Morale for the University of Memphis men’s basketball team seemed to hit rock bottom after an 8-6 start to the season, but a recent run of three out of four wins has the Tigers looking a little better in the American Athletic Conference standings.
The Tigers are currently 4-3 in the AAC and fifth in the standings behind Saturday’s opponent Tulane, Cincinnati, SMU and the surprise first place Tulsa Golden Hurricane. None of these teams are ranked in the AP Top 25, so the American could still be all to play for this season for the Tigers, even in what many considered a rebuilding season.
Coach Josh Pastner said in a press conference before the loss to Tulsa on Wednesday that the team’s confidence is high right now and even when the team wasn't doing well earlier in the season that they could always feel they were getting better.
“I do think our confidence is high (right now) and winning helps with that,” Pastner said. “I think guys can visualize (getting better) and it might not always come up on the scoreboard and they can see it and feel it that they are getting better. We’re not a juggernaut, we have to play at a high level to win games.”
Pastner is right about the Tigers not being a juggernaut, especially when one considers the losses against the likes of Baylor, Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin and Tulane. While these are not backbreaking losses, the fact that three of those four were at home did not help lower the backlash the team was receiving earlier in the season.
However, Pastner is right about the team getting better as the season has gone along. As a result, certain player performances have also improved, one prime example being senior forward Calvin Godfrey.
Godfrey’s Tigers career looked dead in the water after his outburst to being benched in the loss against Oklahoma State and then suspended the following game by Pastner for his behavior. Since then, Godfery has turned the corner and has played a big role in the Tigers’ three game win streak last week (Houston, Cincinnati and UCF) averaging 7.3 points and 4 rebounds and bringing a tough, physical presence to the Tigers.
Another player who has impressed during the Tigers’ win streak is junior guard Kedren Johnson. During the offseason, Johnson was brought in as a transfer from Vanderbilt University after the Commodores suspended him for the entire 2013-14 season for violating “non-academic university policy.”
Johnson was an All-SEC point guard in his stay at Vanderbilt and averaged 13.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in the 2012-13 season and the Tigers hoped he would bring that quality and experience to a team that lost four senior guards last season (Joe Jackson, Chris Crawford, Geron Johnson and Michael Dixon Jr.).
Nonetheless, Johnson has struggled to replicate that form for the Tigers averaging only 4.5 points, 1.5 assists and 1.8 turnovers per game.
The three games before the Tulsa blowout showed that Johnson still has something left in the tank as he is averaging 9.3 points and 3.3 assists, including an impressive 13-point, 5-assist performance in the 63-50 win against the Bearcats on Jan.15.
This shows that maybe people jumped off the boat a little too quickly on the Tigers this season. Maybe Pastner will eventually be proven right that the team is always getting better and it will show itself record-wise at the end of the season. Apart from a tough away game at no.3 Gonzaga next Saturday, the rest of the games on the Tigers schedule appear winnable and despite the loss at Tulsa they may be able to still go on a run to have something to play for come conference tournament time.
Maybe in a few years, this season will be the “one” to that ultimately leads to future Tigers success. But for right the now the team’s focus for better or worse as Pastner always says is about “the next game” and maybe everyone associated with Tigers basketball should take that same approach too.
