Tigers hope to ride the wave
The Tigers are in New Orleans today to face Tulane in their first road game of American Athletic Conference play and, at least on paper, they should be considered heavy favorites. Despite the hiring of a new coach, Mike Dunleavy Sr., who took a job in the college ranks for the first time after a 30-year career as an NBA head coach, the Green Wave are crashing hard.
They rank last in the AAC in scoring defense, field goal percentage (39.8), opponent field goal percentage (47.9) and scoring margin (-9.1 points). Who: Memphis vs. Tulane When, where: 2 p.m. Sunday, Devlin Fieldhouse, New Orleans TV, radio: No TV, ESPN 3 (streaming); WREC-AM 600, WEGR-FM 102.7 They’re also coming off a 36-point drubbing at the hands of Cincinnati. Before Saturday’s games, they were No. 289 in the KenPom ratings and No. 302 in the RPI.
For reference, Memphis beat McNeese State, 104-65, earlier this season. Tulane lost to McNeese State, 70-63, less than a month ago. Suffice to say, this isn’t a game the Tigers can afford to drop if they want to play in the postseason.
But Memphis is playing increasingly well and seems to have found an offensive and defensive identity, on the heels of inspired performances against Oklahoma, South Carolina and Connecticut in recent weeks. Can the Tigers, with wins in four of their past five games, keep that momentum rolling?
When Memphis has the ball
The Tigers are scoring more points than anybody in the AAC this year despite having the worst 3-point shooting in the league thus far. Memphis is offsetting this with its superior assistto-turnover ratio and its ability to get into the lane and create free throw opportunities
“It’s just about attacking guys, attacking those 7-footers, 6-11 guys and going through their chin, making them ... not want to block shots,” guard Markel Crawford said Thursday after Memphis beat UConn, 70-61. “I think for us it’s an every game thing — attacking as hard as possible, staying aggressive. If we stay aggressive, get to the free throw line as a team, it’s one of our strengths.”
Crawford’s emergence gives the Tigers perhaps the most potent scoring combination in the conference since forward Dedric Lawson, who has 14 assists over the past two games, continues to rack up double-doubles. Crawford, a 6-foot-5 redshirt junior, is coming off two-straight efficient outings in which he led Memphis in scoring, including a 28-point effort against South Carolina last week.
He could be due for another big afternoon considering Tulane had issues slowing down bigger guards such as Central Florida’s Matt Williams and Cincinnati freshman Jarrod Cumberland in its past two games.
When Tulane has the ball
As we noted Friday, Memphis is in the midst of its best defensive stretch in a few years after holding its last three opponents to 61 points or less. The Tigers were much more aggressive in Thursday’s win over UConn, extending their defense to cause turnovers and create fast-break chances.
Memphis will have to focus its defensive efforts Sunday on Tulane’s Cameron Reynolds, a 6-foot-7 guard who is leading the Green Wave in scoring and rebounding. It will be interesting to see how Coach Tubby Smith elects to match up with him, although I’d expect redshirt freshman K.J. Lawson to get the first crack.
Sophomore Kain Harris went off for 25 points in Tulane’s recent loss to Central Florida; Tulane held a halftime lead over the Knights in that game. Sophomore Melvin Harris is also averaging double figures in scoring for the Green Wave’s guard-heavy lineup.
Under the microscope
K.J. Lawson: The redshirt freshman appeared to emerge from a twogame funk by scoring seven points in the opening six minutes against UConn Thursday. But then he began settling for jumpers outside the flow of the offense, didn’t register another field goal the remainder of the night and finished with just two rebounds. He is now a combined 5 of 28 from the field the past three games. The Tigers are simply too thin to get such inconsistent production from the oldest Lawson brother, especially since his play had been so encouraging to start the season.
Craig Randall: The 6-foot-4 sophomore looked as confident as he had in weeks when he entered Thursday’s game in the first half to give Crawford and Lawson a breather. Randall promptly put Memphis in the lead with a nifty runner in the lane and then stroked a 3-pointer from the top of the key in succession. He finished with eight points, the most he has had since the first week of the regular season. Coach Tubby Smith doesn’t trust his bench much, but perhaps this was the effort that earns Randall a more regular role.