For the fourth time in six games, The University of Memphis basketball squad will face a Top 25-ranked team when they travel to Fayetteville Saturday to scrap with the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Memphis (2-3), which is coming off a 32-point win Wednesday night over Tennessee-Martin at The Pyramid, has yet to beat a ranked team -- and faces another Tuesday in 7th-ranked Tennessee.
And although the Tigers used an impressive 28-5 scoring run to pummel UTM in the second half Wednesday, Memphis head coach John Calipari said his team must improve if it is to beat teams the likes of Arkansas and Tennessee. That'll include playing a solid two halves of basketball, something Calipari said Wednesday Memphis has yet to do.
"Right now, we go to Arkansas and play this way, it's 40," Calipari said, referring to how many points the Tigers would lose by.
Last season, Memphis held off Arkansas 76-71 before 16,011 at The Pyramid, thanks to Marcus Moody's three-point play with 50.6 seconds left in the game, which put the Tigers up 75-71.
The Hogs (4-1), though, clearly became a better team toward the end of the season -- as evidenced by their Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship, something a Nolan Richardson coached team hadn't accomplished in nine years of SEC play, including his 1994 National Championship team.
Sophomore swingman and All-American candidate Joe Johnson, who's averaging a team-high 15.2 points and 6.2 rebounds per game this season, leads the Razorback offense, which is loaded from top to bottom with talent. Eight other Razorback players are averaging at least 5 points per game, while 12 players are averaging double digits in minutes.
Richardson's deep bench is one of the reasons the Razorbacks' "40 Minutes of Hell" defense has been so successful this season, forcing 118 turnovers in five games. The average margin of victory for the Hogs this season has been 22.6 points.
However, the Tigers may be able to slow down Arkansas's run-and-gun offense with their decided height advantage inside. The Hogs have no players taller than 6'9" forward Larry Satchell, and no true center. That could mean a field day for 6'11" Tiger center Earl Barron and 6'10" forward Kelly Wise.
Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday at the 19,200-seat Bud Walton Arena.
