The Memphis Tigers will play in Dallas against conference rival SMU Sunday afternoon.
This will be Memphis’s last regular season game against SMU as a part of the American conference, since SMU is leaving for the ACC after this year.
This season SMU (18-7, 9-3) has been good. They had close losses against tough non-conference opponents, losing to Wisconsin by 8 and Dayton by 2. They lost by 3 to Memphis in their last meeting and they gave Charlotte one of their two conference losses.
SMU is 5-0 in their last 5 games with their last loss being to Wichita State on January 28th. SMU is led by their dynamic guard duo of Zhuric Phelps and Chuck Harris who average 14.6 and 13.5 points per game respectively.
Same as with North Texas, one of the most important parts of this matchup is SMU’s NET ranking. They are currently at 40th while Memphis has fallen to 80th. A win against SMU on the road would be a quadrant 1 victory which would improve Memphis’s tournament resume.
Memphis is looking to get back on track after they lost by 10 to North Texas in their last game.
The Tigers (18-7, 7-5) looked like they were back in rhythm before dropping their last game. They look to gain back some of that momentum with a win here.
Memphis struggled offensively last game, shooting 37.3% from the floor. Jahvon Quinerly is the X-factor for this team and must step up for this team to win tough games. David Jones struggled offensively last game but should bounce back to his normal self.
SMU is a tough, defensive team that has been gaining momentum, winning their last 5 contests. Memphis barely held on to beat them, 62-59, in their previous meeting. The Tigers must show up both offensively and defensively and avoid long scoring droughts if they want to win this game.
Memphis is currently outside of the bubble for the NCAA tournament. They may need to go undefeated for the rest of the regular season to have a chance at an at-large bid. A sense of urgency must be felt for the Tigers. The game is at 3 P.M. CT on ESPN on Sunday.
