Tigers Women's Basketball Faces No. 19/20 USF Sunday

Sunday, February 21

Tampa, Fla.

11 am CT

University of Memphis

USF

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Tigers Women's Basketball Faces No. 19/20 USF Sunday

Feb 20, 2016 | Women's Basketball

Memphis-USF game to air on ESPNU at 11 a.m. (CT).

By: Lamar Chance

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The University of Memphis women's basketball team heads to Tampa, Fla., Sunday, Feb. 21 to face the No. 19/20 USF Bulls after a thrilling and grueling NCAA-record tying five-overtime victory over Temple 100-97 Feb. 18.

The Tigers-Bulls game tips at 11 a.m. (CT) Sunday from the USF Sun Dome. ESPNU is broadcasting the contest.

Despite her team playing five overtimes, Tigers head coach Melissa McFerrin doesn't want to hear any excuses in the quick turnaround to play USF Sunday. She wants no tired excuses and no hangover excuses from the exciting victory.

"We had a day off our legs Friday," McFerrin said. "Our players had ice baths and massages. We have a great trainer, and she's going to get our kids ready.

"Sunday will be about a mind-set like our five-overtime game the other night. It's about a mentality. Around this time every season, a lot of basketball teams are tired, so winning a five-overtime game should give us a little energy."

In fact, the Tigers played six overtimes in their last two games. Prior to the five-overtime game Feb. 18, Memphis had to play one extra session in its Feb. 13 win at East Carolina 79-78.

The Tigers' Feb. 18 win improved their league record to 10-5 and assured Memphis of its first winning record in conference play since 2012-13 (13-3 record in Conference USA).

"With every huge win we get, we open up another opportunity for ourselves," McFerrin said. "We'll see how long we can keep it going."

TV: ESPNU
Radio: 91.7 FM (WUMR)
Internet Video: ESPN3.com/WatchESPN
Live Stats: gousfbulls.com/livestats
LiveTweet: @MemphisWBKB, #MEMWBKB, #GoTigersGo

Tigers Tidbits/Five Notes To Know
• Memphis holds a 13-8 series lead with USF, but the Bulls have six of the last seven meetings. The last encounter, though, went Memphis' way with the Tigers taking a thrilling 88-87 overtime victory over the No. 15 Bulls at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Jan. 20. USF won last season's game in Tampa, a 72-39 victory Dec. 31, 2014. The last time Memphis posted a win over USF in Tampa was in the 2000-01 campaign. The Tigers posted an 81-71 overtime win over the Bulls Jan. 28, 2001.

• Speaking of overtime, Memphis and Temple went overtime Feb. 18. And overtime. And overtime. And overtime. And overtime. The Tigers and Owls played an NCAA-record tying five overtimes before the home team outlasted the visitors from Philadelphia, Pa., 100-97. Memphis set the NCAA record for most points in overtimes (50), and the two teams combined for 97 points in the five extra sessions, also an NCAA record. Senior Mooriah Rowser played an NCAA record 64 minutes. Well, it's a record now. The NCAA record book did not list a record for most minutes played by an individual prior to the Feb. 18 Memphis-Temple game, but the NCAA office confirmed it is adding that mark to its future record books.

• Sunday'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.

• Despite allowing 97 points in overtime Feb. 18, Memphis held Temple to under 40 percent shooting from the field. This season, the Tigers have an impressive 11-3 record (.786 winning percentage) when holding opponents to under 40 percent from the floor.

• Coaches will say you need to be good and also have a little luck to be successful. Well, the 2015-16 Tigers are getting both this season, especially in games decided by five or fewer points. Memphis is a perfect 7-0 in games decided by five or fewer points in 2015-16. In fact, three of the Tigers' last four wins were by three or fewer points, including two overtime contests. Those three wins were 54-51 over Cincinnati Feb. 6, 79-78 (ot) over East Carolina Feb. 13 and 100-97 (5ot) over Temple Feb. 18.

Scouting USF
The Bulls bring an 18-7 overall record and an 11-3 American Athletic Conference mark into Sunday's contest. USF is playing its first home game since Feb. 9 when it defeated Tulane 77-65. USF is 13-1 at home (6-1 in The American), with the only setback a 75-59 loss to No. 1 Connecticut Jan. 10.

The Bulls return all five starters and 12 letterwinners from their 2014-15 team. Returning all-league performer Courtney Williams leads the Bulls with a 21.8 scoring average. Williams also is second on the squad in rebounding (9.2 rpg). Kitija Laksa (13.4 ppg) and Laura Ferreira (10.1 ppg) also average double figures for USF. Alisia Jenkins leads the Bulls on the glass with an 11.7 rebounding average.

USF is shooting 41.9 percent from the floor, 36.7 percent from the three-point arc and 78.9 percent from the free throw line. The Bulls are out-rebounding their opponents by an average margin of +8.8 boards per game (44.0-35.2).