Due to a bizarre NCAA rule, the University of Memphis men’s basketball team scrimmaged St. Louis on Saturday, but the press was not allowed to watch or know the official scoring of the scrimmage.
Despite the odd rule, Memphis coach Josh Pastner shared his observations and takeaways from the quick tune up before the season officially gets underway this week.
The Tigers lost the scrimmage by only a few points, according to a source, but the final score is not an important aspect from the scrimmage.
Pastner said every player played, except Austin Nichols (Injury) and D’Marnier Cunningham (ineligible), and he saw both and good and bad from his team, which enters the season with a plethora of unknowns.
“This was really good for us,” Pastner said. “This was the first time we’ve played a game with our whole team in a long time, and it was excellent for us. We did some good things. We also did some things we’ve got to get a lot better on.”
The Bad
The Tigers biggest struggles a season ago were turnovers, free-throw shooting and 3-point shooting. Pastner said he was surprised that his team continued to struggle in these areas on Saturday.
“We had a lot of turnovers,” Pastner said. “We have to take care of the ball. We did not shoot well from 3-point range. We have to better at that. We were not a good free-throw shooting team. Those are three areas we have to be better at.”
Although junior guard Kedren Johnson committed no turnovers, Pastner said the Vanderbilt transfer has to play better for the Tigers to be successful. Pastner added that Johnson may just need to get used to game action after sitting out a year serving a suspension at Vanderbilt.
Redshirt freshman Markel Crawford also struggled in the scrimmage, according to Pastner. However, like Johnson, Crawford has not played a competitive basketball game in two years after injuring his knee in high school.
Crawford also left the practice gym at FedExForum with his fingers taped. Pastner confirmed that Crawford had dislocated his finger during the scrimmage, and he was questionable to play against Christian Brothers on Wednesday.
Senior forward Shaq Goodwin was plagued with the turnover bug most of last season. Pastner said Goodwin just needs “to keep it simple and not go for the home run.”
The Good
Sophomore Avery Woodson can shoot the cover off the ball. According to Pastner, Woodson was the only Tiger to shoot ball well. If he keeps it up, Woodson could play himself into a starting lineup that desperately needs floor spacing.
The Blue and Gray rebounded the ball well, which comes as no surprise with the frontcourt being the team’s biggest strength. Pastner specifically singled out senior transfer Calvin Godfrey for working hard to grab boards.
Pastner also liked some of what he saw defensively, but he said the Tigers still have some things to work on to keep the opponents off the scoreboard.
“We did some good things defensively,” the sixth-year coach said. “I felt we didn’t do a good job on some things with the press. We got to be better on our press and with some of the recovery.”
The 2014-15 season tips off on Wednesday with an exhibition against CBU. There will be nothing secret about Wednesday’s game, which starts at 7 p.m. at FedExForum.
