Tigers Women's Basketball Hosts No. 15 USF Wednesday

Wednesday, January 20

Memphis, Tenn.

7 pm CT

University of Memphis

USF

Tickets

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Tigers Women's Basketball Hosts No. 15 USF Wednesday

Jan 19, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Game time is 7 p.m. (CT) at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis women's basketball team is hoping for déjà vu all over again Wednesday when it hosts No. 15/15 USF in an American Athletic Conference encounter.

Game time is 7 p.m. (CT), and the contest can be viewed on the web at the American Digital Network/ADN (theamerican.org/watch).

It was a little over two seasons ago when the Tigers pulled off their last upset of a ranked opponent. Memphis hosted No. 23 Rutgers just 10 days after losing to No. 1 Connecticut at home. The Tigers surprised the Scarlet Knights 75-74 in overtime at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Last week, Memphis lost to top-ranked Connecticut at home.

However, to pull the upset this time around, Memphis needs to get its shooting touch back. The Tigers are one of three conference teams to play seven games in an 18-day stretch (Dec. 30-Jan. 16), and fatigue has been evident in the team's latest shooting performances. Also, Memphis faces a USF squad that has won five of its last six, with the lone setback coming to No. 1 Connecticut.

Radio: 91.7 FM (WUMR)
Internet Video: theamerican.org/watch
Live Stats: memphis.statbroadcast.com
LiveTweet: @MemphisWBKB, #MEMWBKB, #GoTigersGo

Tigers Tidbits/Five Notes To Know
• Wednesday's game is Residence Life Night at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. The first 200 University of Memphis students at the game will receive free Chick-fil-A nuggets.

• Memphis holds a 12-8 series lead with USF, but the Bulls have won the last six games. The two teams last met in last season's American Athletic Conference Tournament in Uncasville, Conn. USF won that tournament quarterfinal match-up 79-51. The Tigers' last victory in the series came in the 2003-04 season. Memphis posted a 69-59 win over USF at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Jan. 25, 2004.

• The fatigue factor caught up with the Tigers in the latter portion of their "seven-games-in-18-days" stretch. In the first 4.5 games (through first half of Jan. 10 Tulsa game), Memphis shot 48 percent from the floor. Since the second half of the Jan. 10 Tulsa game, the Tigers are hitting only 30.3 percent from the field.

• Wednesday's game will have an international flavor to it. A total of 10 international players representing seven different countries outside the United States are on the teams' two rosters. The Tigers have three international players. Junior college transfer Loysha Morris (Toronto, Ontario) and sophomore forward Cheyenne Creighton (Pickering, Ontario) both are from Canada. Freshman forward Milena Bajic calls Podogorica, Montenegro, home. The Bulls have seven international players from five different nations. Ariadna Pujol, Laura Marcos Canedo and Laia Flores all hail from Spain. Maria Jespersen calls Denmark home, and Laura Ferreira is from Portugal. Nancy Warioba hails from Kenya, and Kitija Laksa calls Latvia home.

• Both teams return a lot of experience from 2014-15, and that can be seen in the numbers. Memphis returns five starters and nine letterwinners, and USF welcomes back five starters and 12 letterwinners. Both squads return over 80 percent of points, rebounds, assists, steals and minutes played from last season.

Scouting USF
The Bulls bring a 12-4 overall record and a 5-1 American Athletic Conference mark into Wednesday's contest. Wednesday's game starts a two-game road trip for USF. The Bulls play at UCF Sunday.

USF returns all five starters and 12 letterwinners from their 2014-15 team. Returning all-league performer Courtney Williams leads the Bulls with a 22.1 scoring average. She also is second on the squad in rebounding (9.1 rpg). Kitija Laksa (11.9 ppg) and Alisia Jenkins (10.9 ppg) also average double figures for USF. Jenkins leads the Bulls on the glass with a 12.2 rebounding average. Shalethia Stringfield is tops on the team with 55 assists (3.4 apg), and Williams has a team-best 23 steals (1.4 spg).

USF is shooting 41.3 percent from the floor, 34.4 percent from the three-point arc and 78.7 percent from the free throw line. The Bulls are out-rebounding their opponents by an average margin of +8.8 boards per game (44.4-35.6).