Dec. 11, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

Tigers On TV/Radio/Web
Television: None
Radio: WREC 600 AM (Dave Woloshin, play-by-play; Matt Dillon, color analyst; Forrest Goodman, studio host)
Web: None

TIGERS TRAVEL TO NORTH LITTLE ROCK FOR SATURDAY SHOWDOWN WITH UALR
The University of Memphis squad (6-1, 0-0 C-USA) takes to the road for the first time in nearly a month when it travels to North Little Rock, Ark., to meet Arkansas-Little Rock (4-5, 0-0 Sun Belt) on Saturday, Dec. 12. Game time is 2 p.m. (CT) at Verizon Arena.

Since a narrow 57-55 setback to No. 1/1 Kansas in St. Louis on Nov. 17, the Tigers have won five straight -- all coming at FedExForum -- with victories over Tennessee Tech 92-59, Central Arkansas 81-49, Oakland 77-46, Arkansas State 74-55 and Montana State 76-51. The Kansas, Tennessee Tech, Central Arkansas and Oakland games were part of the 2009 Hall of Fame Showcase.

Memphis, picked to finish between second and fourth in Conference USA in most preseason polls, returns only one starter and six letterwinners from last year's squad that won 33 games (33-4 record) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament West Region semifinal (Sweet Sixteen). En route to the Sweet Sixteen, the Tigers swept the Conference USA regular season and tournament crowns.

Arkansas-Little Rock brings a 4-5 overall record into Saturday's showdown. The Trojans, picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt West Division preseason poll, have won three of their last four with victories over Cal Poly 71-62, Oral Roberts 73-68 and Lyon College 78-69. The lone setback in that stretch was a 75-62 home loss to Missouri State.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Arkansas-Little Rock brings a 4-5 overall record into Saturday's showdown. The Trojans, picked to finish fourth in the Sun Belt West Division preseason poll, have won three of their last four with victories over Cal Poly 71-62, Oral Roberts 73-68 and Lyon College 78-69. The lone setback in that stretch was a 75-62 home loss to Missouri State.

Junior transfer Solomon Bozeman leads the Trojan offense with a 14.7 scoring average. Matt Mouzy is the squad's only other double figure scorer at 11.3 ppg. Senior Mike Smith leads UALR on the glass with a 6.0 rebounding average, followed by Alex Garcia-Mendoza at 5.7 rpg. Bozeman also leads the squad with 41 assists (4.6 apg). Bozeman (41.5 percent) and Mouzy (40.8 percent) are the Trojans' top threats from the three-point arc.

UALR is shooting 45.4 percent from the floor, 39.6 percent from the three-point line and 69.1 percent from the charity stripe. The Trojans are out-rebounding their opponents by an average margin of +0.7 boards per contest (33.3-32.6).

MEMPHIS VS. THE SUN BELT
The Tigers have an all-time record of 114-58 (.663 winning percentage) against current members of the Sun Belt Conference. Memphis has played Arkansas-Little Rock (3-0), Arkansas State (31-28), Florida Atlantic (1-0), Florida International (1-0), Louisiana-Lafayette (8-1), Louisiana-Monroe (10-0), Middle Tennessee State (27-14), New Orleans (8-0), North Texas (16-6), South Alabama (1-0) and Western Kentucky (8-9). The Tigers have never played Denver and Troy.

The last time the Tigers faced a Sun Belt foe was last Saturday (Dec. 5) when they hosted Arkansas State at FedExForum. Memphis posted a 74-55 victory over the Red Wolves.

The last time Memphis dropped a game to a Sun Belt Conference opponent came in the 1999-2000 campaign. The Tigers lost 84-72 at Arkansas State on Dec. 16, 1999.

NORTH LITTLE ROCK MEMORIES
Please forgive Tiger Nation if it gets a little nostalgic this Saturday when Memphis plays Arkansas-Little Rock in North Little Rock. You see, Verizon Arena (formerly Alltel Arena) in North Little Rock is the place where the Tigers began their magical ride to the 2008 NCAA Tournament title game.

In the 2008 NCAA Tournament, the Tigers played the first two rounds at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock on Mar. 21 and 23, 2008. The Tigers defeated Texas-Arlington and Mississippi State to move on to the South Regional in Houston, Texas, the following weekend.

TIGERS IN LITTLE ROCK/NORTH LITTLE ROCK
Since World War II, Memphis has played in the Little Rock/North Little Rock area five times, and the Tigers have a 4-1 record in those five trips. Memphis is 2-1 versus Arkansas in Little Rock in regular season encounters and 2-0 in NCAA Tournament play in North Little Rock.

A TREY BATTLE AWAITS
For the second-straight game, the Tigers faces a foe that can light it up from the three-point arc. Arkansas-Little Rock enters Saturday's game shooting 39.6 percent from the three-point line. The Trojans are ranked fourth in the Sun Belt Conference in trey percentage.

Memphis passed its first test against a solid three-point shooting team in Montana State Dec. 9. The Bobcats entered the contest hitting 38 percent of their long-range attempts. The Tigers, though, held Montana State to 27.8 percent from the arc.

ONE TIGER A TROJAN FIRST
For Memphis junior college transfer Will Coleman, the Little Rock surroundings may look a little familiar this weekend. The Tigers' 6-foot-9 forward signed to attend Arkansas-Little Rock and suit up for the Trojans in the 2006 early signing period. At the time, Coleman was starting his prep senior campaign at Glenwood High School in Georgia.

Coleman, though, took a different route to NCAA Division I, attending Miami Dade College before inking his national letter of intent with Memphis in the 2008 early signing period.

2009-10 SENIORS CLIMBING SCHOOL'S WINS CHART
Last year's Tiger seniors set the NCAA Division I record for most wins in a four-year period, and in turn, also recorded the school mark for most wins in a four-year period. The 2008-09 Memphis seniors won an NCAA Division I and school record 137 games (137-14) from 2006-09.

Don't look now, but the 2009-10 senior class is moving up the school's all-time wins list. The senior class of Pierre Henderson-Niles, Willie Kemp and Doneal Mack entered the 2009-10 campaign with 104 victories, and after six wins so far, the group now has 110 wins (110-11 record).

The following shows the top-six winningest four-year classes in Tiger history:

Class	Wins

2005-06 to 2008-09	137

2004-05 to 2007-08	126

1983-84 to 1986-87	111

2002-03; 2004-05 to 2006-07	111

2006-07 to present	110

1982-83 to 1985-86	108

WILLIAMS ON A 20-POINT ROLL; HAS SIX-STRAIGHT 20-POINT GAMES
After playing most of his freshman season at Duke in a reserve role, Elliot Williams has made a nice transition to "spotlight" player in the early portion of his sophomore year in 2009-10. The 6-foot-5 guard has netted double figures in all seven games of his Tiger career to date, including six-straight, 20-point outings. The Memphis, Tenn., native netted 22 versus Montana State, 20 points versus Arkansas State, 20 versus Oakland, 20 versus Central Arkansas, 23 (career high) versus Tennessee Tech and 21 versus No. 1/1 Kansas.

Williams' string of six-straight 20-point performances tied Sean Banks' mark of the longest streak of that kind in the last decade. In the 2003-04 season, Banks, then a freshman, scored 20 or more points in the Tigers' final six games of the regular season. Banks had 28 versus Marquette, 24 versus UAB, 22 versus Southern Miss, 26 versus Louisville, 25 versus TCU and 28 versus Cincinnati.

The last time a Tiger player had a longer streak of 20-point efforts was all the way back to the 1992-93 campaign. That year, Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway had 12-straight 20-point games.

NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS
Memphis has had a long history of success in non-league games, and that has continued in recent years. Since 1999-2000, the Tigers have a non-conference record (including postseason) of 141-46 for a 75.4 winning percentage.

In 2008-09, Memphis had a 17-4 record against non-conference opponents (including postseason).

TIGERS TURNING 1,400
With the opening of the 2009-10 season, the countdown is on for Memphis. The Tiger basketball program entered the 2009-10 year with 1,383 all-time victories and needed 17 to reach the 1,400-win plateau. After the Dec. 9 victory over Montana State, the Tigers now have 1,389 wins.

If successful, Memphis, the winningest program in Conference USA, would be the first school in the league to reach 1,400 victories.

TIGER DEFENSE = TURNOVER MACHINE
Head coach Josh Pastner has preached to his Tigers to play hard with a strong effort on the defensive end because the outcome of a lot of Memphis games in 2009-10 will come down to defense. The players are buying in.

After seven games, Memphis is forcing its opponents to turn the ball over an average of 20.7 times per contest. The following is a game-by-game breakdown of forced turnovers by the Tiger defense:

Opponent	TO Forced

Jackson State	20

Kansas	21

Tennessee Tech	24

Central Arkansas	18

Oakland	24

Arkansas State	19

Montana State	19

Total	145

Avg.	20.7

MORE ON THE TOUGH TIGER "D"
Points for the Memphis opponents have been tough to come by in the early portion of the 2009-10 season. The Tigers are holding their foes to an average of 52.9 points per outing, which is the second-best defensive mark in NCAA Division I.

Memphis has held all seven opponents to under 60 points, with Tennessee Tech's 59 points the most the Tiger defense has allowed. To take it even further, five of Memphis' seven foes have been held to 55 or fewer points.

SHARP-SHOOTER SALLIE TURNING INTO ALL-'ROUND ROB
Last year, Roburt Sallie was known as the squad's sharp-shooter from deep. And, the entire nation found out just how deadly he is from the arc as it witnessed his school-record 10 treys in last year's NCAA Tournament first round win over Cal State Northridge.

The Tigers' 6-foot-5 guard can still stroke it from long range, but in the early portion of the 2009-10 campaign, Sallie is showing he has an all-around game. Seven games into the season, the Sacramento, Calif., native has set six career highs.

In 2009-10, Sallie has career bests for rebounds (7; twice), free throws made (4), free throw attempts (5), assists (7), blocked shots (3) and steals (4; three times).

His latest outing proved his all-around ability. In the Tigers' victory over Montana State Dec. 9, Sallie posted eight points, seven boards (tied career high), seven assists (career high) and three steals in 33 minutes of action. He had only one turnover versus the Bobcats.

CALL HIM MR. SWIPE
All Tiger fans knows about Roburt Sallie's ability to hit the trey, but they are quickly learning that he is quite the defensive player. Seven games into 2009-10, the Tigers' 6-foot-5 guard leads the squad and is second in Conference USA with 22 steals (3.1 spg). He set a career high with four steals in the season-opening win over Jackson State, and then tied the mark with four steals against No. 1/1 Kansas and Tennessee Tech. Sallie also had three swipes in wins over Oakland and Montana State.

MACK ONE AWAY FROM 900
Doneal Mack entered the 2009-10 campaign with his sights set on becoming a part of the Tiger 1,000-point club. The 6-foot-5 guard started the season with 837 points, and with 62 points scored after seven games, Mack now is one point away from 900 with 899 career points.

On his pace of 8.9 points per game, Mack would reach the 1,000-point plateau by the 19th game of the Tigers' season. When he reaches the milestone, Mack will become the 46th member of the Memphis 1,000-point club.

For more notes on the Memphis-UALR game, click on pdf link at the top of the page.