Feb. 15, 2013

Memphis Notes  | Marshall Notes  | C-USA Notes 

Memphis (21-3, 10-0) at Marshall (11-14, 4-6) FedExForum (Huntington, W.Va.) Sat., February 16, 2013 - 7 pm (CT)/8 (ET)
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Television: CBS Sports Network/Comcast digital channel 222 (Dave Ryan, play-by-play; Pete Gillen, analyst)

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SETTING THE SCENE

• Memphis (21-3, 10-0 C-USA) takes to the road Saturday, Feb. 16 for a Conference USA clash with Marshall (11-14, 4-6 C-USA) in Huntington, W.Va. The game, scheduled for a 7 p.m. (CT) start, is slated for a CBS Sports Network (Comcast digital channel 222) telecast.
• The Tigers made a return to the national polls this week. Memphis jumped to the No. 22 spot in the Associated Press poll and is No. 25 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
• The Tigers bounced back after their Dec. 15 setback to No. 6/6 Louisville with 15-consecutive wins over Lipscomb 62-56 Dec. 20, Oral Roberts 72-57 Dec. 28, Loyola, Md., 78-64 Dec. 30, Tennessee 85-80 Jan. 4, East Carolina 67-54 Jan. 9, UAB 69-53 Jan. 12, Rice 77-51 Jan. 16, Harvard 60-50 Jan. 19, Tulane 71-60 Jan. 22, Marshall 73-72 Jan. 26, East Carolina 75-68 Jan. 30, Tulsa 94-64 Feb. 2, SMU 60-52 Feb. 6, Southern Miss 89-76 Feb. 9 and UCF 93-71 Feb. 13.
• Prior to the Dec. 15 loss, Memphis had won four straight with victories over Northern Iowa, UT Martin, Ohio and Austin Peay.
• Marshall has split its last four games with home wins over UCF and Rice and road losses at Tulane and UAB.
• The Thundering Herd are 10-3 in home games this season (4-1 home mark in C-USA play).
• Marshall returns three starters and nine letterwinners from last year's 21-14 squad.

WHAT'S UP NEXT

• The Tigers return home to FedExForum to open a two-game homestand Wednesday, Feb. 20 against Conference USA foe Houston. The contest, set for an 8 p.m. (CT) start, is slated for a Comcast Sports Southeast (CSS) telecast.
• The Thundering Herd travel to Orlando, Fla., Wednesday for a C-USA match-up with UCF. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. (CT) tip.

WHAT THE HERD DID A YEAR AGO

• Marshall posted a 21-14 overall record and a 9-7 Conference USA mark. It was the Thundering Herd's third-straight 20-win campaign.
• The Thundering Herd finished in fifth place in the C-USA regular-season standings.
• Marshall defeated SMU, Tulsa (3ot) and Southern Miss en route to the C-USA Tournament championship game. The Thundering Herd fell to host Memphis 83-57 in the title contest.
• The Thundering Herd received a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bid, but dropped an 86-78 decision at Middle Tennessee in the first round.

SCOUTING THE THUNDERING HERD

• Marshall brings an 11-14 overall record and a 4-6 Conference USA mark into Saturday's league encounter.
• The Thundering Herd have split their last four games (2-0 at home; 0-2 on the road).
• Marshall has a 10-3 record at Cam Henderson Center this year, including a 4-1 home mark in C-USA.
• The Thundering Herd have won their four C-USA home games by 11.0 ppg.
• Four of Marshall's five starters are averaging double figures, with Elijah Pittman leading the way at 15.4 ppg. DeAndre Kane (14.3 ppg), D.D. Scarver (13.2 ppg) and Dennis Tinnon (10.5 ppg) also average double digits in scoring.
• The tandem of Tinnon (9.0 rpg) and Nigel Spikes (7.5 rpg) leads the Thundering Herd on the glass. Tinnon (No. 3) and Spikes (No. 9) are ranked among C-USA's top-10 rebounding leaders.
• Kane is Marshall's and C-USA's top playmaker with 154 assists (7.3 apg).
• Pittman is the Thundering Herd's top three-point threat, hitting 37.7 percent from the arc.
• Marshall is shooting 42.5 percent from the floor, 31.6 percent from the three-point line and 57.5 percent from the charity stripe.
• The Thundering Herd are out-rebounding their opponents by an average margin of +2.0 boards per game (38.2-36.2).
• Marshall is last in the league in forcing turnovers per game (13.2) and turnover margin (-2.6).

The Last Meeting Marshall 72 Memphis 73 January 26, 2013 FedExForum Tigers Hold Off Herd, 73-72 The University of Memphis men's basketball team (16-3, 5-0 C-USA) held off a pesky Marshall squad (9-11, 2-3 C-USA) late in the second half for a 73-72 win, their 10th-straight, Saturday afternoon at FedExForum. Recap | Box Score | Notes | Quotes | Photo Gallery

BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

• While Memphis head coach Josh Pastner grew up in Houston, Texas, and calls that city home, he was born in the state of West Virginia.
• Pastner's birthplace is Glendale, W.Va., which is approximately 150 miles northeast of Huntington (2.5 hour drive).

BOARD BATTLE SET FOR SATURDAY

• The winner of Saturday's Memphis-Marshall contest may be decided on the glass.
• The Tigers and Thundering Herd both enter the game on the plus side in rebound margin.
• Memphis is second in C-USA in rebound margin at +5.6, while Marshall is seventh in the league at +2.0.
• The Thundering Herd lead C-USA in offensive rebounds per game (14.5), while Memphis is fifth (12.4).

HIDE YOUR EYES

• Memphis and Marshall both enter Saturday's encounter in the bottom half of Conference USA in free throw percentage.
• The Tigers are eighth in the league in free throw percentage (68.3), and the Thundering Herd are 12th (57.5).

PROTECT THE BALL

• Saturday's Memphis-Marshall game may come down to which team can protect the ball better.
• The Thundering Herd enters Saturday's contest as Conference USA's third-most turnover-proned squad at 15.8 miscues per game.
• The Tigers aren't much better, averaging 14.8 turnovers per game (fifth in C-USA). In Conference USA games only, Memphis is committing 14.7 miscues per outing.

IT'S A BLOCK PARTY!

• A block party could break out during Saturday's Memphis-Marshall match-up.
• Memphis and Marshall both rank in the top-three of Conference USA in blocked shots.
• The Tigers lead C-USA in blocked shots (6.6 bpg), while the Thundering Herd are third (4.6 bpg).
• Five of C-USA's top-15 blocked shots leaders are featured in Saturday's game, and they are Memphis' D.J. Stephens (1st; 2.3 bpg), Shaq Goodwin (8th; 1.2) and Adonis Thomas(13th; 0.8) and Marshall's Nigel Spikes (6th; 1.8) and Elijah Pittman (12th; 0.8).

MOST WINS FIRST FOUR YEARS

• Of course, head coach Josh Pastner will pass on credit to the current players, former players, current assistant coaches, former head coaches and, yes, even Tiger Nation.
• But, the fact is Pastner is the winningest head coach in Tigers hoops history for the first four years.
• After the 2011-12 campaign, Pastner had 75 wins, the most victories by a Tigers head coach in his first three years.
• The following shows the head coaches' win totals for their first four seasons since 1949:

MEMPHIS IN CONFERENCE USA

• The Tigers have an all-time record of 209-65 (.763 winning percentage) in C-USA play.
• Memphis posted double-digit league wins in 14 of its previous 17 seasons in Conference USA, including a school-record and league-record tying 16 games in 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2008-09.
• Last season, the Tigers won the Conference USA regular-season title with a 13-3 league mark.
• Memphis won its first outright C-USA regular season title in 2005-06, and followed that with outright regular season crowns in 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2011-12.
• Memphis also tied for the C-USA regular season crown in 2003-04 (12-4 record) and 1995-96 (11-3).
• Memphis also won three National Division titles in 1997-98, 2001-02 and 2002-03, and captured two league White Division championships in 1995-96 and 1996-97.

TIGERS RECORD 15TH DOUBLE-DIGIT WINNING SEASON IN C-USA

• With their 93-71 win over UCF Feb. 13, the Tigers posted their 15th double-digit winning season in Conference USA (10-0 record). It is also Memphis' eighth-consecutive season in which it had double-figure victories in C-USA action.
• Before the shift in C-USA prior to the 2005-06 campaign, the Tigers were tied for the second-most, double-digit conference wins seasons with seven (at the time tied with Charlotte).
• The following lists the top-five teams in C-USA history with double-digit league wins seasons:

TIGERS ON THE ROAD IN C-USA SINCE 2005-06

• Everyone knows how tough the Tigers are at home in Conference USA play since the league realigned in 2005-06.
• Memphis is 72-3 (.960 winning percentage) in C-USA games at FedExForum since 2005-06, and the record includes both regular season and tournament games.
• Well, the Tigers aren't too bad in their C-USA road games over that same period of time.
• Memphis has a 51-10 C-USA road record (.836 winning percentage; includes regular season and tournament games) since 2005-06.
• Of the 10 league road losses since 2005-06, four were single-digit setbacks.
• To take it further, the Tigers' 51 C-USA road wins since 2005-06 are more than 10 of the 11 other league schools' home wins in C-USA play (UTEP's 51 home wins are tied with Memphis' 51 road wins), and the following shows that:

MORE ON TIGERS' ROAD SUCCESS

• Memphis enters Saturday's game at Marshall with the nation's longest road win streak at 10 straight.
• The Tigers' last road loss came at Southern Miss on Feb. 1, 2012 (75-72 USM win).
• Memphis is 6-0 in road games in 2012-13 and is college basketball's lone unbeaten team in road games to date this season.
• However, this is not the first time that the Tigers were the nation's last team to remain undefeated in road games. In 2005-06, Memphis was college basketball's last unbeaten road team, going 10-0 until an early March loss at UAB.

STREAKING TIGERS

• Memphis brings a 15-game win streak into Saturday's Conference USA encounter at Marshall.
• The 15-game win streak is tied for the sixth-longest in school history.
• The 15-game win streak is currently the nation's second-longest streak (Akron has the longest at 16 straight).
• The following lists the longest win streaks in Tigers basketball history:

FEBRUARY FRIENDLY FOR TIGERS

• The Tigers have enjoyed tremendous success in the month of January (93-21 record; .816 winning percentage) since 1999-2000, but February hasn't been too bad either.
• Since 1999-2000, Memphis has an 80-23 record (.777 winning percentage) in February.
• Last year, the Tigers posted a 7-2 record in February.
• Memphis has won 51 of its last 59 games (.864 winning percentage) in the month of February.

HE'S IN THE (1,000-POINT) CLUB!

• With his career-high 26-point performance Jan. 30 versus East Carolina, Joe Jackson joined the 1,000-point club.
• After his 21 points versus UCF Feb. 13, Jackson now has 1,053 for his career.
• The 6-foot-1 guard is the 48th Tiger to reach 1,000 points and is in the No. 41 spot on the all-time scoring list.

JACKSON PUTS TIGERS IN ANOTHER ELITE GROUP

• • When Joe Jacksonreached the 1,000-point milestone Jan. 30, he not only achieved a personal goal, but also placed Memphis among another elite collegiate club. The following lists the schools with the most 1,000-point scorers:

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE

• Junior Joe Jackson recorded the Tigers' latest double-double with his 21-point, 10-assist performance in the 93-71 win over UCF Feb. 13.
• Jackson's 10 assists tied a career best.
• The following tracks Memphis' double-doubles this season:

"CLUTCH" HITTING HIS STRIDE

• Chris Crawford, whose nickname is "Clutch," has found his range from the arc in recent games.
• The 6-foot-4 junior is shooting 44.4 percent from the three-point line (16-of-36) since Jan. 19 versus Harvard.
• In the eight games prior to Jan. 19, Crawford shot 5.0 percent from the arc (1-of-19).