Tigers, East Carolina Meet Again Thursday Night at FedExForum
Jalen Duren's status is up-in-the-air it appears based on Penny Hardaway's comments Wednesday.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Tigers can close the month of January on a high note Thursday night against East Carolina. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. on ESPN2, and the game is a Black Out with fans encouraged to wear black.
The Tigers will be looking to avenge a heartbreaking loss to the Pirates at the buzzer 12 days ago in Greenville, N.C., where Memphis led by 19 points and were playing with only six scholarship players available due to injuries.
Memphis snapped a three-game losing streak in its last game, knocking off Tulsa Sunday afternoon, 83-81. The Tigers trailed by 15 points in the game and fought back to lead by as many as seven down the stretch.
Tyler Harris has been on fire for the Tigers over the last five games. He is averaging 17.8 points per game in 29.7 minutes per contest, and he is shooting 60.0 percent from the 3-point line (18-30). Among players nationally with at least 70 3-point attempts on the year, Harris' percentage of 49.3 (36-73) ranks 10th and leads the conference. He has scored in double figures in five-straight games, and with a sixth would match the sixth-through-11th games of his college career in 2018-19 for the longest double-digit stretch in his 109 career outings.
The Pirates enter the game on a skid of four losses in five games, with the only win over the Tigers. East Carolina is led by Tristen Newton's 17.7 points per game, which ranks third in the AAC. On the glass, Brandon Johnson is fourth in the conference at 6.6 boards per outing. The Pirates' Vance Jackson leads the conference in 3-point shooting at 43.3 percent (45-104).
Following Thursday, the Tigers have seven days between games before getting back in action on Thursday, Feb. 3 at Cincinnati. Memphis' next home game is Saturday, Feb. 5 against UCF.
GAME DETAILS
Memphis Tigers (10-8, 4-4 AAC) vs. East Carolina Pirates (11-7, 2-4 AAC)
Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022 | 8 p.m. CT
FedExForum (18,400); Memphis, Tenn.
Television: ESPN2 (Kevin Brown, pxp; Mark Adams, analysis)
BY THE NUMBERS
5: Wins in January would be Memphis' most in the month since also winning five games in 2018-19.10: Freshmen in the nation, including Memphis' Josh Minott, are averaging at least 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game while shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 75.0 percent from the free throw line.38.5: Lester Quinones' 3-point percentage in the 10 Tiger wins (15-39), compared to 22.2 percent in Memphis' eight losses (6-27).6: Consecutive games, after Thursday, that Memphis will play against teams currently above it in the AAC standings.50-9: Memphis' record at FedExForum under head coach Penny Hardaway.
THE LAST TIME OUT
A second half for the ages helped Memphis erase a 15-point deficit and capture an 83-81 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane Sunday afternoon in Tulsa, Okla.Memphis shot 70.8 percent from the field in the second 20 minutes (17-24), missing just one two-point try.The Tigers only committed four turnovers after halftime and just nine for the game, a season low.Playing without three of its top statistical contributors, Jalen Duren, Landers Nolley II and DeAndre Williams, the Tigers were led by Tyler Harris' season high 24 points with six 3-pointers.Josh Minott added a career-high 18 to go along with nine rebounds, and he was 10-for-10 from the free throw line.Malcolm Dandridge and Lester Quinones added nine points apiece, and Alex Lomax had eight points, seven assists and four rebounds.Lomax did not commit a turnover in 32 minutes.Memphis trailed 46-33 at the half and by 15 at the start of the second half, but from there the Tigers began to chip away.Memphis rattled off eight-straight points on a Quinones triple and five points from Lomax to make the score 50-44, and a few minutes later it was 10-of-12 points to bring the game within two at 61-59.The Tigers gained their first lead of the game after a Dandridge lay-in at the 7:11 mark, and Tulsa never re-took the advantage.Memphis made big play after big play in the final minutes, including forcing the clock to expire on Tulsa's last possession when the Golden Hurricane had a chance to tie or win.Tulsa (6-11, 0-6 AAC) was led by Jeriah Horne's 19 points, with 16 of those from the charity stripe.
NOTING THE OPPONENT
East Carolina returns four starters, all of whom averaged eight or more points per game, from last season's team that went 8-11 overall and 2-10 in AAC play.Newton ranked fourth in the AAC in assists per game last year (4.2), and J.J. Miles was second on the team in 3-point field goals made a year ago.Tremont Robinson-White was fourth in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.0), and Brandon Suggs scored in double figures nine times last campaign.This season, the Pirates are the AAC's second-best 3-point shooting team at a 36.0 percent clip per contest.East Carolina is also the conference's leading assist team (15.9).The Pirates were picked to finish last in this season's preseason coaches poll behind South Florida and Tulane, who tied for ninth.