Tigers Look For Second Straight Win on Sunday

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Memphis will look to run its home win streak to seven games on Sunday afternoon, as the Tigers play host to the Temple Owls in a 1 p.m. tip-off at FedExForum.

GAME INFORMATION
Memphis (18-7, 7-4 American Athletic Conference) vs. Temple (13-12, 4-8 American Athletic Conference)
When: Sunday, February 12, 2017
Tip-Off: 1:00 p.m. (CT)
Location: Memphis, Tenn.
Arena: FedExForum
TV: CBS Sports Network
Jason Horowitz, play-by-play
Tim Doyle, 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 OWLS

Temple comes into the second meeting with Memphis having won three of its last five games, with the last game being a 16-point, 66-50 loss at home against SMU.
    Against the Mustangs, Shizz Alston Jr. scored a team-high 13 points, while Quinton Rose poured in 12 off of the bench, and Daniel Dingle added 10. Obi Enechionyia scored eight points while pulling down 11 rebounds, as the Owls were out-rebounded 49-to-32 by SMU. Alston dished out three assists, as Temple had seven team assists against 16 turnovers.
    For the season Temple is led by Alston, who averages 14.0 points per game, with Enechionya close behind with a 13.4 point per game average. Dingle also averages in double figures at 12.5, with Rose just off of the pace at 9.7 points per game.
    Enechionyia pulls down a team-best 6.2 rebounds per game, as Temple is out-rebounded by an average of 3.2 rebounds per game. One of the top teams in the conference in terms of assist-to-turnover ratio, Temple has 355 assists against 296 turnovers this season, with Alston dishing out 101 assists, and Dingle 83.

FIVE TIMES, TOP 250

Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson is the only player in NCAA Division I basketball to be ranked inside of the NCAA's top 250 (it's national rankings cap) in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. You can see his and Memphis' complete list of rankings on page 13 of this notes package, but Dedric stands 20th in rebounds per game, 28th in blocked shots, 52nd in points per game, 221st in steals per game, and 248th in assists per game.

LAST TIME AGAINST TEMPLE

These two teams met less 13 days apart, the last time coming on January 25 in Philadelphia. In that game, Shizz Alston Jr. scored a game-high 22 points to lead the Owls. The teams went into the locker room knotted at 30; however, Temple put together a run early in the second half, as the hosts didn't trail in the second stanza. Jeremiah Martin scored a Memphis-high 16 points - all in the second half - with Markel Crawford scoring 15 and Dedric Lawson 13.

STRONG NUMBERS IN HIS OWN RIGHT

A lot is made of the stat line of Dedric Lawson, because, well, it is impressive. Not to get lost in the shuffle is an equally impressive stat line from within the same family. Memphis redshirt freshman K.J. Lawson averages 12.6 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game for the Tigers. He is one of just seven players in the country this season, and one of 62 since the 1992-93 season, to accumulate those total numbers. Among those in the past with such numbers over the past 24 years includes Penny Hardaway, Tim Duncan, Lamar Odom, David West, Greg Monroe, Evan Turner, and Draymond Green.

CLIMBING THE SCORING LIST

On Tuesday, February 7, Memphis forward Dedric Lawson became the 51st member of Memphis' 1,000-point club. His two-year career total now stands at 1,009, which is tied for 48th-most in a career in school history. Below is where Lawson stands in the career record books, and the five players immediately ahead of the sophomore, and the amount needed to catch each.

Rk.	Rebs	Student-Athlete	Date	Needs
43.	1,054	Darius Washington	1990-93	45
44.	1,040	Billy Smith	1990-93	31
45.	1,035	Cheyenne Gibson	1987-90	26
46.	1,028	Antonio Burks	2001-04	19
47.	1,026	Lorenzen Wright	1994-96	17
48.	1,009	Dedric Lawson	2015-pres.	-
-	1,009	John Hillman	1962-65

TUBBY SMITH vs. FRAN DUNPHY

The two coaches have coached for a combined 1,112 wins and 54 years on the sideline, coaching eight different programs combined. Of all of the games, 1,680 total, the team have met just twice on the basketball court, in the 1999-00 season opener as part of the Preseason NIT. Smith's Kentucky squad won 67-50 over Dunphy's Pennsylvnia team, and earlier this season when Temple prevailed 77-66.

LONG-RANGE DANGEROUS

This season Temple has made 214 three-point baskets on 598 attempts. That averages out to 8.9 makes and 24.9 attempts per game. If the Owls continue on their current trajectory, and play the minimum number of games - including one in the American Athletic Conference Tournament - Temple will end the season with 285 three-point makes (we rounded up from 284.8), on 798 attempts (again after rounding up). Those figures would put this season's squad with the third-most makes in a season in American Conference history (behind the 288 of Louisville from 2013-14 and the 287 from UConn in 2013-14), and second in attempts (behind the 809 of Houston in 2014-15). Any uptick on either average will see this seasons Owl squad clear the previous Conference record. Temple also ranks 24th in the country in its percentage of points coming from three-point baskets (37.3%)

NEARLY ONE OF A KIND

This season, University of Memphis sophomore Dedric Lawson is averaging 19.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. He is just the second player since the 1992-93 season (24 seasons) to average such numbers, joining 2016 NBA top draft pick Ben Simmons of LSU (19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists) in that grouping. Additionally, there are just two players in that same time span to average at least 10.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.0 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game, and is joined by Houston's Bo Outlaw from the 1992-93 season.

LETS PLAY A CLEAN GAME

Similar to what boxing referees tell fighters before the bout "Lets have a clean fight", the meeting between Memphis and Temple will be one of having a clean game. Both programs rank inside of the NCAA top-50 in fewest turnovers allowed, Memphis at 37th (11.6) and Temple 43rd (11.7). Memphis ranks 16th in assist-to-turnover ratio, while Temple ranks 58th.

BROTHERLY MARK TO HIT

This season, the Memphis brother duo of Dedric and K.J. Lawson average a combined 18.6 rebounds per game, second-highest such total in the country (a table with the highest teammate rebounding totals are later in this notes package. 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.

CLIMBING THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE LIST...AGAIN

Last season, as a freshman, Dedric Lawson had 17 double-doubles, which set a freshman single-season mark and was tied for the seventh-most in a single season in school history. This season through 25 games he has 16 double-doubles, and is re-climbing up that same list. Below is a list of the top single-season double-double totals in University of Memphis history.

Rk.	2B/2B	Student-Athlete	Season
1.	25	Larry Kenon	1972-73
2.	22	Don Holcomb	1971-72
3.	21	Keith Lee	1983-84
4.	20	Keith Lee	1982-83
	20	David Vaughn	1993-94
6.	19	Ronnie Robinson	1971-72
7.	17	Dedric Lawson	2015-16
	17	Kelly Wise	2000-01
	17	Keith Lee	1981-82
	17	Marion Hilliard	1975-76
11.	16	Dedric Lawson	2016-17
	16	Chris Massie	2001-02
	16	Lorenzen Wright	1995-96
	16	Keith Lee	1984-85
15.	15	Lorenzen Wright	1994-95
	15	Marion Hilliard	1974-75
	15	Ronnie Robinson	1972-73
	15	James Douglas	1969-70

KARL MALONE AWARD FINALIST

Memphis' Dedric Lawson was named as one of ten finalists for the Karl Malone Award, given annually to the top power forward in the country. Lawson is joined in the top-10 by Arizona's Lauri Markkanen, Baylor's Johnathan Motley, Cal's Ivan Rabb, Michigan State's Miles Bridges, Notre Dame's Bonzie Colson, Pittsburgh's Michael Young, Purdue's Caleb Swanigan, UCLA's T.J. Leaf, and Valparaiso's Alec Peters.

TOP-10, TOP-10, TOP-10, TOP-10, TOP-10

Memphis' Dedric Lawson currently leads the American Athletic Conference in rebounding, is second in scoring, fourth in blocked shots, ninth in steals, and 10th in assists. Ranking inside of the top-10 of their leagues in each of those five categories puts Lawson in extremely rare company, as he is the only player in the country to be in that grouping.

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Players Mentioned

Markel Crawford

Dedric Lawson

K.J. Lawson

Jeremiah Martin

University of Memphis Athletics