The University of Memphis men’s basketball team is standing at 17-10 on the season and is currently on a three-game winning streak. That may be in jeopardy on Thursday when the Tigers faceoff with the SMU Mustangs.
The Mustangs have won 20 of 22 games, including a home win on Jan. 8 over the Tigers, and are number one in the American Athletic Conference. Their only two conference losses have come at the hands of Cincinnati.
Coach Larry Brown’s squad is ranked no. 21 in the nation, but has faced some adversity along the way. Before the season, highly touted SMU commit point guard Emmanuel Mudiay was going to be ruled ineligible. Instead of missing a season, he headed to China to play professional basketball. He is touted as a potential top 5 pick by several draft experts.
Center Markus Kennedy was ruled ineligible for the first semester for academic violations. It didn’t stop there as sharpshooting guard Keith Frazier has been ruled academically ineligible for the rest of the season.
SMU is ranked 119th in the nation at 69.6 points per game, but is they are extremely efficient from the field. They rank 10th in the nation in field goal percentage; shooting 48.7 percent from the field.
Junior Nic Moore leads the Mustangs from the point guard position. He plays 33.6 minutes per game. Moore’s averages of 14.5 points per game and 5.4 assists per game are both team highs. The unsteady Tigers backcourt will have their hands full with Moore on Thursday.
Moore is flanked by sophomore guard Sterling Brown and senior guard Ryan Manuel. Every Mustang guard is efficient as all three guards shoot over 45 percent from the field and over 40 percent from three-point range.
Their inside attack is a three headed attack headed by senior Yanick Moreira and Kennedy. Moreira averages 11.5 points per game and 6.8 rebounds, while Kennedy averages 10.9 points per game and 5.9 rebounds per game. Both are relentless on the glass and tough on defense. Tiger forwards Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols struggled mightily against them in their loss to SMU.
The Mustang defense only allows 59 points per game, which is good enough to be ranked no. 22 in the nation. Coach Brown employs a zone defense that stifles opponents on the perimeter and inside. They hold opponents to 43.3 percent shooting from the field and 31.5 percent from three-point land.
While the Mustangs hold teams to hold to poor shooting percentages they are not turning teams over much. They only average 6.9 steals per game and 4.3 blocks per game. Despite that they have only allowed opponents to score over 60 points six times this season.
SMU vs. Memphis will take place on Thursday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. at the FedEx Forum. It will be televised on ESPN2.
