Tigers Women's Basketball Hosts East Carolina Saturday

Saturday, February 27

Memphis, Tenn.

2 pm CT

University of Memphis

East Carolina

Tickets

Photo by: Brandon Dill

Tigers Women's Basketball Hosts East Carolina Saturday

Feb 26, 2016 | Women's Basketball

"Senior Day" ceremonies to start at 1:40 p.m. before game's 2 p.m. tip.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Emotions will run high for Saturday's University of Memphis women's basketball game when the Tigers host East Carolina at 2 p.m. (CT) at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. But, the emotions won't be from the players or during the game.

The most emotion will occur prior to the game's tip and will come from Tigers head coach Melissa McFerrin.

"I've joked with them several times that I'm going to be a mess on their Senior Day," said McFerrin. "They don't see me like that very often. The three seniors that have been here four years are special, and the addition of Brianna Wright has been tremendous for our program.

"We're going to send away four very special players. I want our fans to send these seniors out in style."

To send the 2015-16 Tigers seniors out with a win is going to be a tough task against a talented East Carolina team. Memphis knows how good the Pirates are, as the Tigers barely escaped Greenville, N.C., two weeks ago with a 79-78 overtime win.

McFerrin is warning her team that East Carolina will play with even more urgency Saturday.

"East Carolina will be motivated, and we have to know that," McFerrin said. "We were fortunate to win at East Carolina two weeks ago. We were 'dead-in-the-water' three times in that game, but give us some credit for not giving up and not giving in to the adversity we faced there.

"At the beginning of the conference season, our players set goals for 19 overall wins and 13 conference wins. We're not quite going to reach that, but we're very close if we can get two wins this week."

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
• Memphis holds a narrow 14-12 lead in the series. The Tigers won this season's earlier meeting, a thrilling 79-78 overtime victory in Greenville, N.C., Feb. 13. On Saturday, Memphis attempts to go for the season sweep of the Pirates. The last time the Tigers won both meetings with East Carolina in a season was 2011-12 (61-59 win in Memphis; 69-56 in Greenville). Memphis has won the last four match-ups with the Pirates in the Bluff City. The last East Carolina victory in the city of Memphis was a 77-76 overtime win at FedExForum in 2009-10.

• Someone better see if we can extend the month of February for a few more days for Tigers senior Mooriah Rowser. In five games this month (Tigers are 4-1), the 5-foot-9 guard is averaging 18.4 points on 54.2 percent shooting from the field and 41.9 percent from the arc. The Rockville, Md., native also is averaging over 40 minutes played per game (40.4 mpg), a large part of that as a result of her NCAA Division I women's basketball record 64 minutes played in the five-overtime win over Temple Feb. 18.

• Although not officially released by the league office, the Tigers are expected to play in the No. 4-No. 5 game in quarterfinal action of the American Athletic Conference Tournament in Uncasville, Conn., Mar. 4-7. Memphis receives a first-round bye and plays the first game of the quarterfinal round Mar. 5. Although still to be determined, it looks as if the Tigers will face Tulane. The two teams played only once this season, with Memphis taking an 83-67 win at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse Jan. 3.

• Memphis is one of the hottest teams in league play since mid-January and the record proves it. Since Jan. 19, the Tigers have a 7-2 conference mark, which is tied for the third-best record over that span of time. Memphis is tied with Temple at 7-2. The only two teams with better records over that stretch are No. 1 Connecticut (10-0) and No. 21 USF (8-2). Also, the Tigers' only two losses over that span were road setbacks at Connecticut and USF.

• One sign if a team has solid veteran leadership is the ability to win close games. The Tigers are a perfect 7-0 in games decided by five or fewer points this season, and the primary reason for that: Memphis' four seniors in Asianna Fuqua-Bey, Ariel Hearn, Mooriah Rowser and Brianna Wright. Among that 7-0 record is a 3-0 mark in overtime games. The Tigers have single-overtime wins over No. 15 USF 88-87 and East Carolina 79-78 and an NCAA-record tying five-overtime victory over Temple 100-97.

Scouting East Carolina
The Pirates bring an 11-17 overall record and a 5-11 league mark into Saturday's American Athletic Conference match-up. East Carolina has a 5-6 road record this season, including a 3-5 mark in league play. The Pirates won their last two road conference games at Houston Feb. 17 and Cincinnati Feb. 24.

East Carolina returns two starters and six letterwinners from its 2014-15 team. Redshirt senior Jada Payne leads three Pirates averaging double figures at 19.0 ppg (third in The American). Senior I'Tiana Taylor (13.6 ppg) and redshirt junior Marina Laramie (11.6 ppg) also average double digits scoring for East Carolina. Taylor (10.6 rpg) and Payne (8.8 rpg) are ranked third and fifth, respectively, among the American Athletic Conference rebounding leaders. Freshman Alex Frazier is tops on the team with 71 assists, and Payne leads East Carolina with 52 steals. Laramie is the Pirates top three-point threat, hitting 33.3 percent from the arc.

East Carolina is shooting 39.6 percent from the floor, 28.2 percent from the three-point arc and 70.1 percent from the free throw line. The Pirates are out-rebounding their opponents by an average margin of +2.8 boards per game (40.7-37.9).