Dec. 16, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

NOTE: The Tigers' Dec. 17 game will not be televised. Fans can watch the game on-line via the Tigers' athletic web site at www.gotigersgo.com if they have purchased the All-Access subscription.

TIGERS OPEN SEVEN-GAME HOMESTAND WEDNESDAY VERSUS ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK
The University of Memphis squad (5-2, 0-0 C-USA), ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll and No. 21 in ESPN/USA Today poll, opens a seven-game homestand at FedExForum on Wednesday, Dec. 17 when it hosts Arkansas-Little Rock (7-2, 0-0 Sun Belt). Game time is 7 p.m. (CT).

The Tigers' homestand continues over the Christmas and New Year holidays with games against No. 11/11 Syracuse Dec. 20, Drexel Dec. 22, Cincinnati Dec. 29, Northeastern Dec. 31, Lamar Jan. 3 and Marshall Jan. 7. Memphis' next road game is slated for Jan. 10 at UCF in Orlando, Fla.

Memphis returns home after dropping its road opener of the 2008-09 campaign with a 79-70 overtime setback at No. 19/19 Georgetown Dec. 13. The loss ended the Tigers' 19-game road win streak that stretched back to the middle of the 2006-07 season.

Prior to the Georgetown loss, the Tigers were off 10 days for fall semester final exams. Memphis last played in the friendly confines of FedExForum Dec. 2 when it defeated Marist 100-61.

Arkansas-Little Rock brings a 7-2 overall record into Wednesday's contest. The Trojans, picked to win the Sun Belt Conference West Division in the coaches' preseason poll, began 2008-09 with five-straight wins over Cal Poly, Pepperdine, Louisiana Tech, Creighton and Loyola Marymount. Arkansas-Little Rock split its last four games with wins over Oral Roberts and Northern Illinois and losses to Missouri State and Wright State.

SCOUTING THE TROJANS
Arkansas-Little Rock brings a 7-2 overall record into Wednesday's contest. The Trojans, picked to win the Sun Belt Conference West Division in the coaches' preseason poll, began 2008-09 with five-straight wins over Cal Poly, Pepperdine, Louisiana Tech, Creighton and Loyola Marymount. Arkansas-Little Rock split its last four games with wins over Oral Roberts and Northern Illinois and losses to Missouri State and Wright State.

The tandem of junior Steven Moore and sophomore Matt Mouzy paces the Trojan offense. Moore leads the squad with a 15.3 scoring average, while Mouzy is second at 14.0 ppg. Mike Smith, a transfer from Ole Miss, leads Arkansas-Little Rock on the glass with a 6.5 rebounding average. Moore is tops on the team with a 3.6 assists average (25 total).

The Trojans are shooting 44.3 percent from the floor, 39 percent from the three-point line and 65.6 percent from the charity stripe. Arkansas-Little Rock is out-rebounding its opponents by an average margin of +4.7 boards per game (36.8-32.1). The Trojans are averaging over 16 turnovers per contest (16.4).

FAMILIAR FACES, NEW TEAM
Two Trojan players will face the Tigers for a second time in their careers even though Memphis and Arkansas-Little Rock have not played since the 2002-03 campaign. Trojan senior Brandon Patterson and junior Mike Smith both saw action against Memphis as members of the Ole Miss Rebel squad in the 2005-06 season.

The Tigers won that encounter 72-49 in Oxford, Miss., on Dec. 17, 2005. Patterson started that game in the Rebel backcourt and had one point, two boards and three assists in 27 minutes. Smith scored two points and had one board in eight minutes.

A FAMILIAR TROJAN/RAZORBACK
Although he never played against the Tigers in his collegiate career, Arkansas-Little Rock assistant coach Joe Kleine is a familiar name to many Memphis fans. Kleine, who is in his second year as an assistant at Arkansas-Little Rock, played his college hoops next door in the state of Arkansas as a Razorback. He played from 1983-85 in Fayetteville.

The Memphis-Arkansas series took a hiatus just prior to Kleine joining the Razorbacks. The two teams played in the 1979-80 campaign and then resumed the series in 1991-92.

(NORTH) LITTLE ROCK MEMORIES
Wednesday's game will be played in Memphis, but forgive Tiger Nation if a few great memories come back when it hears the words "Little Rock" over the public address system at FedExForum.

Last year, the Tigers' postseason run to the NCAA championship game began in nearby North Little Rock, Ark. Memphis played its first two NCAA Tournament games in Alltel Arena in North Little Rock Mar. 21 and 23. The Tigers defeated Texas-Arlington and Mississippi State to move on to the South Regional in Houston, Texas, the following weekend.

MEMPHIS VS. THE SUN BELT
The Tigers have an all-time record of 112-58 (.659 winning percentage) against current members of the Sun Belt Conference. Memphis has played Arkansas-Little Rock (2-0), Arkansas State (30-28), 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.

Last season, the Tigers defeated Sun Belt foes Arkansas State 84-63 in Memphis and Middle Tennessee 65-41 in Nashville.

The last time Memphis dropped a game to a Sun Belt Conference opponent came in the 1999-2000 campaign, a season prior to head coach John Calipari's arrival in the Bluff City. The Tigers lost 84-72 at Arkansas State on Dec. 16, 1999.

CALIPARI VS. THE SUN BELT
Head coach John Calipari is a perfect 13-0 against Sun Belt Conference members. Calipari has coached against Arkansas-Little Rock (1-0), Arkansas State (4-0), Louisiana-Lafayette (2-0), Middle Tennessee (3-0), New Orleans (1-0), North Texas (1-0) and Western Kentucky (1-0).

TIGER SUCCESS AT FEDEXFORUM
After a rough first year at their new home in 2004-05, the Tigers have bounced back quite nicely and made FedExForum one of the toughest arenas for opponents to play in. Since the 2005 Conference USA Tournament, Memphis has won 67 of its last 70 home games (.957 winning percentage).

Overall, the Tigers have a 77-9 record (.895 winning percentage) at FedExForum. Memphis had a perfect 19-0 home mark in 2006-07, and was 20-1 at FedExForum in 2007-08.

LOVE THOSE LONG HOMESTANDS
The Tigers open a seven-game homestand Wednesday when they host Arkansas-Little Rock at FedExForum. In the seven-game home stretch, Memphis also hosts No. 11/11 Syracuse Dec. 20, Drexel Dec. 22, Cincinnati Dec. 29, Northeastern Dec. 31, Lamar Jan. 3 and Marshall Jan. 7.

This seven-game homestand is the longest in the John Calipari era (since 2000-01). The previous longest homestand under Calipari was six-straight home games at FedExForum in 2005-06 (Dec. 20, 2005-Jan. 8, 2006). Memphis posted a 5-1 record in that homestand with wins over Louisiana Tech, Gonzaga, Purdue, Middle Tennessee and Winthrop. The lone loss was to Texas.

The last time Memphis had a stretch of seven-consecutive home games or longer was back in the 1995-96 campaign. The Tigers posted a perfect 7-0 record in that stretch with home wins over Jackson State, Florida A&M, Georgia State, Tennessee, Sam Houston State, Louisiana-Monroe and Temple. During that homestand, Memphis rose in the national polls from No. 7 to No. 3. Ironically, the Tigers' first contest after the seven-game homestand was a neutral site game versus Calipari's UMass Minutmen in Worcester, Mass. The No. 1 Minutemen defeated the No. 3 Tigers 64-61.

To find a longer homestand than seven, one has to go all the way back to the 1979-80 campaign when the Tigers played nine-straight at home from Dec. 1, 1979-Jan. 3, 1980. Memphis went 7-2 in that homestand.

The Tigers also had a nine-game homestand in the 1975-76 season (9-0 record) and an eight-game homestand in 1974-75 (7-1 record).

A BATTLE OF WILLS AT THE ARC
Wednesday's game may be a battle of wills at the three-point line. Memphis defends the arc well, holding its opponents to 29.2 percent shooting from the perimeter. The Tigers rank third in Conference USA in three-point field goal percentage defense.

On the other side, Arkansas-Little Rock shoots 39 percent from the three-point line and ranks first in the Sun Belt Conference in three-point field goal percentage.

COULD IT BE DEJA VU?
Obviously the 2007-08 campaign will be hard to duplicate at any time in the future of Memphis Tiger basketball. But, while Tiger Nation may be a little down with a 5-2 start to the 2008-09 campaign, it can be excited about the possibilities when comparing this year to the 2006-07 season. The following shows the comparisons:

	2008-09		2006-07

	3	NBA Draft picks	2

		Lost from Previous Yr. Team

	46.6	Pct. of Scoring Returning	56.0

	46.9	Pct. of Rebs. Returning	57.0

	44.1	Pct. of Asst. Returning 	59.0

	5-2	Record After 7 Games	5-2

	#23	AP Rank After 5-2 Start	#19

Witherspoon	Starting Point Guard	Kemp

	Freshman	Year In School	Freshman

	Xavier	Loss In Regular	Ga. Tech

	(Puerto Rico)	Season Tourney	(Maui)

	G'town	First Road Loss	Tenn.

		in early December

	--	Record After 10 Games	7-3

	--	AP Rank After 7-3 Start	#22

	--	Win Streak That Followed	25

	--	C-USA Finish	1st

	--	C-USA Tourney	Champ

	--	NCAA Tourney	Elite 8

"TAG" ON A TEAR
When Joey Dorsey's career came to an end last season, many questioned how the Tigers would make up for his domination on the glass. The answer -- seven games into 2008-09 -- is Shawn Taggart.

Taggart is averaging 10.1 boards per game and has grabbed double-digit rebounds in six of the Tigers' seven contests. His 10.1 rebounding average leads Conference USA.

He started the year with 12 boards versus Fairfield and then followed with 11 rebounds in games against UMass and Chattanooga. Taggart had 10 rebounds in the loss to Xavier Nov. 23, and followed with a season-high 13 boards in a win over Marist Dec. 2. He grabbed 11 rebounds versus Georgetown Dec. 13.

The Richmond, Va., has also shown his ability to score and has four double-doubles in his first seven games. He posted a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds in the season-opening win over Fairfield on Nov. 15. It was his first double-double in a Memphis uniform.

Five days later (Nov. 20), Taggart had his second double-double as a Tiger with 16 points and 11 boards in the victory over Chattanooga. Taggart's third double-double performance was against Marist with 21 points and 13 boards. Taggart recorded his fourth double-double with a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds versus Georgetown Dec. 13.

THE "TAG" SWAT ATTACK
In addition to the rebounding loss by Joey Dorsey's departure, many wondered how the Tigers would defend the rim. Again, the answer -- seven games into 2008-09 -- is Shawn Taggart.

The 6-foot-10 forward leads the team in blocked shots with 17 (2.43 bpg). He is ranked second in Conference USA in blocked shots. Taggart blocked a career-high six shots in the Tigers' victory over Marist Dec. 2. Prior to that, he had four blocks against Xavier in the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off Nov. 23.

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