The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team will hope to bounce back from their defeat against Tulsa Wednesday night as they travel to take on the Tulane Green Wave (13-6, 4-3 American Athletic Conference) on Saturday and try to spilt their two game road trip.
The 73-55 loss against Tulsa ended a three game winning streak for the Tigers (11-7, 4-3 AAC) and was a performance they would like to forget.
Memphis shot only 20-48 (42 percent) from the field and had 17 turnovers, the two biggest weaknesses coach Josh Pastner has repeatedly said about his team this season.
Pastner said in his press conference before the Tulsa game that regardless of the result against the Golden Hurricane that the Tigers would have to move their focus to Saturday’s matchup against the Green Wave.
In their first match up against Tulane on Jan.3 at the FedExForum, Sophomore forward Austin Nichols had a career scoring night as he finished with 28 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks but the Green Wave defeated the Tigers 74-66 in part because Tulane closed the game on a 17-4 run.
Tulane sophomore guard Jonathan Stark led the Green Wave in scoring with 24 points and also had 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals as well as accounting for all 3 three point makes for Tulane in the contest.
Since then, Tulane have been a mixed bag going 2-3 including a home loss to Temple 64-56 and losing a triple overtime thriller at UCF 103-100.
The Tigers will hope to limit the Green Wave’s trio of double-digit scoring guards. Junior guard Louis Dabney leads Tulane in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game along with grabbing 3.4 rebounds a game. Stark is second on the team in scoring at 11.9 points per game and averaged 4.3 assists a game to along with 1.5 steals. Senior guard Jay Hook completes the trio and is averaging 11.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. The trio are responsible for over half (37.4) of Tulane’s total points per game (69.3).
On the other hand, the Tigers will be looking for more production from their guards in this game specifically sophomore guard Pookie Powell and junior guard Kedren Johnson.
Though both have had their moments this season, they have not been as consistent as the Tigers would’ve hoped. Powell is averaging 5.6 points and 3.6 assists a game this season but is also averaging a team-high 2.6 turnovers per game. Johnson has not been much better as he’s averaging 4.3 points, 1.6 assists and tied for second on the team in turnovers with 1.8 a game. To win this game, the Tigers will need solid play from at least one but probably both of them.
The Tigers game against the Green Wave is on Saturday at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. Tipoff is a 7 p.m. and ESPNU plans to broadcast the game.
