Memphis Game Thread
 

Thursday, January 17th, 2020
7:00 PM
FedExForum
ESPN

Memphis (13-3, 2-1 AAC, NET #25) broke a two-game losing streak (Georgia, @Wichita State) with a 68-64 win @South Florida on Sunday. They overcame a 14-point 2nd half deficit and held on to a small lead late thanks to several USF missed free throws in the closing seconds of the game.

2nd-year coach Penny Hardaway pulled in the top recruiting class in college basketball this past offseason that featured 7 of the top 115 players in the class of 2019 (according to 247 Sports). He has morphed this team into a run-n-gun squad that is currently 11th in the country in Adjusted Tempo and 20th in Adjusted Defense with aspirations of making the school's first NCAA tournament in 6 years. They boast arguably the best depth in the league with 10 current players who average double-digit minutes/game.

Memphis has held teams to just 35.3 FG% through 16 games and boast the top 2 PT FG% defense in the nation currently, holding teams to 38.4% shooting inside the arc. They are also one of the best shot-blocking teams in the nation where they swat nearly 7 shots/game. They rebound and steal the ball impressively as well.

They foul a fair amount at nearly 20 fouls/game and turn the ball over quite a bit as well at 17/TOs game. They're also neither an impressive 3-point (33.7%) or FT shooting team (67.4%).

With star player and likely 2020 NBA Draft 1st round talent, Precious Achiuwa, currently "questionable" to play tomorrow with a foot injury, and UC coming into the game boasting their first 2-game winning streak since early December, the odds of obtaining our first crucial Q1 win of the season don't look half bad.

Winnable game. Won’t be easy. Will have to play a good game.

Would HATE to let this W slip by if Precious doesn't play. A must-win if he doesn't. It will get lost on our team sheet he didn't play, but this road W can be the difference for NCAA tourney or not.

Precious is gonna play

I don’t feel too confident after reading your pre-game summery but that is par for the course with me. To win I think Cumberland will need to factor big and I am hoping it is in dishing the ball as he has been doing as a blossoming point guard. If they can’t contain CLand we have a shot. Go B Cats.

+5

I'm confident we can keep this game close for 35+ minutes but whether or not we can stay composed (particularly on the offensive end) for the closing minutes of the game against strong comp away from home still remains to be seen.

I think this is a must win, we don't have many chances for big quad 1 wins and this one would be huge. We need scoring Jarron this game, as much as I love facilitator Jarron, to beat Memphis we need Jarron to take over, Jaevin to make shots and Vogt to dominate the middle. We all know we will turn the ball over 15+ times, as will Memphis, but the crowd will be rockin, hopefully we don't lay an egg and get run out of Memphis.

We need this one... Memphis stinks. There very overrated...

But then again... We stink too. Soo who knows.

memphis will be the 3rd top 10 defense vs 2 point shots we've played this year. OSU #3, Tennessee #8 and Memphis #1.


OSU was bad, but first game of the year. We carved up Tennessee. We shot over 50% on 2's vs UConn (Uconn is 38 vs 2 point shots).


Lets hope our offense can get some good looks.

I would love a big Jarron game. He's due for a 30+ game.