Tigers Host Knights in Sunday Afternoon Battle

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Tigers will look to carry the momentum gained from its road win at Houston on Thursday night into FedExForum for the 3 p.m. meeting with the UCF Knights on Sunday afternoon.

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (14-5, 4-2 American Athletic Conference) vs. UCF (14-4, 5-1 American Athletic Conference)
When: Sunday, January 22
Tip-Off: 3 p.m. (CT)
Location: Memphis, Tenn.
Arena: FedExForum
TV: CBS Sports Network
Tom McCarthy, play-by-play
Jordan Cornette, analyst
Gary Parrish, sideline
Radio: Memphis Radio Network / 600 WREC / Rock 103
Dave Woloshin, play-by-play
Matt Dillon, analyst
Forrest Goodman, pregame / postgame host
Live Stats: Memphis Sidearm Live Stats

SCOUTING THE KNIGHTS

UCF has a 14-4 overall record, including a 5-1 mark in the American Athletic Conference under new head coach Johnny Dawkins.
    In the team's last game, an 86-64 win over USF on January 17, the Knights did not trail, leading for 39:20 in the game. In the contest, Matt Williams scored an American Athletic Conference-season high 38 points, including making 11-of-21 three-pointers, and 1-of-2 from inside the arc. Tank Efianayi scored 12 points, while A.J. Davis had a 10-point, 11-rebound double-double. Tacko Fall nearly had a double-double of his own with 10 points and eight rebounds.
    UCF out-rebounded the Bulls 46-to-30, and had 18 assists on 27 made field goals, led by eight assists and seven points from B.J. Taylor. Fall and Chad Brown each had two blocked shots.
    This season the Knights have four players averaging in double-figure scoring, led by Williams who averages 16.3 points per game, including making 70 three-point baskets of his 94 total field goals made. He is converting 38.9 percent of his long range attempts. Taylor averages 16.0 points per game, while Fall averages 13.1 and Efianayi 10.9.
    Fall averages a team-best 10.3 rebounds per game for the Knights, a team that out-rebounds their opponents by an average of 12.2 rebounds per game. A.J. Davis averages 7.8 boards per game, with Nick Banyard pulling down 6.2 per contest. Taylor has dished out 48 assists, and four others: Banyard, Williams, Efianyi, and Davis, have at least 30 assists.
    Fall has a team-best 43 blocked shots, while Taylor has 17 steals to lead the team.

FIRST YEAR SUCCESS

New University of Memphis head coach Tubby Smith has opened his Memphis career with a 14-5 overall record, which stands as the seventh-best record among coaches in their first year at the current school. Below is a list of the top 13 such coaches, ranked by winning percentage, which also includes Sunday opponent Johnny Dawkins and UCF.

Rk.	Coach	School	Record
1.	Paul Weir *	New Mexico St.	17-2
2.	Tim Jankovich	SMU	16-4
3.	Matt Lottich *	Valparaiso	15-4
4.	Jamie Dixon	TCU	14-4
	Chris Beard	Texas Tech	14-4
	Johnny Dawkins	UCF	14-4
7.	Tubby Smith	Memphis	14-5
8.	Allen Edwards *	Wyoming	13-6
9.	Grant McCasland *	Arkansas State	12-6
	Ryan Odom *	UMBC	12-6
	Kyle Smith	San Francisco	13-7
11.	Kevin Stallings	Pittsburgh	12-7
	Reggie Witherspoon	Canisius	12-7
	Scott Nagy	Wright State	12-7
* First Time Head Coaches \| As of games on 1/19/2017

TUBBY SMITH vs. JOHNNY DAWKINS

Tubby Smith and Johnny Dawkins have met three times as coaches on the hardwood, once when each were head coaches, and twice when Dawkins was an assistant coach. On November 24, 2012, Smith's Minnesota team topped Dawkins' Stanford squad 66-63 in the Battle 4 Atlantis in Paradise Island, Bahamas. Smith's Kentucky squads twice faced Dawkins as an assistant coach, and both times each squad was ranked inside of the top-10, with Duke winning the two meetings, the first in December, 1998, and the second in December, 2001; both times coming in East Rutherford, N.J.

TOP THREE REBOUNDERS IN THE LEAGUE

The coming game features the top three rebounders in the American Athletic Conference. Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson currently leads the league in rebounds, averaging 10.5 boards per game, while UCF sophomore Tacko Fall averages 10.3. Standing third in the league in rebounding is Memphis redshirt freshman K.J. Lawson, who averages 8.3 boards per game. Additionally, the game has the only two players in the league (Dedric Lawson and Fall) that average a double-double on the season.

2x 30+

When Markel Crawford scored 30 at home against the USF Bulls on Saturday, January 14, he became the second member of the Tigers to score 30+ points in a game. At the time, it gave the Tigers the only sets of teammates on the list; however, during the previous mid-week game, UCF's Matt Williams drained 11 three-pointers to join Tacko Fall on the list, with Sunday's game now featuring one third of the league's 30-point scorers this season.

GETTING DEFENSIVE

UCF brings one of the nation's top defenses into FedExForum on Sunday. UCF ranks first in the country in field goal percentage defense (34.1 percent) and defensive rebounds per game (33.22), second in rebound margin (+12.3), third in scoring defense (58.6), and seventh in three-point field goal defense.

HE'S A BIG MAN

UCF sophomore Tacko Fall is 7-foot, 6-inches tall, and as such is one of the 40 largest human beings on the planet. The Dakar, Senegal native ranks second in the country in field goal percentage, making 79.4 percent of his shots (100-of-126), including a 10-for-10 game against AP top ranked Villanova.

YOUNG AND (NEAR A) GRAND

University of Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson has scored 903 points over his one-plus seasons with the program, and is one of a small number of sophomores at or near the 1,000-point plateau. Below is a list of the top 10 sophomore career scorers in the country.

Rk.	Student-Athlete	School	Games	Points
176.	Tyler Hall	Montana State	51	1,042
181.	Marcus Evans	Rice	51	1,031
203.	Chris Clemons	Campbell	49	1,002
216.	Mike Daum	South Dakota St.	55	978
265.	Dedric Lawson	Memphis	52	903
286.	Nick Emery	BYU	56	881
288.	Derick Newton	Stetson	54	876
296.	Dwayne Bacon	Florida State	53	867
297.	Tookie Brown	Georgia Southern	49	866
350.	Nick Mayo	Eastern Kentucky	52	816

TWO IN TOP-10 IN P-R-A

The University of Memphis is the only school in the American Athletic Conference with two players ranking inside of the top-10 in points, rebounds, and assists (p-r-a). Dedric Lawson and Markel Crawford rank 2nd and 6th in the league in scoring. Dedric Lawson and K.J. Lawson rank first and third in the conference in rebounding, while Jeremiah Martin and Dedric Lawson rank fourth and eighth, respectively in assists.

TOSSING THEM UP FROM DISTANCE

In addition to being one of the top defensive teams in the country, the team is also strong at long-range shooting. Individually, Matt Williams ranks fifth in three-point field goal attempts, having tossed up 180 this season, while his 3.89 makes per game ranks fourth in the country, and is sixth overall in total makes (70). Williams' game against USF, in which he made 11-of-21 from long range, ranks second in the country this season in single-game three-pointers made and tied for first in most three-point field goals attempted.

BROTHERLY MARK TO HIT

The Memphis brother duo has the second-highest mark among teammates who are brothers, trailing just Oklahoma's Blake (14.4 rebounds per game) and Taylor (5.8) Griffin for the highest combined rebounding total for brothers. The brothers were coached by current Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson.

TWO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK IN ONE WEEK

After the team's performances against UConn and Tulane, junior guard Markel Crawford was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week, while Dedric Lawson was named to the Honor Roll. Later on Monday, it was announced that the website College Sports Madness had named Lawson its National Player of the Week.

BLOCKING, THE LEADERS

With eight blocked shots in two of the last three games, the Memphis Tigers have climbed into 17th place in Division I in blocked shots per game. Additionally, Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson has moved into 13th place individually in the same category. Below are the top three teams, and the two surrounding Memphis; and the top three individuals and the two surrounding Lawson in the NCAA standings in blocked shots per game.

Rk.	School	G	Blks	BPG
1.	Oregon	19	147	7.7
2.	Georgia Tech	18	123	6.8
3.	Washington	18	122	6.8
...
15.	UConn	18	104	5.8
16.	UCLA	20	114	5.7
17.	Memphis	19	108	5.7
18.	Oakland	19	106	5.6
	Penn State	19	106	5.6
20.	Ole Miss	18	100	5.6

Rk.	Student-Athlete	Cl.	School	BPG
1.	Liam Thomas	Sr.	Nicholls	4.21
2.	Ben Lammers	Jr.	Georgia Tech	3.56
3.	Justin Tuoyo	Sr.	Chattanooga	3.56
...
11.	Andre Washington	Sr.	East Carolina	2.84
12.	William Lee	Jr.	UAB	2.79
13.	Dedric Lawson	So.	Memphis	2.68
	Mike Watkins	Fr.	Penn State	2.68
15.	Moses Kingsley	Jr.	Arkansas	2.67
16.	Brandon Gilbeck	So.	Western Illinois	2.65

TWO NEAR THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE TOP

This season, Memphis sophomore forward Dedric Lawson has 14 double-doubles, which is third-most in the NCAA. Additionally, with K.J. Lawson's seven double-doubles, Memphis is one of two teams, along with LIU Brooklyn, to have two players on the same squad that have 7+ double-doubles during the season.

MEMPHIS vs. THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE

Memphis stands with a 205-112 record all-time against the other 10 teams in the American Athletic Conference. New Memphis head coach Tubby Smith is 15-5 all-time against teams from the league.

SCHOOL	Memphis	Smith
Cincinnati	32-40 *	1-0
UConn	3-6 *	1-1
East Carolina	15-3 *	1-0
Houston	29-14 *	3-1
SMU	10-9 *	0-1
Temple	8-8	0-0
Tulane	47-11 *	3-0
Tulsa	22-16 *	2-1
UCF	18-1 *	2-0
USF	23-4	1-0
Totals	206-112 *	15-5

* Does not include wins vacated by the NCAA from the 2007-08 season: Connecticut 1; Cincinnati 1; East Carolina 1;Houston 2; SMU 2; Tulane 2; Tulsa 3; UCF 1

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST UCF

Memphis and UCF have met 21 times in each program's history, with the Tigers holding a 19-1 record in those games (along with one game vacated from the 2007-08 season). Memphis has won each of the last 10 meetings, with the margins in all 10 of the recent Tiger wins coming by six points or more.

Series Statistics

Overall Series: Memphis leads 19-1 *
Games in Memphis: Memphis leads 12-0 *
Games in Orlando: Memphis leads 7-1
Games at Neutral Site: -
Current Series Win Streak: Memphis 10 games
Longest Memphis Win Streak: 10 games
Longest UCF Win Streak: one game
Largest Memphis Victory: 49; January 10, 1973
Largest UCF Victory: 1; January 18, 2012
Most Memphis Points: 124; January 10, 1973
Fewest Memphis Points: 63; February 9, 2011
Most UCF Points: 86; January 26, 2016
Fewest UCF Points: 52; March 9, 2012

Jan. 10, 1973	Memphis 124, UCF 75	Memphis, Tenn.
Dec. 10, 1975	Memphis 76, UCF 57	Memphis, Tenn.
Nov. 27, 1976	Memphis 84, UCF 53	Memphis, Tenn.
Jan. 28, 2006	Memphis 94, UCF 61	Memphis, Tenn. ~
Jan. 31, 2007	Mmephis 87, UCF 65	Orlando, Fla. ~
Feb. 9, 2008	Memphis 85, UCF 64	Memphis, Tenn. ~ **
Jan. 10, 2009	Memphis 73, UCF 66	Orlando, Fla. ~
Feb. 10, 2010	Memphis 76, UCF 70	Memphis, Tenn. ~
Jan. 26, 2011	Memphis 77, UCF 61	Memphis, Tenn. ~
Feb. 9, 2011	Memphis 63, UCF 62	Orlando, Fla. ~
Jan. 18, 2012	UCF 68, Memphis 67	Orlando, Fla. ~
Feb. 28, 2012	Memphis 84, UCF 55	Memphis, Tenn. ~
Mar. 9, 2012	Memphis 83, UCF 52	Memphis, Tenn. %
Feb. 13, 2013	Memphis 93, UCF 71	Memphis, Tenn. ~
Mar. 2, 2013	Memphis 76, UCF 67	Orlando, Fla. ~
Jan. 29, 2014	Memphis 69, UCF 59	Orlando, Fla. v
Feb. 12, 2014	Memphis 76, UCF 70	Memphis, Tenn. v
Jan. 17, 2015	Memphis 99, UCF 79	Memphis, Tenn. v
Feb. 22, 2015	Memphis 75, UCF 65	Orlando, Fla. v
Jan. 26, 2016	Memphis 97, UCF 86	Orlando, Fla. v
Feb. 17, 2016	Memphis 73, UCF 56	Memphis, Tenn. v
~ Conference USA Game
% Conference USA Tournament
v American Athletic Conference Game
* Game vacated / does not include vacated wins

PUSHING TOWARDS A RECORD

Memphis head basketball coach Tubby Smith is tied for the NCAA all-time record, having taken five schools (Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, and Texas Tech) to the NCAA Tournament. He is tied with Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger. An NCAA berth this season would also have him become the first-year coach in program history to reach the NCAA Tournament.

NEARLY ONE OF A KIND

This season, Dedric Lawson is averaging 20.1 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. He is chasing the 1985-86 season from Miami (Ohio)'s Ron Harper to become just the second player since assists have been an official NCAA stat (1983-84 season) to average 20+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 4+ assists per game in a season. In 1985-86, Harper averaged 24.4 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game before becoming the eighth pick in the NBA draft.

HIGH UP IN THE CONFERENCE

University of Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson is one of 8 players in NCAA Division I, and the only one in the American Athletic Conference, to rank inside of the top-10 in their league standings in points, rebounds, and assists. Lawson is joined by UMass-Lowell's Jahad Thomas, New Hampshire's Jaleen Smith, St. Joseph's DeAndrew Bembry, Villanova's Josh Hart, Brown's Steven Spieth, North Carolina Central's Patrick Cole, and Niagara's Matt Scott. Additionally, Lawson and Smith, are part of an even more prestigious list, as those two rank in the top-10 in the aforementioned stats, and also blocked shots.

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Players Mentioned

Markel Crawford

Dedric Lawson

K.J. Lawson

Jeremiah Martin

University of Memphis Athletics