Memphis has finally made it to the Final Four no not that one, but the final four games of the conference schedule.
At 17-10 overall and currently tied for fourth place with the Cincinnati Bearcats in the American Athletic Conference with a 9-5 record, the Tigers have a lot on the line in these next four games. If Memphis finish in the top five of the AAC standings, they will earn a first-round bye.
This part of the schedule also happens to be by far their toughest stretch of the season. Memphis will play four of the top six teams in the AAC in this span. With home games against the no.21 Southern Methodist University Mustangs on Thursday and Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday, along with road games at UConn on March 5 and the Bearcats on March 8.
Memphis is 2-2 against the four teams this season. Beating Cincinnati and UConn at FedEx Forum, and falling to SMU and Tulsa on the road.
Coach Josh Pastner said after the UConn victory it was nice to beat both the Bearcats and Huskies this season, after going 0-5 against the two teams last season.
“It was nice that we were able to beat Cincinnati and UConn, and get that off of our back,” Pastner said. “They had our numbers last year. I’m glad that we’re getting better improving and making some strides and we got to continue to improve. We still have some work to do, and we just got to get better.”
The Tigers are currently on a three game-winning streak after beating the UCF Knights in overtime on Sunday, and seem to enter this tough stretch with its key players playing their best basketball of the season.
The heart and soul of the Memphis Tigers this season has been star forward Austin Nichols. The 2014 AAC Rookie of the Year is averaging 13.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.5 blocks a game, good enough for second in the country. He sets the tempo for the Tigers on offense and defense, and he’ll have to continue to be the anchor for the Tigers to keep their place in the standings through this tough stretch.
Point guard Kedren Johnson who has struggled on the season only averaging 6.2 points and 2.3 assists a game. However, he has been displaying his All-SEC in the last two games averaging 17 points, five assists and only committed five turnovers in that span.
Pastner said if Johnson continues to play at this level, the team will be better.
“If Kedren (Johnson) plays like that, we’ll win more games,” Pastner said.
Another player who’s stepping up his game lately is forward Shaq Goodwin. In his last six games, Goodwin is averaging 11.8 points, 11 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 blocks a game. As a result, he was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll twice in this span, and if he continues to play at this level, combined with Nichols, Memphis can create problems for anyone in the AAC Conference Tournament.
Guard Avery Woodson, who is shooting a team-high 41 percent from the three-point line this season, said the Tigers just have to take it one game at a time.
“We’re still making progress,” Woodson said after the UConn win on Thursday. “We got a long way to go. We still got to get better. The season is running down we just got to take it one game at a time.”
