williams. They are the highest-scoring duo in the conference this season, averaging a combined 38.5 points, 12.0 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 3.6 steals per game. They have 20 games of 20-plus points between them and nine double-doubles.

The Bulls enter the matchup off a 71-63 win against East Carolina last Wednesday which ended a two-game skid. Former Tiger Tyler Harris paced the Bulls with 21 points, while Jamir Chaplin matched his career high with 17 points in the win. Russel Tchewa also tallied his fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

UP NEXT

Memphis returns to FedExForum for its next two games. The Tigers will first welcome Temple at 11 a.m. Sunday on ESPN2 before hosting UCF next Thursday, Feb. 16 at 7 p.m. for their Literacy/International Paper game.

Memphis will hand out 1,000 bobbleheads of Ronnie Robinson on Sunday and Bill Laurie next Thursday as the 1972-73 Memphis State National Runners-Up celebration continues.

GAME DETAILS
Memphis Tigers (17-6, 7-3 AAC) at South Florida Bulls (10-13, 3-7 AAC)
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 | 6 p.m. CT
Yuengling Center (10,411); Tampa, Fla.
Television: ESPN+ (Drew Carter, pxp; Sean Harrington, analysis)
Radio: 98.9 THE ROAR OF MEMPHIS (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)

BY THE NUMBERS

14.0: Keonte Kennedy's scoring average over the last five games (25-46) to go along with a 55.6-percent clip from three-point range. He leads the squad with 15 made triples over that stretch. He's upped his season average to 9.3 points per game.

17.7: Points per game by DeAndre Williams during his current 19-game double-digit streak; the fifth-year forward is also averaging a team-best 8.3 rebounds to go along with 2.9 assists in that time. His streak is the most by a Tiger since Dedric Lawson hit 10+ in 19-straight from Feb. 6 to Nov. 30 in 2016.

11.4: Rebounding average by DeAndre Williams over his last five games. He's also pouring in 20.8 points per game in that stretch with three double-doubles. The Houston, Texas native is also shooting 56.3 percent (40-71).

3.5: Memphis' average margin of defeat in its six losses this season, with four of them coming by three points or fewer including a pair of one-point defeats to Seton Hall and Tulane.

24.9: Points per game average by Kendric Davis in AAC action, the most in the league. Tulane's Jaylen Forbes is the next highest at 20.6. Davis has scored 20+ in seven consecutive outings, which is the longest such streak for Memphis since Jeremiah Martin did so in eight-straight games from Feb. 13 – March 14, 2019.

10: Kendric Davis was named one of the top-10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Point Guard of the Year Award on Monday. He is the only player in the country in the top-10 in both scoring (21.7) and assists (6.0) on the season.

THE LAST TIME OUT

Memphis led for over 31 minutes on their home floor, but costly turnovers and missed free throws down the stretch ultimately doomed the Tigers in a 90-89 overtime loss to Tulane Saturday afternoon at FedExForum.
The loss snapped a five-game win streak and brought an end to the nation's third-longest home win streak at 16 games.
Four players scored in double figures, led by Kendric Davis' 26-point effort with seven assists and five rebounds. DeAndre Williams collected a career-high 17 rebounds to go along with 19 points and five dimes.
Keonte Kennedy matched a season-high with 16 points on 4-of-7 from three-point range and Jayden Hardaway added 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
Memphis led by 10 less than five minutes into the action and carried a 46-43 lead into the half. Davis and Kennedy each scored 11 points in the first 20 minutes and combined for four long balls.
After the Tigers pushed their lead back out to 59-52 at the 13:55 mark of the second half, Tulane battled back with a 10-1 run over the next two minutes to take the lead.
Neither side could get an advantage larger than four points the rest of the way as the game went into overtime tied at 79.
Williams and Davis scored seven straight points for Memphis in the extra period to give the home team a three-point lead, but from that point on the Green Wave outscored the Tigers 6-2 to get the 90-89 victory. Davis missed a game-winning three at the buzzer.
Tulane was led by Jalen Cook's 25 points, while Kevin Cross added 22.

NOTING THE OPPONENT

USF brings a 10-13 overall record into the matchup after dropping seven of its last 10 outings.
The Bulls have three players averaging double figures, led by Tyler Harris' 17.0 points per game. He leads the AAC with 70 made three-pointers and ranks second with a 39.8-percent clip.
Russel Tchewa is averaging 11.3 points and paces USF with 8.0 rebounds and a 60.5 percent mark from the field.
Selton Miguel is producing 12.4 points each time out and is the team's top assist man with 44.
USF is averaging 72.3 points per game, while allowing 70.7 by its opponents.
The Bulls are shooting 44.5 percent from the field and 34.0 percent from deep.
South Florida returns 10 players from its 2021-22 roster, including Jamir Chaplin, Russel Tchewa, Corey Walker Jr., Bay area native Serrel Smith Jr., along with Sam Hines Jr. and Trey Moss.
Chaplin is the Bulls' leading returning scorer (8.7 ppg) while Tcewa and Walker Jr. thrived in the frontcourt over the final months of the season.

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.