Tigers’ 2019 football schedule includes six home games
Memphis will have one Friday game this season Report: Gasol to Toronto for three players and a second round pick Conley stays, but what happens next?
Memphis football announced its 2019 schedule on Thursday, and the Tigers will have six home games for the first time since 2015.
The Tigers open at home against Ole Miss on Aug. 31. It will be Ole Miss' first game at the Liberty Bowl since 2015
OKLAHOMA CITY – In Marc Gasol’s final time on the Fedexforum floor as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, the franchise icon received a standing ovation.
Thursday afternoon, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors, according to an ESPN report.
The deal with Toronto was expected to bring Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles and a 2024 second-round pick to Memphis in exchange for Gasol.
Wright is a 26-year-old point guard averaging 6.9 points in a backup role for the Raptors. He is making $2.5 million this season and has $3.6 million qualifying offer for next season. He played at Utah in college.
Valanciunas, 26, is the Raptors’ starting center. He is averaging 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds in his seventh season. He is making $16.5 million this season and has a $17.6 million player option for next season.
Miles, 31, is a 6-foot-6 wing making $8.3 million this season with an $8.7 million player option next year in the final when Memphis won 37-24 against the No. 13 Rebels.
Memphis will open conference play hosting Navy on Sept. 26 on ESPN. It will be the Tigers' first Thursday game since traveling to Houston in October 2017.
The Tigers will also face AAC foes Temple, Cincinnati and South Florida for the first time since 2016.
Memphis will be on the road for most of October with dates at Louisianamonroe (Oct. 5), Temple (Oct. 12) and Tulsa (Oct. 26).
After playing in four Friday games
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Keep up with the latest Grizzlies news and games at Commercialappeal.com this past season, the most of any team in the country, the Tigers only have one with their regular-season finale hosting Cincinnati on Nov. 29 on Black Friday.
Memphis will have byes prior to its games against Navy and at Houston (Nov. 16).
“Our fans asked me to fight for more Saturday home games and that’s what I did,” athletic director Tom Bowen said in a statement. “To be able to get a schedule with 10 Saturday dates and still have nationally-televised home games like we will with Navy was a challenge we embraced." STORIES BY David Cobb
OKLAHOMA CITY — After the Memphis Grizzlies wrapped up an abbreviated shootaround on Thursday, point guard Mike Conley said he'll play "anywhere."
The comment came in response to a narrative that spread Wednesday suggesting Conley would prefer a trade to an Eastern Conference team.
But as it turned out, Conley was not traded at all.
The 2 p.m. Thurs- day trade deadline came and went with Conley still a member of the only NBA team he's ever played for.
"Now you can just worry about the games, worry about now and nothing can happen until the sum-
The Tigers are 10-1 in November games under coach Mike Norvell, but that will be tested with the season ending at Houston and South Florida before returning home to face Cincinnati.
The AAC championship will be held on Dec. 7.
Season ticket information will made available at a later date. Kickoff times and TV information for the Tigers' first three games are expected to be announced in June.
Memphis football schedule 2019
year of his deal. He is averaging 5.5 points in a reserve role.
The move came as the Grizzlies dealt Jamychal Green and Garrett Temple to the Los Angeles Clippers, according to reports.
Marc Gasol’s legacy in Memphis
Gasol, 34, is the franchise’s career leader in points, minutes played, rebounds and blocks.
He came to the Grizzlies in 2008 at age 23 as part of a deal that sent his brother, Pau, from Memphis to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Marc Gasol had been playing professionally in Spain and was not viewed as a surefire bet in the NBA.
In his first season with the team, however, he started 75 games.
In his third season, the Grizzlies found their stride with the “core four” — Gasol, Mike Conley, Zach Randolph and Tony Allen — and upset the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Gasol was named an All-star in 2012, 2015 and 2017.
But after Conley’s injury early in the 2017-18 season, Gasol and then-coach David Fizdale went through a falling out. Ultimately, it led to Fizdale’s firing and the Grizzlies suffered through a 22-60 campaign.
Their poor season led to a No. 4 overall selection in this past summer’s draft. The team selected Jaren Jackson Jr., who, at 15 years younger than Gasol, became an understudy to the veteran center.
“He’s just a great dude,” Jackson said. “As a person, he’s a stand-up guy. He’s there for you, he answers anything. Good locker room dude. He just brings everybody together, for real. And that’s what he did for us. That’s big fella right there. That’s my dog. He taught me a lot.”
Gasol spoke reverently of his time in Memphis after a recent loss.
“I fell in love with the people, like how they treated me,” Gasol said of the city that he moved to as a teenager when Pau’s career began in 2001.
Marc attended Lausanne High School.
As trade talks escalated on Tuesday, the Grizzlies chose to sit out Gasol during a win over the Timberwolves.
But late in the first quarter, Gasol emerged from a tunnel in Fedexforum and sat on the team bench.
As fans noticed him, applause and eventually a standing ovation, broke out.
It was his last public appearance as a member of the Grizzlies.
Reach Grizzlies beat writer David Cobb at david.cobb@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @Davidwcobb.