No. 14 Tigers Ready For Late-Night Battle at South Florida

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The No. 14 Memphis Tigers are in Tampa to take on reigning American Athletic Conference regular season champion South Florida Thursday night. Tip inside the Yuengling Center is set for 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2.

As the back half of the conference season heats up, Memphis (20-4) enters the late-night showdown in first place of the conference at 10-1 in league action with seven games to play. The Tigers are two games ahead of North Texas (9-3) and UAB (8-3) and currently hold the tiebreaker with both.

Memphis has won 11 of its last 12 contests and carries a seven-game win streak to Tampa.

The Tigers have been led its two-headed monster in PJ Haggerty and Dain Dainja over the last five games. The duo has combined for 37.0 points, 12.0 rebounds, 8.6 assists and 2.8 steals while shooting 61.1 percent overall. They have recorded 20 or more points six times between them in that span.

South Florida (12-12, 5-6 AAC) comes into the matchup eighth in the AAC standings after being tabbed third in the preseason poll. The Bulls have dropped four of their last six outings after falling 75-70 at home to Wichita State on Sunday.

Ben Fletcher was named the interim head coach for the 2024-25 season following the tragic passing of Amir Abdur-Rahim.

Fletcher, who served as assistant head coach during the 2023-24 season, was promoted to associate head coach in June 2024.

Memphis has won five of the last six games against South Florida, but dropped the lone meeting last season in the Bluff City when the 10^th-ranked Tigers gave up a 20-point lead in the second half, falling 74-73.

GAME DETAILS
No. 14/14 Memphis Tigers (20-4, 10-1 AAC) at South Florida (12-12, 5-6 AAC)
Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025 | 8 p.m. CT
Yuengling Center (10,411); Tampa, Fla.
Television: ESPN2 (Tom Hart, pxp; Dane Bradshaw, analysis)
Radio: 98.9 THE ROAR OF MEMPHIS (Dave Woloshin, pxp; Matt Dillon, analysis)

BY THE NUMBERS

1: Win from No. 150 in Penny Hardaway's coaching career. He would be the sixth coach in program history to reach 150.
1^st: The Tigers are No. 1 in the nation in 3-point percentage at 40.3% (194-of-4681) after hitting 8-of-19 (.421) against Temple. The school record for a season is 38.8% in 2009-10.
5: Straight games with at least eight made 3-pointers for Memphis entering Sunday. It's the most consecutive games with at least eight triples made since six-in-a-row last season (Feb. 3-21, 2024).
5.8: Assists per game over the last five games for PJ Haggerty, which is tied with Tulsa's Dwon Odom for the most in the league. He's also averaged 20.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals in that stretch.
9^th: Longest active win streak in the country heading into Thursday. Akron currently leads with a 12-game streak. The Tigers also own the 9^th-best winning percentage in the country at .833.
9.2: The Tigers' average margin of victory in the last six games against South Florida. Memphis has won five of the last six in the series.
10.7: Average margin of victory for the Tigers in their current seven-game win streak. They have a 23-point win, two 12-point victories and four others by single digits.
14: Points for Dante Harris on Sunday in his first-career start as a Tiger. Filling in for injured Tyrese Hunter, he was 6-8 shooting for 14 points in 29 minutes.
17-0: Record this season when the Tigers have the lead with 5:00 to play in the game. Over the last three seasons, they are 59-5 when in front with five to play.
23: Times under Penny Hardaway that his Tigers have shot 50% or better while dishing 20+ assists in a game; all 23 have resulted in Memphis wins. The Tigers have hit the 50-20 mark three times in their last five games.
59-6: Overall record the last three seasons when the Tigers are leading with five minutes remaining in the game, including 17-0 this season.
62-3: Memphis' record under head coach Hardaway when shooting 50% overall in a game, including a 17-2 mark on the road. The Tigers are 10-1 this season when hitting 50% and have done so six times in AAC play.
71.7: Field goal percentage (43-60) for Dain Dainja over the last seven games, which leads the AAC in that span. He is averaging 14.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the win streak.
98: Total assists (61 turnovers) for Memphis over its last five games. The Tigers' 19.6 assists per game average in that span is tops in the league.

SCOUTING THE BULLS

Former Temple Owl Jamille Reynolds leads three players in double figure scoring at 12.7 points per game, and is pacing the squad in rebounding (7.6) and blocks (1.6). He is fourth in the league in overall rebounding and third in defensive rebounds per game (5.9).
Jayden Reid – a preseason second team All-AAC selection - is adding 12.1 points each time out and leads the Bulls with 42 made three-pointers and 3.7 assists per game.
Kobe Knox is the team's third-best scorer at 11.1 points.
The Bulls rank 17th nationally in fast break points (14.8), while also relying on their bench. Their 28.5 bench points per game rank 34th nationally.
They come away with 8.1 steals per game, which is second best in the conference and 66^th in the country.

UP NEXT
The Tigers have a quick turnaround before heading to Wichita State Sunday for an 11 a.m. tip on ESPN.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE TIGERS
For complete information on Memphis Tiger Men's Basketball, visit www.GoTigersGo.com and follow the team's social media channels on X, Instagram and Facebook.

No. 14 Tigers Ready For Late-Night Battle at South Florida

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dain Dainja

PJ Haggerty

Dante Harris

Tyrese Hunter

University of Memphis Athletics

No. 14 Tigers Ready For Late-Night Battle at South Florida

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dain Dainja

PJ Haggerty

Dante Harris

Tyrese Hunter

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