When the Tigers began the season with a 2-7 record, the fans covered their painted faces and wondered just what kind of season this was going to be.
As the team improved, their record went from 2-7 to 8-8 and the team has started to gel.
Without the contributions of Courtney Trask and John Grice due to indefinite suspension, the remaining Tigers have turned it up a notch and are on their way to turning this season around.
In the last seven games the Tigers suffered two losses.
The first loss handed to them came from the Miami Hurricanes in a 66-57 defeat.
The Tigers missed eight straight field goal attempts before Shannon Forman's three pointer in the final minute of the first half.
Miami cut an eight point deficit to 26-23 at the half, but the Tiger's shooting woes continued in the second half as they missed 20 of the first 22 field goal attempts. Meanwhile Miami went ahead to build a 17 point lead , which helped them to hold off Memphis late in the game.
Shannon Forman finished with 16 points and Kelly Wise tied his career high of 21 rebounds.
The second loss handed to the Tigers came from the Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi.
At the half, the Eagles led 39-30. Earl Barron, Modibo Diarra and Wise all got into foul trouble early in the game.
Wise fouled out with 3:33 left to play.
Barron picked up his fifth personal a little over a minute later at the 2:01 mark.
Both Barron and Wise picked up their third personal fouls in the final minute of the first half and picked up their fourth personals in the opening minutes of the second half.
Southern Mississippi shot 71.4 percent from the free throw line against the Tigers making 10 of 16 in the first half.
Memphis struggled at the line only converting 16 of 26 attempts.
Memphis cut the Eagles lead to 54-51 with 9:13 left when Shannon Forman knocked down a three with a pass from a loose ball picked up by Shyrone Chatman.
After Chatman drew a charge from Mario Myles Wise followed with a jumper from the baseline to cap the seven point run.
Even after cutting the lead to three, Southern Miss answered with Vandrel Jones scoring inside on Wise.
The Eagles scored consecutively to rebuild an eight point lead.
To get things moving, the Tigers got a win when they defeated the Kansas State Wildcats 81-58.
Memphis shot 62.1 percent from the field in the second half, knocking down 5 of 11 three pointers and forcing 11 second half turnovers.
Chatman recorded his first double digit assist game finishing with 10 against Kansas State.
He also scored eight points and had two steals.
Senior Guard Marcus Moody came off the bench to score 21 points, one away from a season high.
After defeating the Wildcats, the Tigers took out athe Howard Bison 112-42.
Memphis freshman guard Scooter McFadgon's consecutive three pointers put the Tigers up 12-0 and was a delightful taste of what was to come next.
The Tigers set a school record with 15 three point baskets, breaking the old mark of 13 set in a 96-46 win over Florida Atlantic, Feb. 3rd 1993.
McFadgon entered the game 1 of 17 from three point range but finished the night 4 of 5 from behind the arc and scored a career high of 29 points.
Senior guard Marcus Moody scored his 1,000th career point in the win when he knocked down the front end of a one and one with 28.6 seconds to play.
Moody had seven points at the half but finished with 26 going 4-6 from free throw range.
The confidence the Tigers built up against the Bison carried over to the game against the Houston Cougars.
the Tigers defeated the Cougars 86-78 in Houston and coach John Calipari recorded his 200th career win with this victory.
Barron was the high-point man with 24 points and Scooter McFadgon completed his first career double- double scoring 10 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
Saturday, the Tigers went into battle with the DePaul Blue Demons in another crucial C-USA matchup.
Chatman led the team in scoring with 18.
On the defensive end Wise finished the night with 18 rebounds, a blocked shot and four steals.
The Tigers return to action January 18th when they face C-USA foe, the University of St. Louis.
Game time is 7 p.m. at the Pyramid.
