University of Memphis Athletics
Sunday, January 27
Memphis, Tenn.
3 PM
University of Memphis
vs
UCF
Tigers coach Penny Hardaway is back at home, where his team is 10-1 this season.
Photo by: Matthew Smith
Tigers face UCF in conference battle
Jan 26, 2019 | Men's Basketball
Knights are 5-1 in American Athletic play, winners of nine of past 10 games.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – In what is seen as the most challenging portion of the American Athletic Conference schedule for the University of Memphis, the Tigers find themselves facing another upper-tier league team.
Sunday in the Fight for Literacy Game at FedExForum, the Tigers (12-7, 4-2 The American) will play host to conference preseason favorite UCF (15-4, 5-1 The American) at FedExForum. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. Memphis also has upcoming games at USF (Feb. 3) and at home against league-co-leader Cincinnati (Feb. 7).
The UofM is hoping to recover from a difficult road loss at Temple Thursday night. In the 85-76 defeat, the Tigers found themselves trailing by 20 midway through the first half before rallying to make it a two-point game with five minutes remaining.
UCF, coached by Johnny Dawkins, will bring big man Tacko Fall, the 7-foot-6 center who leads the league in blocks, and veteran guards B.J. Taylor and Aubrey Dawkins, the coach's son. Dawkins, a 6-foot-6 junior, is a former Michigan player averaging 16 points per game.
"Tacko Fall is a great rim protector," Tiger coach Penny Hardaway said. "You've got to find ways to adjust to him. And, secondly, they are real methodical at what they do. They run their stuff and they are a really good defensive team because of him."
The Tigers hope to solve their long-range shooting woes. The UofM missed 22 of its 23 shots from beyond the arc, a rare futile effort. As a result, Memphis shot below 40 percent for the first time since Dec. 1.
What has been encouraging for Hardaway has been the recent play of senior guard Jeremiah Martin. Martin has benefited from a return to the point guard position. He scored a season-high 28 against Temple and had two explosive dunks.
"Right now, Jeremiah is playing really good basketball on both ends of the floor," Hardaway said. "He realized whatever he was doing early on just wasn't working for him. He's made a 180.
"His mental (approach) has changed. You can just tell in his play he is ready to lead and he's waiting on the other guys to come with him."
QUICK FACTS
Sunday in the Fight for Literacy Game at FedExForum, the Tigers (12-7, 4-2 The American) will play host to conference preseason favorite UCF (15-4, 5-1 The American) at FedExForum. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. Memphis also has upcoming games at USF (Feb. 3) and at home against league-co-leader Cincinnati (Feb. 7).
The UofM is hoping to recover from a difficult road loss at Temple Thursday night. In the 85-76 defeat, the Tigers found themselves trailing by 20 midway through the first half before rallying to make it a two-point game with five minutes remaining.
UCF, coached by Johnny Dawkins, will bring big man Tacko Fall, the 7-foot-6 center who leads the league in blocks, and veteran guards B.J. Taylor and Aubrey Dawkins, the coach's son. Dawkins, a 6-foot-6 junior, is a former Michigan player averaging 16 points per game.
"Tacko Fall is a great rim protector," Tiger coach Penny Hardaway said. "You've got to find ways to adjust to him. And, secondly, they are real methodical at what they do. They run their stuff and they are a really good defensive team because of him."
The Tigers hope to solve their long-range shooting woes. The UofM missed 22 of its 23 shots from beyond the arc, a rare futile effort. As a result, Memphis shot below 40 percent for the first time since Dec. 1.
What has been encouraging for Hardaway has been the recent play of senior guard Jeremiah Martin. Martin has benefited from a return to the point guard position. He scored a season-high 28 against Temple and had two explosive dunks.
"Right now, Jeremiah is playing really good basketball on both ends of the floor," Hardaway said. "He realized whatever he was doing early on just wasn't working for him. He's made a 180.
"His mental (approach) has changed. You can just tell in his play he is ready to lead and he's waiting on the other guys to come with him."
QUICK FACTS
- Memphis is playing its only home conference game during a four-game stretch. The stretch started at Temple Thursday and will continue next week with games Wednesday at Tulsa and Saturday at USF.
- Tigers coach Penny Hardaway and son Jayden along with UCF coach Johnny Dawkins and son Aubrey are two of 13 father-son tandems in college basketball this season. Jayden is likely to be redshirted. Aubrey is averaging 16.2 points per game.
- The Tigers are teaming with Coaching for Literacy to raise awareness about the problem of illiteracy. Donations support hundreds of youth at Memphis Teacher Residency. The Memphis staff will wear green ties and green lapel pins to bring awareness to the effort.
- The Knights have won nine of their last 10 games. Each of their three losses have been by single digits.
- Jeremiah Martin has regained the team scoring lead at 15.4 points per game. He is coming off a season-high 28-point effort at Temple.
Players Mentioned
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