Tigers travel to Tulsa looking for second league road win

Wednesday, January 30

Tulsa, Okla.

7 PM

University of Memphis

Tulsa

Tickets

Raynere Thornton is averaging 12 points and 10.3 rebounds in the Tigers' last four games.

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Tigers travel to Tulsa looking for second league road win

Jan 29, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Notes (vs. Tulsa)Tulsa Notes (vs. Memphis)

UofM coming off an impressive 77-57 victory over preseason favorite UCF.

By: Phil Stukenborg

TULSA, Okla. – University of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway takes his team back on the road Wednesday hoping the Tigers can find the success they've enjoyed at FedExForum.

The UofM has won 11 of its 12 home games, dropping only a mid-December battle against the nation's No. 1 team: Tennessee.

On the road, the Tigers have struggled to find victories. Memphis is 2-6 away from FedExForum, claiming wins over Canisius at the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando and an American Athletic Conference victory Jan. 13 at Tulane. Among the team's losses on the road are three to ranked teams: No 22 LSU, No. 20 Texas Tech and No. 19 Houston.

Wednesday, the Tigers (13-7, 5-2 The American) travel to Tulsa to play the Golden Hurricane at the Reynolds Center.

Memphis is coming off its best win in first-year coach Hardaway's tenure, a 77-57 victory Sunday at FedExForum over pre-season league favorite UCF. The Tigers outrebounded the Knights by 18 (46-28) and made eight 3-pointers after going 1-23 from deep in a loss at Temple Jan. 24.

Hardaway knows Tulsa, despite its 2-6 league record, will be a difficult opponent. The Golden Hurricane remain one of the league's top 3-point shooting teams (34.8 percent) and feature veterans DaQuan Jeffries, Martins Igbanu and Sterling Taplin. Tulsa also is 10-2 at home

"If you look at the home records in our league, the teams are playing well at home," Hardaway said. "And Tulsa is one of those teams. They were picked to finish last or close to last (9^th of 12 teams) in our conference, so they are motivated.

"I saw a (Tulsa) game three weeks ago. They had Cincinnati down by nine with a minute and a half to go and lost. But they are playing really well at home."

The Tigers fell behind by 20 at Temple last week, but fought back to close the deficit to two points with five minutes left.

And against UCF, the Tigers came out with energy from the outset and never trailed. Tyler Harris had 14 points to lead the UofM, but forward Raynere Thornton had another impressive performance with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds. He is averaging 12 points and 10.3 rebounds in the team's last four games.

"Raynere is kind of figuring out who he is," Hardaway said. "I think he wanted to score more early on and that's not what we need from him. We need him to defend the way he defends. He's our best defender and we put him on the toughest players on the other team, especially the forwards. And his energy is contagious."

QUICK FACTS

Memphis has won eight of its last 10 games. The Tigers only losses during that stretch have been to No. 19 Houston and to Temple, which is 15-5 overall.
Tigers guard Jeremiah Martin enters the game with 1,220 career points to rank 27^th on the school's all-time scoring list. If he scores 15 points against Tulsa – his season average – he will move into the Top 25 ahead of Chris Crawford (1,223 points from 2011-14) and William Bedford (1,224 points from 1984-86).
Memphis leads the series, 28-17, but Tulsa has won the last three meetings at the Reynolds Center.
In the team's last meeting in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Championship on March 9, 2018, Tigers guard Kareem Brewton hit a running 3-pointer as time expired for a 67-64 Memphis victory.
The Tigers limited UCF to a season-low 57 points Sunday. Tulsa is 10-1 when it scores 70 or more points in a game.