Tigers Travel to SMU Thursday for Final Road Stop

Thursday, March 2

Dallas, Texas

8 p.m.

University of Memphis

SMU

Mar 01, 2023 | Men's Basketball

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Tigers are in Dallas to take on SMU Thursday night in the regular season's penultimate game. Tip-off at Moody Coliseum is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

As the stretch run heats up, Memphis has won 10 of its last 12 games to currently sit in second place in the American Athletic Conference standings. The Tigers are 12-4 in league action with two games to play, 1.5 games ahead of Tulane's 10-5 mark. Houston leads the way at 15-1.

Memphis has already clinched a first-round bye in the AAC Tournament. 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 13th AAC victory of the year. That would match last season as their most in a conference season since going 16-0 in 2012-13.

Memphis leads the all-time series with the Mustangs 17-15 after taking two-straight meetings. The Tigers lost both regular season meetings in 2021-22, before getting the best of SMU in the AAC Tournament semifinals, 70-63.

Kendric Davis makes his return to SMU where he burst onto the national scene averaging 17.5 points, 5.9 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 steals per game over the previous three seasons while creating plenty of "Moody magic". Davis is the reigning AAC Player of the Year and 2-time AAC scoring champion and returns to a building where he racked up a 38-5 record.

Another familiar face is Jahmar Young Jr., who also transferred to Memphis from SMU in the spring. He played in 37 games over the last two seasons for the Mustangs.

The Memphis coaching staff also has a tie to SMU. Assistant to the head coach Shawn Forrest was an assistant coach at SMU for three seasons from 2016-19, which included SMU's 30-5 2016-17 campaign.

The Mustangs enter Thursday's game fresh off a 71-67 loss at USF Saturday, which was their third defeat in four games.

UP NEXT

After Thursday's game, the Tigers conclude the regular season Sunday morning at FedExForum against No. 1 Houston. It will be the first time the Tigers haver ever hosted the No. 1 team in the country inside FedExForum.

The game against the Cougars will tip off at 11 a.m. on CBS. The AAC Tournament then runs March 9-12 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

GAME DETAILS
Memphis Tigers (22-7, 12-4 AAC) at SMU Mustangs (10-19, 5-11 AAC)
Thursday, March 2, 2023 | 8 p.m. CT
Moody Coliseum (7,000); Dallas, Texas
Television: ESPN2 (Derek Jones, pxp; Perry Clark, analysis)
Radio: 98.9 THE ROAR OF MEMPHIS (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)

BY THE NUMBERS

82.4: Memphis' points per game average in AAC action , which ranks second in the league (Tulane, 83.0). The Tigers are tops in the conference, however, in field goal percentage (49.2).
62.1: Elijah McCadden's field goal percentage over the last 10 games (36-58) to go along with a 29-42 performance from the free throw line; the fifth-year is averaging 10.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per game over the stretch.
18.3: Points per game by DeAndre Williams during his current 25-game double-digit streak; the fifth-year is also averaging 8.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while shooting 53.8 percent from the floor.
5-1: Record in last six road games for Memphis after starting the season 1-4. The only loss was at No. 2 Houston.
25-11: Kendric Davis record 25 points and 11 assists in the first meeting with his former team on Jan. 26 in Memphis. He also added seven rebounds and was +24 in 31 minutes in a 99-84 victory for the Tigers.

THE LAST TIME OUT

Memphis won its 10^th game in its last 12 contests, beating Cincinnati 76-73 Sunday afternoon at FedExForum.
The Tigers were led by Kendric Davis' 22 points. He connected on 6-of-6 at the line and swiped three steals. Running mate DeAndre Williams added 21 points, a team-high seven rebounds, matched his career high with five steals and blocked a team-high three balls.
After the game was tied at 11 almost eight minutes into the action, Memphis jumped on the Bearcats and rode that momentum the rest of the half.
Alex Lomax sparked the Tigers with back-to-back steals against former teammate Landers Nolley II after sneaking up from behind to swipe the ball from his grip. Both picks led to fastbreak layups and ignited the Memphis faithful.
Williams scored seven points in a nine-point run that gave the Tigers their largest lead of the game at 33-18 with 6:35 until half.
Memphis carried a 41-30 lead into the break after shooting 51.4 percent from the floor (18-35) and scoring 14 points off 11 Cincinnati turnovers. The Tigers swiped nine steals in the first 20 minutes.
The Bearcats trailed by 14 with 8:50 to play in the game, but quickly got hot to give the Tigers a close battle down the stretch.
Cincinnati connected on 7-of-8 field goals over a five-minute span and managed to get it to within a single point with less than two seconds on the clock after a heaved three-pointer banked in from just inside half court.
Davis was fouled on the ensuing inbounds and sank both free throws to seal the 76-73 victory.
Memphis finished the contest shooting 46.2 percent from the floor (30-65) and 76.5 percent from the free throw line (13-17).
Cincinnati was led by David DeJulius' 16 points.

NOTING THE OPPONENT

SMU went 24-9 a season ago and finished second in the AAC with a 13-4 record.
The Mustangs advanced to the NIT, where they reached the second round after an 68-58 win over Nicholls in the first round. Washington State ended the Mustangs' season with a 75-63 decision in Dallas.
Kendric Davis was the AAC's leading scorer at 19.4 points and averaged 3.8 rebounds with 4.4 assists per game.
The Mustangs are 10-19 on the year and 5-11 in the conference under first-year head coach Rob Lanier.
SMU lost four of its primary starters from that squad and returns just Zach Nutall, who made 29 starts and averaged 6.8 points. This season he is the team's second-leading scorer at 13.3 points per game and paces the squad with 57 makes from deep.
The Mustangs also return Zhuric Phelps, who averaged only 3.8 points a season ago. He has become the go-to scorer for SMU, averaging a team-high 17.6 points (5^th AAC). He leads the conference with 65 steals and a 2.41 steals per game average.
Efe Odigie is also a double-digit scorer at 11.5 points per game, to go along with 7.0 rebounds each time out.
SMU was picked to finish seventh in this season's preseason coaches poll, behind UCF.
SMU has won four total AAC championships, winning the regular season and tournament titles in 2015 and 2017.
The Mustangs have had 19 All-AAC honorees, the highest in the conference, in the first nine seasons of the league.

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