Men's basketball heads to USF to play improving Bulls

Saturday, February 2

Tampa, Fla.

11 AM

University of Memphis

USF

Tickets

Raynere Thornton (right) has had an impressive five-game stretch for the Tigers.

Photo by: Matthew Smith

Men's basketball heads to USF to play improving Bulls

Feb 01, 2019 | Men's Basketball

Memphis Notes (vs. USF)USF Notes (vs. Memphis)

Tigers playing second conference road game in four days.

By: Phil Stukenborg

TAMPA, Fla. – An improving University of Memphis basketball team, several days removed from an impressive American Athletic Conference victory at home over UCF, runs into another Florida obstacle Saturday.

The Tigers (13-8, 5-3 The American) travel to Tampa to battle USF, one of the nation's most improved teams. The Bulls endured six straight losing seasons, including a 10-22 finish a year ago, but have re-awakened this season, the second under coach Brian Gregory.

When the Bulls (14-6, 4-4 The American) face the Tigers at 11 a.m., they'll do so having won two straight behind two of the league's emerging stars: 6-foot-8 redshirt freshman Alexis Yetna, a native of Paris, France, and 6-1 point guard Laquincy Rideau, who leads the conference in assists (5.8 per game).

Yetna was named the league's freshman of the week Monday for the fourth time this season. He leads the conference with 10 double-doubles. Rideau is coming off a triple-double of 18 points, 10 assists and a league-record 10 steals.

Midway through the 2018-19 season, USF has produced the second-best turnaround in the nation.

Memphis is coming off a disappointing loss at Tulsa, dropping a 95-79 decision in a game the Tigers fell behind by 22 in the first half and never led again.

"It's tough because we just didn't have the energy again you need to have to win on the road," said Tiger coach Penny Hardaway.

In the loss, the Tigers got a team-high 18 points from freshman guard Tyler Harris, who scored all of his points in the second half. Harris made four 3-pointers, all during a two-minute stretch, to help the UofM briefly cut the Tulsa advantage to single digits.

"That's what we knew he could do from the beginning when we signed him," Hardaway said. "We knew he was a weapon and could score the ball in bunches."

Hardaway said the Tigers have proven they can be productive scoring. They lead the league with an 80-point average. He said for the UofM to make a run at one of the league's top four spots – which would earn a first-round bye in the conference tournament – it will have to improve defensively.

And the Tigers will have to open games with the same energy and intensity they displayed in the win over UCF.

"We'll try to come out with more energy," said Tigers senior guard Jeremiah Martin. "Because we know we'll be going against (USF) as well as the crowd."

QUICK FACTS

The Tigers find themselves playing yet another conference team that enjoys success at home. USF is 10-2.
After the game Wednesday, Tulsa officials corrected Kyvon Davenport's stat line to accurately reflect his totals. He had 11 rebounds (not 14) and was 4-of-13 shooting (not 4-of-16).
UofM guard Jeremiah Martin scored 14 points against Tulsa to boost his career points total to 1,234 and move past Chris Crawford and William Bedford into 25^th place. He needs 11 points to catch Orby Arnold and 15 to catch Dwight Boyd, who is in his first year as the program's director of player personnel.
Eight teams in the conference – including Memphis and USF -- have two or fewer losses at home this season.
In his last five games, Tigers forward Raynere Thornton is 26-of-41 shooting (63 percent) and averaging 12.4 points and 9.6 rebounds.