The joke was made in the halls outside The University of Memphis basketball locker room at FedExForum.
Moments after an 81-68 win over Vanderbilt in the NIT quarterfinals last Wednesday, a team manager commented about going back to New York for the NIT Final Four when a someone standing in the hall said, "You guys play there more than the (New York) Knicks."
The Tigers (22-15) have indeed been frequent visitors to Madison Square Garden, making their third trip of the season and seventh in the last five years. They will make their Big Apple return against St. Joseph's (23-11) tonight.
For coach John Calipari, the return trip offers a chance for redemption. In their first two trips this season the Tigers are 1-2.
"As bad as we played last time it's almost like, 'let's go redeem ourselves,'" said Calipari, whose team suffered a 15-point loss to Syracuse and a 19-point loss to Pittsburgh. "People watching us will say they can't believe it's the same team."
Memphis isn't playing like the confused team that fell apart in the final minutes against Syracuse or the squad that showed no semblance of rhythm against the Panthers.
The Tigers are winners of six of their last seven games, their best stretch of the season.
In the span Memphis' average margin of victory is nearly 18 points.
"We're more of a seasoned team now. Plus our seniors are playing well," Calipari said. "When you have three seniors out there and a junior, even if you're point guard is a freshman, those other guys are veteran guys."
It is yet to be seen how the team will react without junior guard Jeremy Hunt, who tore his ACL in the quarterfinal win.
The Tigers were 6-1 since Hunt replaced Rodney Carney in the starting lineup. Hunt was also the only consistent ball handler other than freshman guard Darius Washington.
"(His injury) affects us a lot. He was the backup point, he also started so now we're going to have to switch up some things," Carney said. "Some other players are going to have to run point like me. We're going to have to lock down and we kind of know what we have to do."
Senior post Duane Erwin has been playing his best basketball in his last few games. In his final home game, Erwin pulled down 15 boards and tallied 10 points.
"We're ready to go to New York," Erwin said. "I'm trying to go out the way I came in, with an NIT Championship."
Memphis' run throughout the first three rounds of the NIT would've been hard to predict. After a gut-wrenching 76-75 loss to Louisville in the Conference USA Championship game that cost Memphis an NCAA bid, some wondered if the team would care enough to play well in the NIT.The spark came the day after the loss.
"After Darius missed those free-throws, he came up the next day and said, 'We're going to win this NIT for you all'," Erwin said. "That touched everybody."
- Keys to the Game
- View a slide show of last night's game
- Tiger basketball pulls together for tournament wins in C-USA and NIT