Memphis Tigers News Archives

February 2008

02/29/08		Tigers gear up for rival Southern Miss (Daily Helmsman)
		By: Shari Lofton Sports Editor Issue date: 2/29/08 Tomorrow, the perhaps temporary No. 2 Memphis Tigers (27-1, 13-0 Conference USA) will participate in yet another rivalry game when they travel down to Hattiesburg and play the Southern Miss Golden Eagles (15-12, 7-6 C-USA). Though this game will not draw in the high TV ratings of last Saturday's Tennessee game, the most watched men's college basketball game in ESPN history, Memphis coach John Calipari is still expecting one tough hardwood battle. "There'll be people hanging from the rafters," said Calipari. "It's going to be a vicious game-a game for men. The boys who can't bring in balls don't want to play in this game. It's going to be the challenge of challenges for us-maybe the toughest game we will have played to this point." The Tigers were able to bounce back from their first loss of the season in winning fashion Wednesday night against Tulsa. That win, their 13th conference victory of the season, gave the Tigers a guaranteed share of the regular season C-USA title. "We try not to feed into that too much but this comes first. Our conference comes first," said guard Antonio Anderson. "I'm all about our conference right now." However, between the team's performance last night and continued talks about the slumping Joey Dorsey, few players had anything to say about the title. Dorsey has combined for one point and 11 rebounds in his last two games. All season Calipari has struggled with getting Dorsey to play consistently with high intensity. Now he says it is time for his senior to decide what he wants to do. "When you think about next year, you can't play this year," Calipari said. "I feel bad for him because he's obviously going through a (bad) stretch right now in his senior year. You can tell he's feeling pressure. We just have to keep talking to him and I'm still sticking with him. He's done great things for us." Calipari said there is a chance that he will start Dorsey in tomorrow's game. That all depends on how he performs in the team's two practices leading up to Saturday's contest. However, as the regular season nears its end, and the postseason inches closer, the question remains, "Can they win a national title without Dorsey?" "No we can't. No we can't," Anderson said. "He knows that. so he knows he's got to pick it up. It's his last shot. But when it's that time of the year, everybody hits the glass, not just Joey, but everybody." The Tigers' first encounter with Southern Miss this season could not have gone any better. Not only did they beat the Golden Eagles by 36 points, they also clinched the No. 1 spot in the country after then-No. 1 North Carolina lost to Maryland earlier that day. Now almost six weeks later, the Tigers could very well reclaim the No. 1 ranking with another win over Southern Miss. "I think we're still the No. 1 team in the country, but we don't do the voting," said forward Jeff Robinson. "We don't do none of that. We just come out here, play games and play as hard as we can-pretty much leave it to somebody else to decide." The Golden Eagles are fresh off a 95-67 loss to Houston Wednesday night. The Southern Miss defense struggled to keep Houston guard Robert McKiver in check as he dropped a C-USA record 52 points in the contest. However, knowing that it is not like the Golden Eagles to lose consecutive blowouts, the Memphis players are preparing for another hostile road atmosphere. "It's going to be tough. It's going to be a tough environment for us to play in," guard Derrick Rose said. "They just lost, so it's going to be real tough going down to play." Tomorrow's game will once again be aired on CSTV with a scheduled tip-off of 3 p.m.

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02/29/08		The state of Tennessee basketball (Daily Helmsman)
		By: TJ Werre Sports Reporter Issue date: 2/29/08 Before I get into what I am about to write, please don't hate on the praise I am about to give the school that wears the color the majority of people on this campus don't care for at all. You know the one. It does not rhyme with any other word in the English language and is associated with hunting down deer, squirrels and, sometimes, tigers. There is more to this column than complimenting the Tennessee Volunteers men's basketball team, so don't throw it away just yet. Instead, I'm dedicating this space to college basketball in the state of Tennessee in general. Off the top of your head, how many states in the country have more teams ranked in the Top 25 than Tennessee? Indiana is the only one. They have four Top-25 teams: Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue and Butler. California ties Tennessee for the number of Top-25 teams with UCLA, Stanford and St. Mary's. So, what does this mean? Well, with Memphis, Vanderbilt and Tennessee all in the Top 25, this state is getting more positive national attention than it could probably get from any other source. How can this state get this much good publicity any other way? Three of Tennessee's universities received an enormous amount of exposure in the last week. The Memphis-UT game drew the highest rating for a men's basketball broadcast in the history of ESPN. I think that is unbelievable, and Calipari agreed. "This thing was watched, was followed, they had parties around the country for this thing," Calipari said. "All they kept hearing was, 'Memphis, Memphis, the city of Memphis. The FedExForum, Memphis, Memphis, Memphis.'" That is a lot of Memphis, and most importantly for Calipari, recruits got a look at what it is like to play in a big game here. I have never been to a sporting event in my life with an atmosphere like that. I've been to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, but even the Frozen Tundra didn't give me chills like I was getting at the game Saturday. The crowd was electric and recruits and prospective students got to see it. Tuesday night the Volunteers took their shiny new No. 1 ranking to Nashville, where they lost to Vanderbilt (cue collective cheer from the city of Memphis). Barring anything crazy this week, Memphis will re-take the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press poll next week. In the last four days, athletics have given this state more positive publicity than it has seen in a long time. If The University of Memphis wants to become a big-time, national university, athletic success could play a key role.

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02/29/08		Baseball Suffers Third One-Run Loss in 5-4 Setback to Ohio -- Tigers fall to 2-4 for first time since 2002 season (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Ohio (3-1) 000 100 220 - 5 11 0 Memphis (2-4) 020 000 101 - 4 7 4 Freshman Robby Graham went 3-for-4 with two doubles and junior Scott McGregor struck out seven in 6.1 innings, but Ohio scored two runs in the seventh and two more in the eighth to hand Memphis a 5-4 loss in the series opener Friday. The loss was the Tigers third one-run setback of the early season. McGregor and Ohio starter Chris Rigo matched up in what was an old fashioned pitcher's dual through the first six innings. McGregor held the Bobcats offense to just one unearned run and allowed just four hits through the first six frames. Meanwhile Rigo matched him, giving up two runs on three hits through six stanzas. Rigo, who retired 10 straight Tiger hitters from the third to sixth innings, finished the night with eight strikeouts and allowed three runs on four hits in a 6.2 inning start. The Tiger freshman put them on top in the second when Graham punched a single into leftfield and fellow rookie Adam McClain lifted a Rigo offering over the right centerfield wall for his first collegiate homer and a 2-0 lead. The Tiger freshman and Houston High School product drove in a game-high three runs. McGregor held Ohio at bay until the Tiger defense broke down to the tune of three errors in the fourth inning, allowing the Bobcats to cut the lead in half, 2-1, with an unearned run. Ohio broke the contest open in the seventh after Zach Keen lined a leadoff single through the left side and was moved over by a sacrifice bunt. Matt Stiffler then tied the game and chased McGregor with a triple off the centerfield wall. He later scored the go ahead run on a single by Matt Krauss to make it 3-2. Stiffler led Ohio's 11-hit offensive with a 3-for-5 night. Memphis answered in the next half inning with a sacrifice fly off the bat of McClain to knot the tilt at 3-3, but the Bobcats struck again. This time OU crossed two more runs on four eighth inning hits to give them a 5-3 cushion late in the game. The Tigers had their chances in the late innings, but could never find the clutch hit. Memphis left six runners on base in the game, but five of those runners were left stranded in the final three innings, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh. Graham led off the ninth with a double to left and later scored on a groundball out, but that would be it the for the U of M offense. Memphis has now lost four games by a total of five runs. Ohio reliever Matt Schlarb picked up the win after tossing just two-thirds of an inning. John Angelicchi allowed one run on one hit in 1.1 innings to earn the save. Tiger freshman Marcus Barnes was tagged with the loss after giving up two runs on five hits in 2.2 innings. He struck out three. Memphis will look to snap the current two-game skid on Sat., Mar. 1 when the two teams take the field for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

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02/29/08		Memphis Basketball Notes -- No. 2/3 Tigers to face Southern Miss Saturday in Hattiesburg (GoTigersGo.com)
		NO. 2/3 TIGERS TO FACE SOUTHERN MISS SATURDAY IN HATTIESBURG The University of Memphis squad (27-1, 13-0 C-USA), ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press poll and No. 3 in ESPN/USA Today poll, travels to Hattiesburg, Miss., Saturday, Mar. 1 to face Conference USA rival Southern Miss (15-12, 7-6 C-USA) in a 3:00 p.m. (CT) encounter at Reed Green Coliseum. The game, to be televised by CSTV, is slated for a 3:00 p.m. (CT) start. Saturday's game opens the final regular season road swing for the Tigers. After the contest at Southern Miss Saturday, Memphis travels to Dallas on Mar. 5 to face SMU in its regular season road finale. The Tigers returned to their winning ways Feb. 27 with an 82-67 Conference USA victory over Tulsa. Four days earlier (Feb. 23), Memphis suffered its first setback with a narrow 66-62 loss to then-No. 2/2 Tennessee. Before the setback, Memphis had won a school-record 26-straight games. The 26-consecutive wins not only was the longest win streak in school history, but also the best start in school and Conference USA history. The Golden Eagles enter Saturday's game having won three of their last four and five of their last seven -- all in Conference USA play. Southern Miss dropped its last outing at Houston Feb. 27, a 95-67 setback to the Cougars. Prior to that, the Golden Eagles had won three straight with C-USA victories over East Carolina, SMU and Tulane. SCOUTING THE GOLDEN EAGLES Southern Miss brings a 15-12 overall record and a 7-6 Conference USA mark into Saturday's league showdown. The Golden Eagles have won three of their last four and five of their last seven -- all in Conference USA play. Southern Miss dropped its last outing at Houston Feb. 27, a 95-67 setback to the Cougars. Prior to that, the Golden Eagles had won three straight with C-USA victories over East Carolina, SMU and Tulane. The trio of Jeremy Wise (18.8 ppg), R.L. Horton (12.1 ppg) and Courtney Beasley (11.1 ppg) paces the Southern Miss offense. Gjio Bain (5.4 rpg) and Sai'Quon Stone (5.3 rpg) lead the Golden Eagles on the glass. Wise is tops on the squad with 112 assists (4.1 apg), while Beasley is the team's top three-point threat at 34 percent from the arc. The Golden Eagles are shooting 45.3 percent from the floor, 31.3 percent from the three-point line and 68.1 percent from the free throw line. Southern Miss is out-rebounding its opponents by an average of +6.8 boards per game (39.1-32.3). The Golden Eagles take care of the ball, as they average only 13.1 miscues per contest. WITH TIE IN HAND, GOING FOR OUTRIGHT TITLE With its 82-67 victory Feb. 27 over Tulsa, Memphis clinched a share of the 2007-08 Conference USA regular season title. The win gave the Tigers a 13-0 league mark, and they can do no worse than 13-3. Houston and UAB are tied for second with 10-3 marks heading into Saturday's action. If the Tigers can win at Southern Miss Saturday, they will claim the C-USA regular season title outright for a third-straight year. The Memphis basketball program has never won three-consecutive league titles outright. The Conference USA regular season crown -- shared at this point -- is Memphis' third-straight and fourth in the last five seasons. Memphis shared the 2003-04 C-USA regular season title and then claimed the league's outright championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07. THE THREE-PEAT IS A FIRST The Feb. 27 win over Tulsa claimed not only a share of the 2007-08 Conference USA regular season title, but it also earned the Tigers' their third-straight league regular season crown -- which is a program first. Memphis has claimed league titles (outright or shared) in back-to-back years three previous times in the school's basketball history. The Tigers won consecutive regular season titles in the Missouri Valley Conference (1972/shared; 1973/outright), Metro Conference (1984/shared; 1985/outright) and Great Midwest/Conference USA (1995/outright; 1996/shared). FEBRUARY WAS FRIENDLY... While the Tigers have enjoyed success in the John Calipari era in the month of January (54-10; .844 winning percentage), February hasn't been too bad either. Under Calipari, Memphis has a 47-12 record (.797 winning percentage) in February. Last year, the Tigers posted a perfect 7-0 record in February, and the program's February win streak reached 20 straight before the Feb. 23 setback to Tennessee. Also included in that 47-12 overall mark was a 16-game winning streak in the month of February from 2001-02 through 2003-04. BUT MARCH IS WHAT'S IT'S ALL ABOUT John Calipari's teams always improve as the season progresses toward March, which is the month all college teams play for. And, Calipari's teams are ready to play in March and that can be seen in his career record in the month. Calipari has a 75-27 record (.735 winning percentage) in games played in March. In his previous 15 years as a collegiate head coach, Calipari has guided his teams to 14 postseasons (nine NCAA, five NIT). He led UMass to the 1996 NCAA Final Four and Memphis to the 2002 NIT championship. WINS IN THREE-YEAR PERIOD With its win over Tulsa Feb. 27, Memphis has won an incredible 93 games the last three seasons. The 93 victories since 2005-06 is tied for the No. 17 spot on the all-time NCAA Division I list for most wins in three years. Kentucky tops the list with 104 wins from 1996-98. Memphis is tied for the 17th spot with five other teams. The following shows the top five on that list and where Memphis stands: 1. Kentucky 1994-96 104 2. Kentucky 1947-49 102 t. Montana St. 1927-29 102 4. Duke 1999-2001 101 5. 7 teams tied 98 . . . 17. Memphis 2006-pres. 93 t. 5 other teams 93 DO YOU REMEMBER? Southern Miss was Memphis' last opponent before the Tigers climbed into the No. 1 spot in both national polls Jan. 21. Memphis defeated the Golden Eagles 83-47 on the night of Jan. 19 at FedExForum. Earlier that same day, then-No. 1 North Carolina lost at home to Maryland 82-80 to open the door for the Tigers to take over the No. 1 position. TIGERS DON'T LIKE THE GREEN... As in Reed Green Coliseum. In its last 18 trips to Hattiesburg (since 1987-88), Memphis has won only seven times (7-11 record; .389 winning percentage). Of those seven wins, three were by single digits -- including an overtime victory in 1988-89 -- and the average margin of victory in those three Tiger single-digit wins was 7.3 points. Under head coach John Calipari, the Tigers are 4-3 at Reed Green Coliseum, and the average margin of victory (by Southern Miss) in Memphis' three losses is 13.0 points. To take it further, Southern Miss is tied for the site of the most Tiger Conference USA road losses in the Calipari era (since 2000-01). Memphis has lost three times at Reed Green Coliseum since 2000-01, and is tied with UAB's Bartow Arena, where Memphis has also dropped three games in that same time period. NOT EVEN CLOSE The usual case when two conference rival schools meet is that more close games are played than blowouts, and that increases the intensity of the rivalry. Since Conference USA began play in 1995-96, the Memphis-Southern Miss encounters have been intense, but a majority of the contests have not been close. Of the 25 meetings between the two schools since 1995-96, only seven have been single-digit victories, including an overtime contest in 1999-2000 and a 67-64 Tiger win in 2006-07. In the last 25 encounters, the average margin of victory has been 15.2 points per win. In addition, only one of the last eight meetings was decided by single digits (last year's 67-64 Tiger win in Memphis). COACH CAL COACHING RETREAT WEEKEND REUNION The past six years, head coach John Calipari and his friend and Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown have held the Calipari-Brown Coaching Retreat on the Memphis campus each fall. It's a weekend where professional and collegiate coaches come to the Bluff City for the two-day clinic. Southern Miss head coach Larry Eustachy and his staff have attended the clinic the three years. CD-R LOVES PLAYING SOUTHERN MISS At least in the last three games. Here's how All-America candidate Chris Douglas-Roberts performed in the last three outings versus the Golden Eagles: Jan. 19, 2008 • Memphis 83, Southern Miss 47 Scored 19 points in only 24 minutes of action Jan. 27, 2007 • Memphis 67, Southern Miss 64 Returned to action after missing the previous two-plus games with a high ankle sprain and scored 15 points. Accounted for the Tigers' final seven points in the win. Assisted on Andre Allen's trey to give Memphis a 63-62 lead. Then scored a layup off a Jeremy Hunt block and added two game-clinching free throws with :07 left. Jan. 13, 2007 • Memphis 75, Southern Miss 62 Played despite a high ankle sprain suffered in the previous game at Houston two nights earlier. Scored a game-high 23 points and hit 14-of-17 from the free throw line. Scored five-straight points in a 7-0 second-half run to turn a 50-54 deficit into a 57-54 lead. A BOARD BATTLE ON SATURDAY Saturday's game versus Southern Miss features Conference USA's top two rebounding squads. Southern Miss and Memphis are tied for the league lead in rebounding margin at +6.8. Leading the Tigers' charge on the glass is senior Joey Dorsey with a conference-leading 10.2 boards per game. Gjio Bain is 19th in C-USA in rebounding at 5.4 rpg. IF THERE IS AN ADVANTAGE... It will be in the areas of field goal percentage defense and three-point field goal percentage defense for the Tigers. Memphis leads Conference USA in field goal percentage defense at 37.8 percent and three-point field goal percentage defense at 30.4 percent. On the other hand, Southern Miss is ranked ninth (43.0 percent) and 10th (35.5 percent), respectively, in both statistical categories.

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02/29/08		Men's Golf to Play in Charleston Southern Spring Classic -- Tigers get ready for third spring tournament (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS - The University of Memphis men's golf team will hit the road for the Charleston Southern Spring Classic March 3-4. This will be the third tournament for the team in as many weeks. So far in 2008, the Tigers have claimed 4th place at the Rice Intercollegiate and finished tied for 11th at the Rio Pinar Invitational. Tigers who qualified for the tournament are senior Ian Rochester, junior Brad Benjamin and sophomores Brandon Bunn, Jeff Hall and Mark Trow. Benjamin and Rochester each have a top-five finish this spring. Benjamin finished tied for fourth in the Rice Intercollegiate. Rochester finished third last week in the Rio Pinar Invitational. Bunn finished second among Tigers at the Rio Pinar with a tie for 34th. Hall and Trow will be competing in their first tournament in 2008. The Charleston Southern Spring Classic will be a 54-hole event, with teams playing 36 holes on Monday followed by 18 on Tuesday.

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02/29/08		Women's Basketball to Wrap Up Home Schedule Saturday -- Aroha Jennings suiting up for final game in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse (GoTigersGo.com)
		The University of Memphis women's basketball team (10-18, 7-8 C-USA) has taken it down to the wire in the quest for the No. 5 seed for the upcoming C-USA Championships and will host UCF, the host team for next week's tournament, Saturday, at 2 p.m. in the Elma Roane Fieldhouse. As it stands now, Memphis is the No. 5 seed heading in to Saturday, but there are five teams within one game of one another in the standings. Memphis needs to win the game on Saturday to try to stay ahead of ECU, USM, Marshall and Tulsa. The Lady Tigers own head-to-head tiebreaker with ECU and Tulsa, but split the series with USM and were swept by Marshall. If more than two teams end up in the tie, the C-USA tiebreaker is a mini round-robin among the tied teams. In the current round robin, Memphis is 3-1, ECU is 2-2 and USM is 1-3, but should Marshall win and move in to the tie following a Memphis loss, the Lady Tigers' would have to add the 0-2 mark and could be seeded anywhere between five and nine. In UCF, Memphis draws a regular season-ending opponent who is peaking at the right time. UCF put a scare in No. 19/25 UTEP by coming back from 14 down to pull within four in just a three minute span. Thursday night at UAB, UCF trailed by 14 at the half, and came back to pull to 66-63 with 33 seconds left in the game. With a team with nine true freshmen and one redshirt freshman on the team, it's no surprise that the league freshman of the year may be someone wearing a UCF jersey, but the question will be which one. Forward Tia Lewis ranks fifth in the NCAA in rebounding with 11.5 per game and is one of two C-USA players averaging a double-double with 12.1 points as well. Fellow freshman forward Emma Cannon is also making an impact up front, with 11.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, while freshman guard Marshay White is second on the team in scoring with 11.8 ppg and leads the team with 94 assists and 52 steals on the season. White is also the most successful of UCF's three-point shooters, connecting on 29 treys so far this year, while Jelisa Caldwell adds 23 treys of her own so far this season. Memphis vs. UCF This is the seventh meeting between Memphis and UCF and the series in knotted at 3-3. Memphis has a two-game winning streak in the series, defeating UCF 80-73 on Senior Night last year. The Lady Tigers then went to Orlando and weathered a UCF comeback from 15 down with 17:28 to play to tie the game at 56-56 with 8:28 to play. The young Knights also knotted the game again at 66-66 with 2:45 to play before a pair of back-to-back threes from Paris Leonard and Jessica Hall helped Memphis escape with a 78-68 victory. Best League Win Total in Four Years Memphis' seven league victories is the Lady Tigers' best win-total since 2003-04's nine victories. Memphis is still in the hunt for a No. 5 seed at the C-USA Championships, but needs to win out the regular season to keep an opportunity for that fifth seed. With five league teams within one game of one another, the tiebreaker situation varies depending on if two and three or more teams are involved in a tie. If two teams are tied, the first tie-breaker is head-to-head and the second tiebreaker is each team's record vs. the top teams in the league. If three or more teams are tied, the tie-breaker is a mini pool-play with the best record within the pool emerging with the highest seed and then the two-team tiebreaker would be used when it was down to two teams left in the pool. The short version of that, Memphis has to beat UCF to have a shot at a No. 5 seed. Some Pre-Season Pick! The pre-season prognosticators were a little bit off when it came to assessing where the Lady Tigers would finish for the 2007-08 season. Memphis was picked to finish 12th in the league and is currently tied for fifth in the league standings heading in to the final league date. Back Up Against One of the Nation's Best Rebounders Freshman Tia Lewis from UCF is one of a talented core of players for first-year head coach Joi Williams. Lewis currently ranks fifth in the NCAA with 11.3 rebounds per game, while fellow freshman Emma Cannon ranks 59th in the country with 8.7 rebounds per game. Both also rank among the tops in the nation in double-doubles by a freshman. Lewis still averages a double-double with 12.1 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, while Cannon averages 11.2 points and 8.5 rebounds per game following the UAB contest. Defense Holds Strong Against One of Nation's Top Offenses Memphis held Southern Miss to just 60 points in the win 64-60 victory on Thursday night. Coming in to the game, USM ranked 33rd in the nation with an average of 73.1 ppg. That marked just the fourth time this season the Golden Eagles had been held to 60 or fewer points. Leonard Knocks Down No. 100 With a three-point field goal with 11:36 remaining in the game, Paris Leonard not only tied up the game at 46-46, but had also knocked down her 100th career three-point field goal. With that triple, she is now just the sixth Lady Tiger in school history to pass the 100 career-three point mark. Former teammate Devin Necaise passed that mark last year as well. Leonard Picks Up Second Career Double-Double Paris Leonard scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her second career double-double in the USM game. The 10 rebounds is her first double-digit rebounding night of the season and the first since she was a college freshman playing in her third-ever career game against Austin Peay. She tied a fieldhouse record with 10 offensive rebounds in that game, finishing with 13 boards and 26 points. Jennings Playing Final Home Weekend Senior Aroha Jennings will be playing her final regular season home game Saturday afternoon at the fieldhouse. In her two-year Lady Tiger career, Jennings has averaged 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. She will be playing her 60th career game Saturday afternoon and will likely be making her 41st career start. Jennings also has added 93 assists, 19 blocked shots and 66 steals in her short time at Memphis after transferring from Dodge City Community College following her sophomore season. Winchell Ties Davis' Freshman Mark in Threes Freshman Alex Winchell knocked down both threes she attempted on Thursday night to move in to a tie for seventh place on Memphis' freshman single-season records chart. Winchell is now tied with former teammate Alysse Davis' mark of 29 triples from last season with one regular season game and the conference tournament still to play. She would need three more triples to tie Kitty Allen's mark 32 from 1993-94 for fifth all-time. Winchell's 94 attempted triples currently ranks fourth all-time among the Memphis freshmen, two ahead of Davis' mark. Jennings Approaching 600 Points Senior Aroha Jennings is just seven points shy of the 600 point mark in the second year of her Memphis career following a 12 point night against USM. She also needs just nine more rebounds for 300 career rebounds heading in to the end of her Memphis playing days. Bullard Rolling Toward 200th Career Point Point guard Latoya Bullard is just 19 points shy of her 200th career point through 20 career games coming in to Saturday afternoon. Bullard is shooting 40.2 percent from the floor and is also just four rebounds shy of her 100th rebound in 20 games after wrangling up a career-high eight rebounds in the win over USM. Splitting Conference Series Memphis is still looking to sweep its first-ever conference weekend. To date, the Lady Tigers have split every conference weekend on the slate. Five times, Memphis has lost the first game of a conference weekend, only to bounce back to win the second game to salvage the split. On one weekend, Memphis won the first game, but dropped the second game (Tulane/UTEP). A Fine February February was not kind to Memphis at the early onset of the calendar, as Memphis was 1-2 through its first three games of the month, but the view has improved as of late, with the Lady Tigers capping the month of February with a 5-4 record. Hall Moving in Single Season and Career Three-Point Categories Jessica Hall knocked down 2-of-7 shots from beyond the arc against USM Thursday night. With those two triples, she has now hit 47 threes on the season and has 60 threes so far in her Memphis career (which spans 56 games). The 47 threes this season already ties her for seventh in the all-time single season category in the record book, tying her with LaTonya Johnson (1994-95) and Kelly Herron (1998-99). Her 60 career threes ranks ninth in the career books, just 11 behind Lauren Jackson's (1998-2002) 71 career threes. Leonard Pushing 900 Junior guard Paris Leonard will likely be Memphis' next 1,000 career point scorer, and she heads in to this weekend with 874 career points (26 shy of the 900 point mark). First C-USA Series Sweep With the win at East Carolina, Memphis swept its first two-game league series since 2003-04 when Memphis swept former-C-USA member Saint Louis, 69-65 and 69-60.

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02/29/08		Women's Tennis Falls 4-3 to Ball State -- Lady Tigers win three of first four singles matches, but fall 4-3 (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - - Memphis won three of the top four singles matches, but came up just short in a 4-3 loss to Ball State (5-3), Friday afternoon. Head Coach Lee Taylor Walker tweaked the doubles line-up, trying to find chemistry to help Memphis win the doubles point and stop putting themselves down in a 1-0 hole to start the match. But while the new tandem of Ashley Murdock and Kristin Chamberlain, both St. Agnes graduates, won their match at No. 3 doubles, 8-2, Ball State prevailed 8-2 at No. 1 and 8-6 at No. 2 to go up early in the match, 1-0. The Cardinals then stretched out to a 2-0 lead with a win at No. 5 singles. But Ashley Murdock won her ninth straight singles match to put the Lady Tigers on the board, winning 6-4, 6-2 at No. 1. The remaining matches were tight as both Marjorie Ondeck and Lindsey Wiseman came back from first set losses to win their second sets, but in the meanwhile, Ball State added a third point with a 6-2, 7-5 win at No. 6 singles. But then White Station's Jennifer Pollack closed out a victory at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 6-2, to give Ball State the victory. Ondeck and Wiseman both bounced back to win their final sets, but 4-3 was as close as the Lady Tigers could get. Memphis will remain at home for one more non-conference match before starting a six-match road swing. The Lady Tigers will host Tennessee Tech, at 2:30 p.m., Saturday, at Rhodes College in Memphis. That match will be the Lady Tigers' first outdoor match of the spring. Ball State 4, Memphis 3 Singles No. 1 - Ashley Murdock (UM) def. Sophie Quist, 6-4, 6-2 No. 2 - Jennifer Pollack def. Amanda Brown (UM), 6-4, 6-2 No. 3 - Marjorie Ondeck (UM) def. Haly Calderwood, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 No. 4 - Lindsey Wiseman (UM) def. Emma Retter, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 No. 5 - Hayley Hall def. Ekin Zafir (UM), 6-1, 6-0 No. 6 - Georgina Thomson def. Kristin Chamberlain (UM), 6-2, 7-5 Doubles No. 1 - Haly Calderwood/Jennifer Pollack def. Ekin Zafir/Lindsey Wiseman (UM), 8-2 No. 2 - Sophie Quist/Georgina Thomson def. Marjorie Ondeck/Amanda Brown (UM), 8-6 No. 3 - Ashley Murdock/Kristin Chamberlain (UM) def. Emma Retter/Katherine Rist, 8-2

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02/29/08		Abrahamsen and Nerdal Come Up Big In Day One of C-USA Championships -- Five school records and two third place positions highlight day one (GoTigersGo.com)
		HOUSTON, Texas - Charlotte Abrahamsen and Steffen Nerdal began the day off on an amazing note for the University of Memphis men's and women's track and field teams at the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. Abrahamsen won the women's pentathlon and Nerdal won the men's weight throw. Abrahamsen started the day off on fire for the women's team as she won the pentathlon. She improved her NCAA provisional qualifying mark and her own school record by finishing with a point total of 4,004, just 46 points shy of an automatic mark. She also set a new facility record. Abrahamsen led the pack in the shot put, hurdles and high jump. Abrahamsen also broke her own school record in the high jump, leaping to a height of 1.75 meters (5-08.75). "Coming in as a freshman, breaking the conference and school record, while establishing herself as one of the best pentathletes and heptathletes in the country at this young of an age is impressive," said Head Coach KevinRobinson. "The limits on her are great. She will be an Olympic athlete at some point in her career." Eryka Morris claimed third in the pentathlon to give the Lady Tigers a 1-3 finish. Morris later competed in the long jump where she posted a distance of 18-02.50 to place eighth. In the pole vault, Ashton Baldwin and Whitney Bolton both placed on the women's side. Baldwin had a height of 3.65 meters (11-11.75) to take down third place. Bolton finished in seventh place with a height of 3.35 meters (11-00.00). Susan King placed second in the women's weight throw with a distance of XXXXX. She will compete tomorrow in the shot put, where she is ranked No. 4 nationally and No. 1 in the conference. Nerdal claimed the C-USA men's weight throw crown with a launch of 20.94. His mark is an NCAA automatic qualifying mark and he improved his previous personal best by 1.37 meters. He set a new meet and facility record and was the only competitor to throw 19+ meters. "Steffen did what we have been talking about all year," said Robinson. "We had a plan with him. We started at 60 feet and worked our way up to 68. We have been training exclusively for the hammer up until this point, so for him to do this in the weight throw which is basically a secondary event for him is amazing. Now, just like Charlotte, he has established himself as one of the premier throwers in the country in an event that we would consider secondary." Memphis also took down second, fifth and sixth place in the men's shot. Freshman Knut Syversen placed second with a distance of 18.75 meters (61-06.25), Glen Edwards placed fifth with 18.41 meters (60-05.00) improving by six feet and Seth Major had a throw of 18.26 meters (59-11.00), improving his personal best by seven feet. In the jumps, Aaron Whetstone placed third in the men's long jump with a leap of 7.11 meters (23-04.00). Teammate Jerome Leslie recorded two eighth place finishes in the long and high jump with marks of 6.61 meters (21-08.25) and 1.94 meters (6-04.25). Frashod Barlow qualified for the finals tomorrow in the 60-meter dash with a time of 6.81. He will enter tomorrows final with the second fastest time going in and a personal best record. The men's 60-meter hurdles will be stacked tomorrow as Memphis has three guys in the finals. Senior Amaechi Oselukwue leads the way with the second fastest time entering tomorrow's event with 8.19. Freshmen Darius Anderson and Preston Williams will also enter the event posting times of 8.43 and 8.45, respectively. LaShundra Kershaw broke the school record in the women's 60-meter dash, running a time of 7.58. She broke the seven year record by .02 seconds. Jessica Wright ran a personal best time of 56.97 in the 400 meters to qualify for the finals tomorrow. Her time broke a 13-year old school record by .60 seconds. Both the men's and women's track and field teams will be back in action tomorrow as they conclude the 2008 Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The women's team is currently in third place with 32 points after six events and the men's team after five events is tied in third with UTEP with 37 points.

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02/29/08		C-USA title not one Tigers want -- NCAA championship remains ultimate goal (Commercial Appeal)e
		By Jim Masilak (Contact) Friday, February 29, 2008 Winning conference titles doesn't mean what it used to at the University of Memphis. When the Tigers beat Tulsa on Wednesday night at FedExForum, the fact that they also bagged at least part of another Conference USA regular-season championship elicited barely a mention. "This is my first time really hearing about it," freshman point guard Derrick Rose said before practice Thursday at the Finch Center. Is that because winning league titles has suddenly become old hat for the the No. 2-ranked Tigers (27-1 overall, 13-0 in C-USA), who can secure a third straight outright C-USA title by beating Southern Miss (15-12, 7-6) in Hattiesburg on Saturday? Or is it because they have their sights set on bigger and better things? "That's probably the main reason," Rose said. For a team with consecutive Elite Eight appearances on its rιsumι, reaching the Final Four is widely considered to be a minimum acceptable requirement for a team with Memphis' resources. And that's just fine with the Tigers. If you're not trying to win a national championship, junior guard Antonio Anderson said, "I don't know what you're playing for." That Memphis will finish on top of a depleted C-USA is essentially taken for granted at the moment, even with the improvements at UAB and Houston. And that, in turn, is an indication of how both the Tigers' fortunes and their surroundings have changed in recent years. Between 1986 and 2004, Memphis finished alone atop its conference standings on just one occasion. The Tigers' 1995 Great Midwest Conference title under Larry Finch was their last outright regular-season championship until John Calipari finally broke through in 2006. His initial C-USA success, however, came only after Cincinnati, Louisville and Marquette left for the supposedly greener fields of the Big East. Calipari, of course, isn't about to apologize for beating up on C-USA these past three seasons. The Tigers' recent league success has served as a launching pad to a pair of deep NCAA Tournament runs, with a No. 1 seed in 2006 and a No. 2 seed a year ago. Calipari says he has long held the view that "winning the (conference) tournaments, winning the conference -- that's all part of your path to getting the highest seed you can get" in the NCAA tournament. While Calipari was greeted by a fan base starved for success when he arrived here in 2000, he says he never focused simply on winning league titles, which is perhaps one reason why the Tigers' latest success was greeted in such ho-hum fashion. "The less you think about those things, the more you win them. I'm promising you, we've never thought about it," Calipari said. "When I was at UMass, they had never won a conference title in 97 years. We never talked about it and we won a bunch of them." Anderson doesn't think the Tigers have either discounted the importance of their conference success or neglected to enjoy their various titles. Their 42-1 record in regular-season C-USA games the past three seasons is a testament to their consistency, focus and overall supremacy. "We got that the last two years and we'd love to have it again," he said of an outright league title, "but we still have to go out and play Saturday afternoon." For players like Anderson, a league championship is simply one of the markers on the way to the NCAA Tournament, a goal to be reached before moving on to the next one. "You take things as they come," Anderson said. "Conference championships come before national championships." -- Jim Masilak: 529-2311 Next for No. 2 Tigers Opponent: Southern Miss When, where: 3 p.m. Saturday at Hattiesburg, Miss. TV: CSTV (Ch. 222 Comcast digital, Ch. 610 DirecTV, Ch. 152 Dish Network)

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02/29/08		Lady Tigers shake off slow start, beat USM -- Lady Tigers 64, Southern Miss 60 (Commercial Appeal)
		By Craig Wack (Contact) Friday, February 29, 2008 Southern Miss started Thursday night's game against the Lady Tigers nearly unstoppable. In building an 11-2 lead in the opening three minutes, forward Pauline Love was making shots from all over the floor, the Lady Golden Eagles frontcourt was gobbling up every rebound and running on almost every possession. Had this been the Lady Tigers of December, the game would have been all but over before the seats at Elma Roane Fieldhouse were warm. Instead this is the almost-March version of the U of M women's basketball team. These Lady Tigers found the fortitude to shrug off Southern Miss' first punch and land a few haymakers of their own en route to a 64-60 Conference USA victory. "We've learned to play together and learned what our roles are. Everybody's doing their own part," said senior forward Aroha Jennings. "Every time we'd get a rebound or a hustle play, we'd feed off each other that way. Even though we were down a little bit of a deficit, we knew we weren't out of the game." During a nip-and-tuck second half, Stephanie Hegelson's putback gave Southern Miss (16-12, 7-8) a 58-51 lead with about six minutes left. But the Lady Tigers would not be denied -- or out-hustled. The Lady Tigers (10-18, 7-8) quickly started a mini-run that erased the deficit thanks to a 3-pointer then a free throw from Alex Winchell, two of Jennings' 12 points on a jumper and a pair of free throws from Jessica Hall. With three minutes, 43 seconds left, Memphis regained a one-point edge, 59-58. Love drained a basket to give Southern Miss its final lead, 60-58. Love ended with 27 points but only eight after halftime. The victory avenges a 77-51 loss at Hattiesburg earlier this month. Southern Miss coach Joye Lee-McNelis has noticed the improvement over the last three weeks. "I just told my coaching staff, they are one of the most improved teams in Conference USA," Lee-McNelis said. "They are a little more comfortable with one another." What has made U of M coach Blair Savage-Lansden happy during this stretch of three victories in four games, is that every player is making a contribution. "You've got to give our players credit because they could have easily folded. They've stuck together from all the ups and downs." -- Craig Wack: 529-2799

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02/28/08		Early All-Conference picks (Memphis Edge)
		Posted by Dan Wolken There are still three games to go, but the Conference USA awards are beginning to come into focus. I vote on all-conference regardless of position. In other words, the five best players belong on the first team, the second five belong on the second team, etc. Here’s how it would stack up if the season ended today. 1st team G - Stefon Jackson, UTEP G - Derrick Rose, Memphis G - Robert McKiver, Houston G - Robert Vaden, UAB F - Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis 2nd team G - Jermaine Taylor, UCF G - Ben Uzoh, Tulsa G - Mark Dorris, Marshall F - David Gomez, Tulane F - Joey Dorsey, Memphis 3rd team G - Jeremy Wise, Southern Miss G - Dave Noel, UCF F - Dion Dowell, Houston F - Robert Dozier, Memphis F - Lawrence Kinnard, UAB All-Freshman team G- Derrick Rose, Memphis G - Glenn Andrews, Tulsa G - Randy Culpepper, UTEP G - R.L. Horton, Southern Miss F - Papa Dia, SMU Player of the year: Tie, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis, and Robert Vaden, UAB Freshman of the year: Derrick Rose, Memphis Defensive player of the year: Antonio Anderson, Memphis Sixth man of the year: Lawrence Kinnard, UAB Coach of the year: Mike Davis, UAB Any thoughts? The coach of the year award always produces some interesting discussion for Memphis fans, most of whom will argue that John Calipari should get it. I’ve been a pretty big critic of Mike Davis, but I’m absolutely astounded that UAB is on the verge of making the NCAA Tournament given the roster flux this season. From the start of the conference season, he’s done a very good job and deserves to be recognized for that.

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02/28/08		2008 Tiger football -- The fall Tiger football schedule, announced Tuesday, features seven home games, the highlight being a rivalry contest on ESPN with the Louisville Cardinals at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Oct. 10 (Daily Helmsman)
		By: Shari Lofton Sports Editor Issue date: 2/28/08 Aug. 30 at Ole Miss Sept. 6 Rice* Sept. 13 at Marshall* Sept. 27 Arkansas State Oct. 2 at UAB* (CSTV) Oct. 10 Louisville (ESPN) Oct. 18 at East Carolina* Nov. 1 Southern Miss* Nov. 8 at SMU* Nov. 22 UCF* Nov. 29 Tulane* *C-USA game Tuesday, The University of Memphis officially released the 2008 football schedule. Earlier this month, The U of M announced that they would be renewing the Louisville gridiron rivalry next season. Now, the rest of the Tigers' schedule, except for one non-conference opponent to be named later, is complete with dates and game locations. Like the past five seasons, the Tigers will open 2008 against Ole Miss Rebels Aug. 30. Last season, the Rebels were able to withstand a late-game comeback by the Tigers at the Liberty Bowl to win 23-21. The Tigers haven't beaten the Rebels since 2004 when they won 20-13 in Oxford. Since then, every game between Ole Miss and Memphis has been decided by four points or less. The next two weeks following the Ole Miss game, the Tigers will play back-to-back Conference USA games. The first will be against Rice in the first C-USA opener at home in 11 years against Rice. Last season, Memphis defeated the Owls in Houston 38-35 and defeated Marshall at home 24-21. The second nonconference game scheduled in 2008 is the one-year anniversary of the Tigers' 35-31 loss to Arkansas State on Sept. 27. Then, Memphis will travel to UAB to play Oct. 2 on CSTV and then back home for what will probably be the game of year against Louisville Friday, Oct. 10 on ESPN. "This is an ESPN-set series," said Bob Winn, associate athletic director for external affairs, earlier this month when the Louisville game was first arranged. "They contacted us and asked us about the possibility of a home-and-home series beginning next year and another game as late as 2010, 2011. This year is for sure in Memphis. "From what I understand, Coach West and R.C. (Johnson) are really excited about the game," he said. "With Louisville's improving football team and basketball team and the improvements to our football team, when ESPN sees programs they are interested in, they ask them to play nationally-televised games." Along with the UAB game, Memphis will also play conference at East Carolina and Southern Methodist. They will end up the season with two home games against Central Florida and Tulane. The only C-USA teams the Tigers won't play in 2008 are UTEP, Tulsa and Houston. In total, Memphis will play seven homes games in 2008. Though only six appear on the schedule now, the last game, probably against Chattanooga, will be announced at a later date. Season tickets have not gone on sale yet. Ticket information can be obtained by calling the ticket office at 678-2331.

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02/28/08		Baseball Hosts Ohio University in Weekend Series -- Tigers look to rebound from last-inning loss on Wednesday (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis Baseball team will host its first weekend series of the year this weekend, when it welcomes Ohio University into the friendly confines of Nat Buring Stadium for a three-game set beginning on Fri., Feb. 29. First pitch for the series opener is slated for 4 p.m. Pitching Matchups Friday, February 29, 2008 • 4 p.m. Ohio - Jr., RHP, Chris Rigo (1-0, 1.29 ERA) Memphis - Jr., RHP, Scott McGregor (0-1, 0.00 ERA) Saturday, March 1, 2008 • 2 p.m. Ohio - Jr., LHP, Zach Elmer (1-0, 1.80 ERA) Memphis - So., RHP, Marc Ashley (0-1, 1.80 ERA) Sunday, March 2, 2008 • Noon Ohio - TBA Memphis - Sr., RHP, Philip Utley (0-0, 4.50 ERA) Tiger Tracks Memphis (2-3) split its two midweek contests, outslugging UT-Martin on Tuesday for a 10-7 win, before falling to Murray State 9-8 on Wednesday. The Tiger bats finally woke up a bit as the squad cranked out over 10 hits in both games. Memphis' inexperience at the plate has shown as its offense has struggled, hitting just .250 with runners in scoring position. However, the offense raised its batting average 78 points in the two games and now hits .259. Trey Wiedman hit just .083 (1-for-12) in the opening weekend, but bounced back with a 5-for-5 outing versus UT-Martin and a 2-for-2 night against Murray State. He now leads the team with a .421 batting average. Junior Brett Bowen has hit safely in four of the five games Memphis has played and is second on the squad with a .400 average. He and Wiedman have the Tigers' only two home runs of the year. Freshman Robby Graham has enjoyed success in the early portion of his career, hitting .333 and tying for the team lead with six RBI. JUCO transfer Cole Shelton hits .316. The Tiger pitching has been exactly what the coaching staff hoped for as they have held opposing hitters to a .250 average. Junior Scott McGregor, Matt Yokley and Marcus Barnes all have 0.00 ERA's McGregor (0-1) gave up two unearned runs in the seaosn-opening loss to Seton Hall, while Yokley and Barnes have worked two scoreless innings each. Marc Ashley (0-1) and Will Hudgens (0-1) both have 1.80 ERA's after giving up one earned run in five innings of work. Freshman Ryan Holland leads the staff with eight strikeouts--all coming in his collegiate debut versus Murray on Wednesday. Scouting the Bobcats Ohio is coached by Joe Carbone, who is in his 20th season at the helm of the program. The Bobcats, finished the 2007 season 23-31 overall and 8-19 in the Mid American Conference. However, with 17 letterwinners back, including six position starters, the Bobcats were picked to finish third in the MAC East division this year. With its 17 returning players, Ohio welcomes 15 newcomers this season, with 12 incoming freshmen and three transfers. Ohio went 2-1 in its opening weekend at Charleston Southern. They won the games one and two, 9-1 and 6-2, but were unable to complete the sweep on Sunday. The Bobcats hit .280 as a team, but has three guys that swung the bat well in the opening weekend. Brandon Besl has been the toughest out for the opposition. The junior hit a blistering .538 (7-for-13) in the opening series and banged out two doubles. Shortstop Zach Hartle is 4-for-10 (.400) on the year, while senior centerfielder Matt Stiffler hits .308. A 2007 ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove winner and 2008 Preseason Wallace Watch list member, Stiffler is joined by Besl for the team in RBI with three each. Led by junior righthander Chris Rigo, Ohio pitchers posted a 3.12 ERA in week one of the 2008 season. Rigo, the ace of the Ohio staff, is coming off a seven inning, one hit effort that garnered him MAC East Pitcher of the Week honors. His .053 opponent's batting average and 1.29 ERA are tops on the staff. Rigo leads a group of seven Bobcat pitchers that held Charleston Southern to a combined .207 average last weekend. Starter Zach Elmer is also 1-0 after guiding Ohio to the 6-2 win in game two last weekend. He allowed just three hits and struck out four in five innings. Transfer Joe Stover is the front runner in the Ohio bullpen. Stover has worked one outing, but was effective, holding Charleston Southern to just one run on one hit in four innings. All-Time Series vs. Ohio Memphis and Ohio have never met on the baseball diamond. However, the series does have a small bit of history as the two were scheduled to open the 2006 season at Nat Buring Stadium. Due to forecasted inclement weather, the series was cancelled. The forecasted ice and wintery mix did make its way through the Memphis area and the Tigers finally got the '06 season underway with a marquee shut at Alabama. Last Time Out Murray State 9, Memphis 8 Freshman Ryan Holland struck out eight in his collegiate debut, but several defensive mistakes allowed Murray State to score five unearned runs as Memphis missed an opportunity to extend its win streak to three games with a 9-8 loss on Wednesday. Cole Shelton, Trey Wiedman and Chad Zurcher posted multiple hits in the game. Wiedman extended his streak of consecutive hits to a program record tying seven straight at-bats with a 2-for-2 outing. Through the First Five Memphis is 2-3 for the first time since the 2002 season when it dropped consecutive contests to Villanova, Navy and Air Force after opening the year 2-0. The 2002 club finished the year 20-31. First Time for Everything Tuesday night's win over UT-Martin provided the Tigers with several career firsts. Senior K.K. Chalmers made his 2008 debut and singled in his first at-bat. Senior Neil Schenk nailed down his first career save. Sophomore Trey Wiedman slammed his first career home run and also the Tigers first round-tripper of the year. Runnin' Down Records Senior K.K. Chalmers legged out his 13th career triple in the win over Martin on Tuesday. That moves him into a tie with Cary Fenton for the program's all-time lead of 13 triples. Fenton banged out 13 triples in two seasons with the Tigers (1993-94). Gentlemen, Start Your Engines Chalmers got his senior season off to a fast start, lacing a single into rightfield and promptly stole second. The 5-7 senior swiped three bases (his 90th, 91st and 92nd) to move into fourth place all-time in Conference USA. He is just three steals away from moving past Brandon Caraway (97-00) of Houston with 95 career steals. Here is a look at where Chalmers ranks on the all-time C-USA list 14 and Counting Memphis' win vs. UT-Martin was its 14th straight triumph over the Skyhawks. The Tigers are now 30-3 all-time versus UTM-the highest winning percentage against any other opponent. Lucky No. 7 Just 23 games into his collegiate career, sophomore Trey Wiedman placed his name in the Tiger baseball record books by posting hits in seven consecutive plate appearances. Wiedman went 5-for-5 with a home run in Tuesday night's win over UT-Martin and followed that performance with lining two singles into rightfield in his first two at-bats on Wednesday. The seven hits in seven consecutive plate appearances/at-bats tied the program's record held by three former Tigers--Doug Granger (1978), Jeff Robinson (1978) and Steve Moss (1990). Wiedman did have two other plate appearances in the game and neither counted as official at-bats. He hit a sac fly to rightfield and was walked to finish the night 2-for-2. Tigers Bats Wake Up After hitting a dismal .181 in the first three games of the season, the Memphis bats finally came alive--despite the cold--in the two midweek games. The Tigers recorded just 17 hits and five runs in the Service Academies Classic, but rebounded to put up a combined 26 hits and 18 runs in midweek vs. UT-Martin and Murray. Led by Trey Wiedman, Memphis hit .361 (26-for-72) in its last two games. Make `em Earn It The Tigers could very well be sitting at 4-1 through five games. However a total of seven unearned runs have cost Memphis one victory and possibly two. Memphis fell 3-1 to Seton Hall in the opener, but gave up two unearned scores. The Tigers allowed Murray State to cross five unearned runs on Wednesday in a 9-8 loss. You May Think You Know... Despite the 2-3 record and the early struggles at the plate, the Tiger offense is not far off of the pace of the 2007 team that was known for its offensive power. A tale of the tape shows that there is a bright future for this young club. 2008 Category 2007 Dif. .259 Batting Average .267 -8 166 At-bats 172 -6 23 Runs 23 0 43 Hits 46 -3 5 Doubles 11 -6 1 Triples 1 0 2 Home Runs 2 0 18 RBI 21 -3 24 Walks 16 +8 45 Strikeouts 31 +14 Zurcher Solid at Short Many thought that the Memphis defense would suffer a big let down with the graduation of two-year letterwinner Michael Murray at shortstop. Through five games, freshman Chad Zurcher has put that thought to rest, fielding at a 93% clip. Even more impressive is that Zurcher has made just one true fielding error in 27 chances (.962 fld%). His other error came when the ball was kicked out of his glove by a runner sliding into second base. Scotty Mac Attack Junior pitcher Scott McGregor put up one of his strongest performances in a Tiger uniform in the club's 3-1 season-opening loss to Seton Hall. McGregor scattered five hit, struck out five and allowed just two unearned runs in his best outing since he fanned eight and held Tulane to four unearned runs in the first complete-game victory of his career. His outing vs. Seton Hall is a 180-degree difference from his season-opening performance at Ole Miss in 2007. Here is a look at McGregor's three season debuts. Date Opponent IP H R ER BB SO W/L Score 2/24/06 Oklahoma 6.0 3 1 0 4 3 W 2-1 2/20/07 Ole Miss 1.1 8 10 9 0 0 L 9-12 2/22/08 Seton Hall 6.0 5 2 0 0 5 L 1-3 No Freebies Memphis's pitching has been dominant, but it has aided its dominance by not walking batters. Tiger pitchers have posted a 24:2 strikeouts to walks ratio in the first five games. Scott McGregor, Will Hudgens, Marc Ashley and Philip Utley have not allowed a walk in a combined 22 innings of work. Barnes Blows `Em Away Freshman pitcher Marcus Barnes had a collegiate debut worth remembering in Sunday's 4-3 win over Air Force. The freshman entered a tie ballgame in the seventh inning and promptly proved his ability by fanning the first batter he faced. He then went on to strike out five of the six outs he recorded and held Air Force hitless in two innings of work en route to picking up Memphis's first win of the season, which was also the first victory of his college career. Freshman Debuts While Memphis starts freshmen at shortstop and rightfield and platoons a freshman at first base, Marcus Barnes and Ryan Holland are the only freshmen to see time on the mound. Both have been impressive. The two rookies account for one of the two Memphis wins and 27% of the team's strikeout totals. Here is a look at their numbers. ERA W-L APP GS CG CBO SV IP H R ER BB SO Avg. 8 Marcus Barnes 0.00 1-0 1 0 0 0/0 0 2.0 0 0 0 1 5 .000 32 Ryan Holland 4.50 0-0 1 1 0 0/0 0 2.2 4 6 2 3 8 .250 Totals 4.29 1-0 2 1 0 0/0 0 4.2 4 6 2 4 13 .181 On Deck Memphis will round out its seven-game homestand with a two-game midweek series vs. 2007 NCAA Regional participant Creighton. The Tigers and Blue Jays will face off at 4 p.m. on both Tues., Mar. 4 and Wed., Mar. 5. Memphis is 0-1 vs. 2007 NCAA teams this year.

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02/28/08		Free-Throws and Defense Push Memphis to 64-60 Win Past Southern Miss -- Paris Leonard uses second career double-double, while Jennings and Hall connect on free-throws down the stretch (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis hit seven of eight free-throws down the stretch to pick up a 64-60 win over Southern Miss in C-USA action, Thursday night. The win keeps Memphis in the hunt for a possible No. 5 seed in the C-USA championships with one game remaining in the regular season. "What great defense we played the last 2:53 or so," Head Coach Blair Savage-Lansden said. "And we hit big free-throws down the stretch, and you have to give all that credit to our players, they really stuck in there and made it happen down the stretch." For the second time in as many games, the Lady Tigers trailed with five minutes to play and came back to win after going 0-for-13 in that same situation earlier this season. Southern Miss led 58-51 with 5:53 remaining when Alex Winchell knocked down a three and then converted one of two free-throws to cut the deficit to three at 58-55 with 4:55 to play. Senior Aroha Jennings would then hit a jumper with her feet just inside the three-point arc to cut the deficit to one at 58-57 with 4:32 to play and Jessica Hall would draw a foul. Hall's pair of free-throws gave Memphis the lead at 59-58, but Memphis then missed chances to pull away with a missed jumper and a missed front end of a one-and-one from Aroha Jennings. USM then trapped Memphis with a defensive rebound under the goal, forcing a Memphis timeout. Memphis came out of the timeout, then dribbled into another trap and was forced to use its last timeout with 2:02 remaining and with just a one point lead at 59-58. On the offensive set following the timeout, Jennings lobbed a hook shot from just inside the three-point line which did not draw rim and gave the ball back to USM with 1:47 to play. Pauline Love then knocked down two of her eight points in the second half to push USM back in front 60-59 with 1:27 to play. Memphis missed a lay-up, which was rebounded by USM and the Eagles went to their end of the floor to attempt to put the game away, but a pass intended for Pauline Love bounced off her out of bounds as Paris Leonard and LaToya Bullard were pressuring both Love and point guard Andrea Barber. "We saw the play they ran at UTEP and knew what they were working for and that Love would be the one they wanted to take that shot," Savage said. "That was great pressure defense by (Leonard) and (Bullard) to make that play happen." USM quickly began fouling to try to get the ball back, but Aroha Jennings made up for missing the front end of her one-and-one earlier by knocking down both free-throws with 42 seconds remaining in the game. The first free-throw knotted the game at 60 and the second put Memphis in front 61-60. Memphis' defense then turned up the heat, as Bullard stole a ball, helping the defense force five USM turnovers in the last 43 seconds of the game. For the second time in as many games, Paris Leonard stepped up her defense and drew a charge with 23 seconds remaining for one of the USM turnovers. From there, Jessica Hall stepped to the line to knock down 3-of-4 free-throws to seal Memphis' seventh conference win. Paris Leonard would lead Memphis with 15 points and 10 rebounds, her first double-double of the season and the second of her career. Jessica Hall would finish with 13 points in her first game back since a shoulder injury at Marshall last Thursday, while Jennings finished with 12 points, including 4-for-5 from the free-throw line, and seven rebounds. Bullard added a career-high eight rebounds with five points, four assists and two steals in the win. Love led all players with a double-double of 27 points and 13 rebounds, while Stephanie Helgeson also added a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds, adding eight blocked shots. Kendra Reed was the third Golden Eagle in double-digits with 11 points and seven assists. Memphis will close out its 2008 home stand with a 2 p.m. game against UCF, Saturday. The game time was changed to accommodate travel plans and is different from all the printed materials (media guides, posters, and schedule cards). That game will be senior night for forward Aroha Jennings.

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02/28/08		No. 9 Oklahoma Hosts Tigers and North Texas in Two Day Tournament -- Memphis still looking for first win against ranked opponent (GoTigersGo.com)
		For Immediate Release Contact: Brandon Kolditz wkolditz@memphis.edu, (901) 871-5475 NORMAN, Okla. - Having won eight of its last 10 games, the University of Memphis softball team takes a three-game winning streak to the University of Oklahoma to compete in the Residence Inn Invitational beginning Saturday. Memphis (8-5) will play both North Texas (5-9) and No. 9/10 Oklahoma (13-4) twice in the two day tournament at Marita Hynes Field at the OU Softball Complex. The Tigers begin the tournament against the Mean Green of the Sun Belt Conference on Saturday at 12:15 p.m., followed by the Sooners of the Big 12 at 4:45 p.m. The U of M plays both schools for the first time in the program's history. All of the games in the Residence Inn Invitational will have live stats through GameTracker. Links can be found at GoTigersGo.com. In addition, live video is available for both of the Memphis-Oklahoma games. The live video is available to Memphis All-Access subscribers. The Sooners, who are coming off a 8-0 Wednesday victory over Conference USA foe Tulsa, are the second team Memphis will face in the top 10 this season and third in the top 25. The U of M lost to then No. 13/13 Florida State, 7-0, and No. 4/5 Arizona State earlier in the year. The Tigers are 0-7 all-time against top 25 teams, but the U of M beat two teams last season that later spent time on the top 25. Last week Memphis finished second in its second annual Blues City Classic with a 3-1 record. The only loss was a 2-1 defeat to tournament champion Morehead State. The Tigers beat Southeast Missouri, 3-1; Alabama A&M, 6-0; and Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 16-2. Junior Leila Dolfo, senior Melissa Nance and freshman Janelle Valle were named to the all-tournament team. The Tigers hit at least three home runs in two of the four games last week and the team has done it in four of the last six. As a team, Memphis hit eight home runs in the four days and totals 17 on the season for a 1.3 average per game. The Tigers hit a program record four home runs against Alabama A&M with four different players going yard. The Tigers then hit three against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with all of them coming in the second inning and two being hit by Dolfo. Memphis scored 13 runs in the second inning against UAPB on 10 hits. Dolfo totaled five RBI in the inning. The 16 runs in the game ranks fourth all-time in Memphis history as do the 17 hits and 13 RBI.

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02/28/08		Women's Tennis to Host Two This Weekend -- Lady Tigers Looking to Build on Two-Match Win Streak (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - - The University of Memphis women's tennis team (4-4) will put its two-match win streak on the line the weekend by hosting a pair of non-conference matches, beginning with another visit by Ball State (4-3), Friday, at 2 p.m. Ball State was one of the teams that competed in the Lady Tiger Fall Invitational to end the fall schedule. Memphis is coming off the heels of a 4-1 win at Southern and a 4-2 win at Murray State. In all, Memphis has won three of its last four matches to even its overall mark at .500. Sophomore Ashley Murdock continues to carry momentum with her into matches, having won eight straight matches, including three straight at the No. 1 singles spot. Teammate Amanda Brown has also started a win streak of her own at No. 2 singles, winning her last match in straight sets. Marjorie Ondeck and Ekin Zafir both bring two-match winning streaks in to Friday's match. Ondeck improved to 5-2 at No. 3 singles with a 6-0, 6-2 win at Murray State, while Zafir did not get the opportunity to finish her Murray State match, in which she had split sets before the match was decided. Kristin Chamberlain also has a one-match winning streak, clinching the victory at Murray State with her win at No. 6 singles. Ball State is 4-3 so far this season, and is playing just their second match of the year away from Muncie. Sophie Quist leads the team with a 3-3 mark at No. 1 singles. Both Haly Calderwood and Jennifer Pollack have played matches at No. 2 singles so far this season for Ball State, with Calderwood sporting a 1-3 record, while Pollack is 1-2. Pollack is 3-1 at No. 3 singles, while Calderwood is 1-1 at the No. 3 slot. Emma Retter has played a majority of the matches at No. 4, carrying a 3-2 mark, while both Hayley Hall and Georgina Thomson had two wins at the No. 5 spot. Thomson also has three losses at No. 5. Katherine Rist and Thomson have shared time at the No. 6 slot. Rist has played five matches there, with a 2-3 mark, while Thomson is 2-0 at the sixth slot. The top doubles slot for Ball State is occupied by Calderwood and Pollack, who are 4-3 so far this year. Two different teams have played at the No. 2 spot and three different teams have played at No. 3, with the team combining for a 4-3 record at both the No. 2 and 3 doubles spots so far this season. Tennessee Tech will be the Lady Tigers' opponents on Saturday, at 4 p.m. The Golden Eagles are 2-5 so far this season and have picked up both wins in their last three matches. The Memphis match will be their ninth straight match they have played away from Cookeville, as part of a 12-match road schedule to open their season. Both matches will be played at WellWorx, located at 6161 Shelby Oaks Drive.

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02/28/08		Track and Field Gets Ready For C-USA Championships -- Tigers are on the prowl at C-USA's (GoTigersGo.com)
		HOUSTON, Texas - The University of Memphis men's and women's track and field programs will compete in the Conference USA Indoor Track and Field Championships this weekend. The meet will be held at the University of Houston's Yeoman Fieldhouse on Friday February 29 and Saturday Mach 1. The women's side is highlighted by an all-around core group. Susan King and Sivan Aballi stand 1-2 in the shot put. King leads the throws as she ranks No. 4 in the nation in the shot put and stands atop the C-USA leader board. Aballi sits in the No. 2 position in the conference and No. 19 in the nation in the shot put. Pentathletes Charlotte Abrahamsen and Eryka Morris are among the top in the women's pentathlon as they face-off in the competitive event. The pole vaulting duo of Whitney Bolton and Ashton Baldwin are two veterans who will look to soar to new heights. The pair finished second and third in the event last year. The men's team is looking to continue off an amazing outdoor season last year. The Tigers enter the meet with C-USA top performances by Steffen Nerdal and Glen Edwards. Nerdal has an NCAA provisional qualifying mark of 19.56 meters in the weight throw which leads the conference. He was named C-USA Male Indoor Athlete of the Week, this past week. Edwards is returning to defend his title in the shot put. He has a conference leading mark in the shot put of 17.29 meters. Memphis holds the top four performances in the men's shot entering this weekend's competition. Top performances throughout the season from newcomers Frashod Barlow and Aaron Whetstone will be a highlight to the weekend. Barlow ranks second in the 60-meters entering this weekend's festivities. Whetstone who earned C-USA Indoor Male Track and Field Athlete of the Week twice this season, ranks in the top ten in both the long and triple jump. The women's team placed fifth last year, while the men's team tied for fourth. All-session tickets are available for only $15 for adults and $8 for youth. Single-day tickets are available for $10 for adults and $5 for students with ID. All students from Conference USA schools are admitted free with a valid student ID. Fans can also track the championship via live scoring by logging onto http://www.flashresults.com/flashtexas/cusaindoor08/.

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02/28/08		U of M clinches share of 3rd straight C-USA crown with victory (Commercial Appeal)
		By Dan Wolken (Contact) Wednesday, February 27, 2008 It was nothing personal, Tulsa. Coming off its first regular season loss in 14 months, the University of Memphis was in desperate need Wednesday of something to feel good about. And you just happened to be the next team on the schedule. Still stinging from the end of its undefeated season -- at the hands of Tennessee, no less -- the No. 2 Tigers bounced back with an 82-67 victory over Tulsa at FedExForum, clinching a share of their third straight Conference USA championship in the process. "It's good to win," coach John Calipari said, "just to get that other thing out of your system." Losses are so rare around here, see, Calipari doesn't even know the right terminology to use. And with March looming, the Tigers (27-1, 13-0 C-USA) want to ensure they don't have to learn. But to win a national title, the Tigers understood they had to start playing their brand of basketball again, something they admittedly lost sight of during their drive for perfection. To that end, there were plenty of positive steps Wednesday, including more points from the bench (43) than from the starters (39), big numbers in the hustle categories (11 steals and 15 offensive rebounds) and a nearly flawless 43-19 first half before the intensity dipped late. Memphis also got back to executing its offense, which broke down on every level against Tennessee. Instead of the stagnant, one-pass-and-shoot team the Tigers became that night, they got back to their aggressive driving motion, getting to the rim for easy shots and swinging the ball from side to side for open 3-pointers. "It was much better," said junior forward Robert Dozier, who had 11 points and eight rebounds. "We watched the game tape, and we made one or two passes and threw up a shot. This game, coach talked about execution. We made four or five passes at a time, and guys got easier looks and shots they normally make." Though the Tigers talked confidently about a quick recovery, Calipari was worried. In 1996, when his UMass team lost to George Washington after a 26-0 start, it needed overtime to beat St. Joseph's a couple of days later. Plus, Memphis was bumping up against Tulsa (15-11, 6-7), which came in on a five-game win streak. This time, however, Memphis cracked Tulsa's defense by shooting 48.4 percent from the field and committing just nine turnovers. It helped, of course, that the Tigers made eight of their first 14 from 3-point range to open a 36-14 lead and finished 13-of-25 from three-point range. But they were higher-quality threes because the Tigers played unselfishly, getting three and four drives per possession and assisting on eight of their first 13 baskets -- all the things they focused on Monday and Tuesday in practice. How unselfish were they? Leading scorer Chris Douglas-Roberts, who averages just 1.5 assists per game, had three before even attempting a field goal. "We worked on our motion offense," said sophomore Doneal Mack, who scored 12 points. "When we did it, we got layups and open threes. The motion offense really worked. They were wide open instead of with a person in your face trying to get off of a defender." With reserve point guard Willie Kemp making three first-half 3-pointers, the Tigers had a 24-point margin at the break without Douglas-Roberts even getting on the scoresheet. Memphis' defense forced 10 turnovers in the first half, converting them into 14 points. "We've been playing really well, but it's almost like everyone sort of knows, what's going to happen with them?" Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik said. "Are they going to come back and play that well, or are they going to be questioning themselves because it's such a disappointment? They had such high hopes to go undefeated, and you just weren't sure how they were going to come out, but it's a tribute to them. They did play extremely well, and they did play together, and they played with aggressiveness." Once the Tigers opened a 28-point lead early in the second half, they could not sustain that aggressiveness. Tulsa kept working, getting the deficit back to 12 near the 2-minute mark. But even that couldn't take away from as complete an effort as Memphis could have expected following a loss so disappointing. "For a lot of people, Saturday was probably was their first time seeing us, but we let them down," said sophomore Shawn Taggart, who scored 12 points. "We just had to play ball and show the nation we're still here." Reach Dan Wolken at 529-2365; read his blogs on the Tigers at thememphisedge.com.

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02/28/08		Kemp emerges from slump -- Tiger guard scores 14 to lead re-energized reserves (Commercial Appeal)
		By Jim Masilak (Contact) Thursday, February 28, 2008 Willie Kemp couldn't remember the last time he had a good game. Now the University of Memphis sophomore has one to build upon. The former Bolivar High standout scored a team-high 14 points off the bench and went 4-of-7 from the 3-point line Wednesday night in the No. 2 Tigers' 82-67 victory over Tulsa at FedExForum. It was the first time since a Jan. 5 win over Pepperdine that Kemp scored in double figures and hit more than two threes in a game. His performance against the Golden Hurricane also broke a personal string of four straight games without a made three. "It's been very frustrating," Kemp said, "but I knew my time was gonna come. I've just got to be ready to go out and perform when my time comes." Because he has been so erratic in games against the more straightforward opponents on the Tigers' schedule, Kemp has essentially been anchored to the bench against higher-profile opponents -- particularly of late. He played a total of 14 minutes in recent games against Houston, UAB and Tennessee, stripping his warmups for an extended period only in a rout of Tulane. After averaging 16.6 minutes through the Tigers' first 17 games, Kemp was limited to 9.7 minutes in his last 10 outings before finally breaking through Wednesday against Tulsa. "That was great to see him break out of that slump because Willie's been struggling the last two or three weeks," junior forward Robert Dozier said. "If he's been frustrated, he hasn't shown it. He comes to practice early to work on his shot and it showed up tonight." Kemp impressed on both ends against Tulsa, going 5 for 10 from the field and turning in his first multisteal effort in more than two months. Kemp hadn't hit as many as five field goals in a game since Nov. 20, when he scored a career-high 22 points vs. Arkansas State. He hit three straight first-half threes as Memphis opened a 24-10 lead. He drove for a layup that resulted in a goaltending call. He forced a turnover in the backcourt and then dived headlong to secure it. After calling for a timeout while prone, Kemp was greeted by an exuberant coach John Calipari at the midcourt line. "Willie was unbelievable today. ... I thought he was terrific," Calipari said. "He dove for a ball, he defended, he had assists, he came from the weak side." Calipari's only complaint with Kemp on Wednesday came when he missed the front end of a one-and-one with 2:43 left and the Tigers leading by 14. Kemp's performance led a makeup effort from a Memphis bench that disappeared in Saturday's loss to Tennessee. The Tigers' reserves were outscored 16-8 in that game, but they rebounded with 43 points against the Golden Hurricane. Shawn Taggart and Doneal Mack scored 12 points apiece as the Tigers (27-1 overall, 13-0 in Conference USA) got back to their winning ways. "They all want to play in the big games -- the Tennessee game, the Georgetown game, the Arizona game," Calipari said. "When stuff gets rough in these games, that's when we need players to show us you deserve to play in the big games." That's what Kemp tried to do against Tulsa (15-11, 6-7). "We know we can't win a national championship if our bench can't perform," Kemp said. "It feels good because I haven't been playing good. I don't remember since I had a good game." -- Jim Masilak: 529-2311

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02/28/08		Tiger replay (Commercial Appeal)
		By Dan Wolken (Contact) Thursday, February 28, 2008 As The Game Turned For about four minutes, Memphis looked a bit unsure how to attack Tulsa's defense, but once John Calipari got into his bench, the Tigers' defensive intensity picked up, leading to a burst of offense that gave them a 43-19 lead at halftime. A couple 3-pointers by the Tigers' big men, Shawn Taggart and Robert Dozier, gave them a 13-8 lead. Then, sophomore guard Willie Kemp came off the bench and contributed in every way possible. He dove on the floor to secure a loose ball, leading to a Taggart jumper. After that, he made back-to-back 3-pointers from the top of the key to break the game open at 24-10. A few possessions later, he faked, then drove for a shot that was called good on a goaltend. All the while, Memphis held Tulsa scoreless for 6:21. AS THE ROTATION TURNED It's becoming more obvious every game that if the Tigers are going to win a national championship, they'll need Taggart to be a factor in case senior Joey Dorsey is in what Calipari calls "the funk." Dorsey was in one -- again -- against Tulsa, with just one rebound in 10 first-half minutes. Taggart only had one rebound as well, but the way he got it -- fighting in traffic, ripping it away from Tulsa with 4:43 left -- prompted Calipari to charge down the bench toward Dorsey screaming "Way to go!" Calipari stuck with Taggart the rest of the half and then started him rather than Dorsey in the second half. Dorsey came back nearly four minutes into the second half and finished with five rebounds. RIM GEMS The Tigers ended the first half with a scintillating play between freshman point guard Derrick Rose and sophomore guard Doneal Mack. After Ben Uzoh's jumper with 11 seconds left, Rose sprinted down the court for the final shot, drew a crowd of Tulsa defenders and kicked it to Mack, who was waiting on his left side. Though Mack probably could have positioned himself closer to the 3-point line, he was standing about seven feet behind it just to ensure he would have an open look at the basket. Mack drilled it as the clock expired -- it barely shook the net -- and the Tigers raced into the locker room with a 43-19 lead. HIDE YOUR EYES Memphis' intensity dipped noticeably toward the end of the game, and the Tigers actually needed to make a couple plays late to keep things from getting interesting. That probably shouldn't have happened after Kemp's 3-pointer with 7:29 to go gave them a 76-51 lead. But Tulsa kept playing hard, using a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 78-65 with 2:41 left. More than a few spectators were hiding their eyes after Rod Earls had a 3-pointer that would have made it a 10-point game, and Tulsa got two cracks at putbacks. But Dorsey came up with a block on Earls' layup attempt and got an offensive rebound off a missed free throw to help calm things down. SCORER'S TABLE The Tigers' freshmen showed up in the box score with a couple of eye-popping numbers. Rose just missed a double-double with nine points and eight assists, while Jeff Robinson had four steals in 12 minutes. Robinson also added five points and four rebounds, but just to put it in perspective, Tulsa had five steals for the entire game. Rose's eight assists were as many as the rest of the Tigers combined. LOCKER ROOM CHATTER "When they're shooting like that, they're really good. What are you going to give up? If you get into them, they're going to dribble drive you. You get in foul trouble, they get easy shots, so on and so forth. So we decided to give up the three, and they shot it great. What are you going to do?" Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik ODDS and ENDS After the game, CBS lead analyst Billy Packer -- who called the game on CSTV -- visited with Calipari and predicted the Tigers would shoot 70 percent from the free-throw line in the NCAA Tournament. According to Calipari, Packer said most of the Tigers' shooters have good form, which means it comes down to a mental issue. Memphis made 9-of-15 against Tulsa. Wojcik said he was pleased that Tulsa shot 44.1 percent, including 7-for-18 from 3-point range. Why? For visiting teams who aren't used to playing in big arenas, it can be difficult to shoot in FedExForum. But the Golden Hurricane's performance Wednesday bodes well for the C-USA Tournament in two weeks. "It's important because we've always struggled scoring here due to the whole atmosphere," Wojcik said. Rose was presented a plaque for being a Bob Cousy Award finalist during a pregame ceremony. The Cousy Award is given annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top college point guard. Junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts was limited to 16 minutes, in part to rest his sore right ankle. Douglas-Roberts suffered the injury late in the Tennessee game, but said he doesn't plan to sit out and let it heal completely. "There aren't that many games left to play," he said. "That's all I'm thinking about. I'll get over the ankle." Taggart has had two double-figure scoring games in C-USA play. Both of them have come against Tulsa. After scoring 14 points in the first meeting on Jan. 23, he had 12 Wednesday. LOOKING AHEAD Tigers at Southern Miss, 3 p.m. Saturday -- Dan Wolken

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02/28/08		College basketball: Kemp leads Memphis in victory (Jackson Sun)
		The Associated Press MEMPHIS - Former Bolivar standout Willie Kemp scored 14 points and keyed a first half Memphis rally, leading the No. 2 Tigers to an 82-67 victory over Tulsa on Wednesday night in their first game since their only loss. Kemp was 5-of-10 from the field, including 4-for-7 outside the 3-point arc, as five Tigers scored in double figures. Doneal Mack and Shawn Taggart scored 12 points apiece, while Robert Dozier added 11 points and eight rebounds. Antonio Anderson finished with 10 points. Ray Reese led the Golden Hurricane with 18 points and eight rebounds. Ben Uzoh finished with 17 points and Calvin Walls added 10. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Tulsa. Memphis, which took its first loss of the season Saturday against Tennessee, made a fast start to clear its mind about dropping from the nation's top spot for the first time in six weeks. The Tigers (27-1, 13-0 Conference USA) shot well and protected the ball while maintaining at least a 20-point lead through much of the second half. But Tulsa put together nine straight points late to at least make the score interesting. The Golden Hurricane were too far behind to catch up, though, never cutting the Memphis lead under 13 points. Tulsa (15-11, 6-7) was the unfortunate team in front of a refocused Memphis, and the Golden Hurricane was stymied by a Tigers defense that held them to 44 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers. Meanwhile, Memphis shot 48 percent on the night, but was 13-of-25 from 3-point range. Memphis, which was held to a season-low point total in a 56-41 victory at Tulsa on Jan. 23, almost covered that in the first half thanks to long-range shooting and the scoring by reserves led by Kemp. Memphis used a 16-0 run in the half to erase an early Tulsa advantage and build the lead to 43-19 at the half.

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02/28/08		Almost Perfect -- The two best college basketball teams in the country made for one memorable weekend in the Bluff City (Memphis Flyer)
		BY FRANK MURTAUGH FEBRUARY 28, 2008 Live from Memphis, Tennessee ... it's Saturday night! — University of Memphis public address announcer Chuck Roberts, prior to the Memphis-Tennessee showdown, won by the Vols, 66-62 A man caught my eye in line at the post office last week. He was middle-aged, well dressed. Leather tam on his head, fancy watch on his wrist. Pulled down over his white dress shirt, though, was a blue Memphis Tiger T-shirt. There's well dressed, and then there's dressed for the occasion. The entire city of Memphis, it seemed, had a metaphorical Tiger T-shirt draped across its collective shoulders last week, as the biggest college basketball game in the city's history — number-one Memphis vs. number-two Tennessee — drew near. If there's been a bigger sporting event in town, it predates my memory. (Lewis-Tyson was huge, sure, but neither fighter was the "home team.") "Defying odds" has become a sportswriter's cliche. But some statistician, some numerologist somewhere has to calculate the chances of what Memphis hosted last Saturday night. Consider: One school has been playing basketball for almost 90 years and, before this season, had been ranked number one in the country for precisely one week ... until this season, when it claimed the top spot for over a month entering Saturday's game. The other school has been playing basketball for a century and had never been ranked as high as number two ... until last week, when it jumped from fourth to second entering Saturday's game. Representing opposite regions of the same state, the two schools had played but 18 times, all since 1969, and never this late in a regular season. (They faced each other in the 1990 NIT.) Only twice in college basketball history has a regular-season contest been played between the top two teams in the country, in a state they both call home. (Both times it was Duke and North Carolina.) One of the two teams carried the only undefeated record in the nation. No squad has entered the NCAA tournament undefeated since UNLV in 1991. The home team entered the game riding the longest winning streak (26 games) and longest home-court winning streak (47 games) in the program's history. Odds were defied at FedExForum, folks. And the event Memphis saw — the event Tennessee and, thanks to the ESPN cameras, the entire country saw — probably won't be seen again in many a lifetime. It was that extraordinary. • For trivia buffs, this was the 38th time in college basketball history the top two teams in the country squared off. With Tennessee's win, the number-one team now has a 20-18 edge. Fourteen of the previous contests were played at the Final Four, with six of them deciding the national championship. • A quick scan of StubHub.com last Wednesday revealed tickets being offered from $300 (terrace baseline) to $1,500 (club sideline). You'd think Hannah Montana had returned for a pregame engagement. All this demand for a game that would 1) not affect the league standings in either the SEC or C-USA, 2) be on television in every living room from Harbor Town to Knoxville and points beyond, and 3) would not eliminate either team from anything (NCAA tournament, top-seed consideration, or the nation's top 10). The Madness isn't supposed to start 'til March, right? • I couldn't help but wonder about the perspective Grizzlies rookie Mike Conley had on this contest. It was Conley's Ohio State Buckeyes, after all, that beat both teams in last year's NCAA tournament. (Conley, of course, didn't have to guard Tiger sensation Derrick Rose last March.) • A colleague of mine has a son who was born and raised in Memphis and recently graduated from the University of Tennessee. When asked which team the young man would be cheering Saturday night, he said, "Probably the Tigers." Roots, it would appear, trump a sheepskin. • I found some of the comments posted on the Flyer's website — loosely related to the basketball game — downright disturbing. There are, I suppose, forces of evil in this world. And pockets of the globe (and country) that are worthy of ire. But how did people from the eastern side of Tennessee and those from here in the west come to loathe each other so? Regional rivalries are the lifeblood of SEC football, and the still-lingering effects from the "War of Northern Aggression" tend to stick in the craw of some Southerners when it comes to regions north of the Mason-Dixon. But East vs.West in the Volunteer State is as ugly as the backside of a baboon. UT fans wrote about crack babies and fatherless children. Memphis fans responded with labels of "racist" and "inbred." Life's too short to hate, folks. Put all that energy behind your team. I liked the woman I saw outside Big Foot Lodge, wearing a Derrick Rose jersey and a tiger tail from waist to ankle. Her blue tank-top, though, was pulled tight over a long-sleeved orange undershirt. And on her head, a pair of antennae: one blue, the other orange. • I attended the Grizzlies-Mavericks game at FedExForum 24 hours before the Tiger-Vol tip-off. And I can't imagine a greater disparity between two enterprises selling fundamentally the same form of entertainment. (And this was a good night for the Griz, as they were within nine points of Jason Kidd's new club in the fourth quarter before bowing by 15 in front of an announced crowd of 16,245.) I've come to believe the missing ingredient for our NBA operation is that all-too-hard-to-define quality that defines the greatest athletes (and sales people): charisma. New coach Marc Iavaroni, new general manager Chris Wallace, and new star Rudy Gay may all be assets for the Grizzlies, but that trio collectively has less charisma than John Calipari on a bad-suit day. Here's hoping a dash of charisma is infused for the Grizzlies, starting perhaps with the franchise's new owner. Charisma sells tickets and fills seats. • Any doubts about the existence of Tiger Nation were put to rest by the Tiger Village that formed outside the student entrance on the north side of FedExForum Saturday morning. One group I encountered set up their chairs at 5:15 a.m. and was happily passing the day in 40-degree temperatures, awaiting tip-off still five hours away. "They let us in [for the ESPN Game Day broadcast], but then we came right back," explained one camper, as if a shot at the background on a national TV broadcast rationalized 15 hours in line on a winter Saturday. Made me wonder how long fans waited in line for that Griz-Mavs game. • Former Tiger greats Anfernee Hardaway and Keith Lee sat two courtside seats apart near the Tiger bench, occupying what was certainly the 10 most popular square feet in Memphis last weekend. Decked out in a retro "Memphis State" jacket, his retired number 25 on the back, Hardaway was meeting and greeting his many admirers an hour before tip-off. When I asked the greatest passer in Tiger history for a prediction, he said, "I can't give you a score, bro. No way!" Politics awaits, Penny. • One blemish — or 16 blemishes, perhaps — to the Final Four atmosphere were the NIT banners that dangle from the rafters of FedExForum. With 16 of them crowding the 20 NCAA banners the Tigers have hung, the impression of this program's national prominence is diminished. You certainly won't see NIT banners hanging above the court at Kansas, Duke, or North Carolina, and that's the company the Memphis program now keeps. If I were U of M athletic director R.C. Johnson, I'd leave up the four banners that represent trips to the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden but take down the rest. • There are two distinct — if ironic — positives to take out of the Tigers' loss. First of all, there will no longer be speculation about college basketball's first undefeated season in 32 years. As grand as the dream was — Gerald Ford was president when the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers ran the table — it added pressure to each Tiger game that would only build as the NCAA tournament weeded out pretenders among its field of 65. It would have made merely reaching the Final Four secondary for the last team with a perfect record. On top of that, undefeated and Calipari's "us against them" mantra simply don't mix. Now, Tiger coaches and players will focus solely on a next opponent and not that bagel on the right side of their win-loss record. In addition to that donut-shaped monkey off their backs, the Tigers will no longer have the banner of number-one team in the country to carry. (Memphis fell to number two in the AP poll released Monday.) Reaching the top of the nation's rankings — and for five weeks — was high achievement for a program and coach that claim to be playing for national attention, national recruits, and national championships. But that ranking is not the ultimate goal. Ask a college hoops nerd about who was number one in the country in February 1994, and he'll likely have to look it up. But ask the same fan about who won that year's national championship ... sooey, indeed. Banners hang forever. • Despite the loss, don't doubt that Saturday night did wonders for Memphis, both the basketball program and the city. "This was what a one-vs.-two should be," said Calipari after the game. "Let me thank our students, who were here at 3 in the morning. The feeling in this building was tremendous. And no one turned their TV off. All they kept hearing was Memphis, the city of Memphis, FedExForum, Memphis, Memphis, Memphis. Unbelievable for us, for our program, the city, and the school. I don't know if we're going to invite [ESPN Game Day] back, though, because we seem to lose." • The Tigers' postgame locker room was the most awkward environment I've seen in my decade of covering local sports. Doneal Mack was the only Tiger to actually address the media throng, which outnumbered the players two-to-one. Chris Douglas-Roberts pulled his jersey over his head, and Antonio Anderson refused to comment. And those are the two leaders of this team, juniors with a college record now of 92-9. Derrick Rose was nowhere to be seen, which makes you wonder how he'll handle the microphones and cameras he'll see in the NBA next winter. Andre Allen spoke, if you want to call it that, for the entire squad: "It's a loss," the senior muttered. "And I feel bad." Reminded me that college basketball players are kids, with highs and lows that run to extremes. And yes, losing sucks. "I've been in this position before," Calipari said. (His 1995-96 Massachusetts team was ranked number one and 26-0 when it lost to George Washington at home on February 24, 1996.) "There's going to be a natural letdown [Wednesday night, when Tulsa visits FedExForum]." • During pregame warmups, I asked Tiger strength coach Richard Hogans about how excited the players were for this monumental showdown. "We're actually looking forward to getting past this game," said Hogans, a football star during his college days as a Tiger. "But what more can you ask for? Number one vs. number two, right here in the state of Tennessee? Damn." Eleven years ago, Commercial Appeal columnist Geoff Calkins told me there are moments in a sportswriter's life when he or she, given the choice of being anywhere in the world, would choose precisely the place they are. Right there, right then. He mentioned the Tiger football upset of Tennessee on November 9, 1996, as one of these moments. Calkins was at FedExForum for last Saturday's epic, along with 18,389 fans who will never forget it. And for one night (February 23, 2008) and in one place (Memphis, Tennessee), I was there with him. That press credential of mine may as well have been made of gold.

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02/27/08		Defensive Miscues Cost Memphis 9-8 Loss to Murray State -- Wiedman ties program marks with hits in seven straight at-bats (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Murray State (2-2) 042 010 002 - 9 11 1 Memphis (2-3) 020 102 300 - 8 12 2 Freshman Ryan Holland struck out eight in his collegiate debut, but several defensive mistakes allowed Murray State to score five unearned runs as Memphis missed an opportunity to extend its win streak to three games with a 9-8 loss on Wednesday. Ahead 8-7 in the top of the ninth, Memphis was unable to hold the lead as Murray got singles from Elliot Frey and Blake Helm to lead off the stanza. With one out and runners on second and third, closer Matt Yokley struck out Tyler Owen, but the pitch got away from catcher Chris Kirkland. Frey raced homeward as Kirkland's attempt to cut down the run skipped wide. Helm rounded third and headed for home on the errant throw and slid in safely for the go-ahead run. With Brett Bowen on first and two outs, junior Cole Shelton's long flyball to right came up just short. The Tigers trailed 7-5 in the seventh before posting a big inning. Pinch hitter Adam McClain got things going by drawing a one-out walk and Tyler Huelsing singled. Bowen then stepped to the plate and put Memphis on top, 8-7, with a towering shot over the leftfield wall. Bowen finished the night 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI. Memphis found itself behind 4-0 after a four-run second by Murray. But the Tigers bounced back to cut the deficit in half on RBI's by Robby Graham and Eric Farrell. The `Breds answered with two more scores to recapture the four-run cushion at 6-2. Behind 7-3, Memphis began chipping away with two runs in the sixth. Bowen belted a double off the centerfield wall and Shelton drew a walk in the next at-bat. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Bowen came home on a sacrifice flyball by Wiedman. Shelton then scored after Graham singled through the right side. The freshman went 1-for-3, but drove in three runs. Shelton, Trey Wiedman and Chad Zurcher posted multiple hits in the game. Wiedman extended his streak of consecutive hits to a program record tying seven straight at-bats with a 2-for-2 outing. Tiger reliever Will Hudgens took the loss in an inning of work. Murray State's Drew Leeper pitched just 1.1 innings to pick up the win. Thoroughbred's reliever Jake Donze earned the save. Memphis continues its seven-game homestand on Fri., Feb. 29, when it opens a three-game weekend series with Ohio University. First pitch for Friday's series opener is set for 4 p.m. at "The Nat". Listen as "The Voice" of Tiger Baseball, Jeff Brightwell and former Tiger Ben Grisham bring the live play-by-play action on WUMR FM 91.7.

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02/27/08		Balanced Scoring Leads No. 2 Memphis To A 82-67 Victory Over Tulsa -- Willie Kemp led the Tigers with 14 points (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)--Willie Kemp scored 14 points and keyed a first half Memphis rally, leading the No. 2 Tigers to an 82-67 victory over Tulsa on Wednesday night in their first game since their only loss. Kemp was 5-of-10 from the field, including 4-for-7 outside the 3-point arc, as five Tigers scored in double figures. Doneal Mack and Shawn Taggart scored 12 points apiece, while Robert Dozier added 11 points and eight rebounds. Antonio Anderson finished with 10 points. Ray Reese led the Golden Hurricane with 18 points and eight rebounds. Ben Uzoh finished with 17 points and Calvin Walls added 10. The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for Tulsa. Memphis, which took its first loss of the season Saturday against Tennessee, made a fast start to clear its mind about dropping from the nation's top spot for the first time in six weeks. The Tigers (27-1, 13-0 Conference USA) shot well and protected the ball while maintaining at least a 20-point lead through much of the second half. But Tulsa put together nine straight points late to at least make the score interesting. The Golden Hurricane were too far behind to catch up, though, never cutting the Memphis lead under 13 points. Tulsa (15-11, 6-7) was the unfortunate team in front of a refocused Memphis, and the Golden Hurricane was stymied by a Tigers defense that held them to 44 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers. Meanwhile, Memphis shot 48 percent on the night, but was 13-of-25 from 3-point range.

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02/27/08		Memphis vs. Tulsa Post Game Quotes (GoTigersGo.com)
		Memphis Head Coach John Calipari That may have been our first best half of basketball. I was really encouraged and I think the bench was terrific. It was a lot of stuff we took out of it. We got a little sloppy in the second half. I give Doug (Wojcik) credit. They were not going to just go away. They did not care what the score was; to hold them to 18 points in the first half was tremendous, and out of those 18 they got five in the first minutes. They got 13 points the rest of the half. Did we sustain it? No. We made some subs and there were a couple of guys that didn't perform really well. What happened against Tennessee was that we never moved the ball more than three passes in the second half. Three was the most and that was only five times. We went back to what we did early in the season which was three or four drives unless you have something. We're not taking quick threes. We're not coming down and taking that first one. That's not on the kids, that's on me. This is how we're going to play it, it just looks better. Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik We started the game great, and we really went after them. I thought we got a little tentative and didn't believe, and they stunned us a little bit. Not many people are going to beat them when they shoot it as well as they did from the three. You've got to give something up against them. The dribble drive is something that is always a problem because they're going to get you in foul trouble with the dribble drive. So we decided to give up the three ball. Coach (Bruce) Pearl said the other day at halftime when they were 8-for-20, "Hey, they're not going to beat us from three." I'm really proud of our guys in the second half. We scored 48 points in the second half; outscored them 48-39. We were really trying to cut it 12. Guys were really doing a good job, and quite honestly you talk about the moral victories of it all, it doesn't feel good sitting in the first half when you're getting your butt kicked. We really came out and played well in the second half. We come back here in two weeks. We've always had trouble scoring in here and today we shoot 44 (percent) from the field; 39 (percent) from the three; score 67 after a dismal first half. We're going to build from this and go home and get on that bus and get ready for Marshall Saturday night. He (Ray Reese) played great. It was discouraging because he had three fouls at halftime. Then Rod (Earls) goes down with the knee, so now you're down to three guards for the most part if Ray had gotten into foul trouble. He came through it; didn't foul out, and then Rod's knee is okay. I'm really proud of them. I thought Jerome (Jordan) showed some decent things there. We'd like to see him be more aggressive, but keep in mind the strength of Joey Dorsey. It's just a real issue for Jerome. It's just the way it is right now, but in two years it probably won't be an issue. (Shawn) Taggart continues to play really well against us. He really does. He hurts us and scores on us. Sam (Mitchell) had very good post defense on him and (Robert) Dozier, and they made tough shots over him.

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02/27/08		Youth Soccer Camp Dates Announced -- Memphis soccer program to conduct annual youth camp (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS - The University of Memphis Soccer Program has announced the dates for its annual Youth Soccer Camps for boys and girls ages 5- this summer. Two separate sessions will be held, the first one will take place May 27-30, and the second be will June 2-6. The camps will run from 9 a.m. - noon daily. This camp will utilize soccer skills to focus on player development; with sessions consisting of passing, receiving, dribbling, shooting, and heading. Whether your son your daughter is a beginner or an accomplished player, the camp is designed to make them a better player. The camp will consist of technical sessions along with tactical and small side games. Conducting the camp will be the Memphis coaching staff, players from the men's and women's teams, as well as other local college coaches. The camp will take place at the University of Memphis South Campus Athletic Facility.

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02/27/08		Tigers Unable to Upset No. 4 Ole Miss -- Fall 4-0 in game three of five-match road swing (GoTigersGo.com)
		OXFORD, Miss. - - The University of Memphis men's tennis team (5-5) battled, but could not pull the upset over No. 4 Ole Miss (7-2), Wednesday, in non-conference action. With four nationally-ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams, Ole Miss went immediately to their strengths. No. 23 Erling Tveit moved up to the No. 1 hole in the line-up, putting Ole Miss up 2-0 after the Rebels won No. 1 and 2 doubles matches, while No. 19 Matthias Wellermann moved to the No. 2 spot and faced Memphis freshman Leon Nasemann. Bram ten Berge, who is the No. 90 ranked singles player, put Ole Miss up 3-0 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Michael Gaerthoeffner at No. 4 singles. Senior Robby Poole, the No. 19th ranked player in the country closed out the match with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Jimmy Khougassian at No. 3 singles to close out the match. Memphis will continue its five-match road swing at No. 15 Oklahoma State, Thur., Mar. 6th. No. 4 Ole Miss 4, Memphis 0 Singles No. 1 - No. 23 Erling Tveit def. Amrit Narasimhan (UM), 6-0, 6-2 No. 2 - No. 21 Matthias Wellerman vs. Leon Nasemann (UM), 6-4, 3-3, unfinished No. 3 - No. 19 Robbye Poole def. Jimmy Khougassian (UM), 6-1, 6-2 No. 4 - No. 90 Bram ten Berge def. Michael Gaerthoeffner (UM), 6-3, 6-0 No. 5 - Jonas Berg vs. Charlie Ramsay (UM), 6-4, 5-2, unfinished No. 6 - Kalle Norberg vs. Benedikt Fischer (UM), 6-1, 4-1, unfinished Doubles No. 1 - No. 4 Erling Tveit/Jonas Berg def. Amrit Narasimhan/Charlie Ramsay (UM), 8-2 No. 2 - No. 15 Matthias Wellermann/Bram ten Berge def. Jimmy Khougassian/Leon Nasemann (UM), 8-5 No. 3 - Robbye Poole/Jakob Klaeson vs. Jordan Smith/Spencer Heflin (UM), 4-3, unfinished

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02/27/08		Lady Tigers Begin Final Homestand Thursday -- Memphis still in thick of things for No. 5 seed for conference championships (GoTigersGo.com)
		The University of Memphis women's basketball team (9-18, 6-8 C-USA) will wrap up its 2007-08 home stand with a pair of league contests, beginning with Southern Miss (16-11, 7-7 C-USA), Thursday night. The game takes on even more importance in light of the current C-USA standings. Southern Miss is a game behind a Houston club that has lost its last five games in the bid for the fourth, and final, first round bye in the league championships, while Memphis could finish anywhere from fifth to ninth in the standings depending on how the final two regular season games go. Memphis would need to win out its final two games (USM, UCF) in order to finish at 8-8. Depending on who Memphis ends up tied with in the standings, the Lady Tigers hold tiebreakers over East Carolina, Tulsa, Tulane and Rice and are on the short end (as of now) of series ties with USM and Marshall). Memphis is currently knotted with Marshall and Tulsa. In the slot ahead of the three-way tie is Southern Miss and East Carolina (7-7). From there, Memphis would need some help from other league schools to move in to the fifth spot. Southern Miss could still catch UAB or Houston for either the third or fourth seed of the tournament. Memphis is coming in to Thursday night's game off their first-ever win at East Carolina on Saturday. That game was especially impressive as Memphis was without leading scorer Jessica Hall, who suffered a shoulder injury in the last minute of the first half at Marshall. Against ECU, junior center Jessica Jackson had her best C-USA effort, finishing with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocked shots. Sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard also had her best night of the league schedule in terms of running the point, handing out 11 assists against just two turnovers, and adding six rebounds and seven points on 3-for-8 shooting. USM brings with it the nation's 33rd-ranked offense, averaging 73.1 ppg. All five Golden Eagles can shoot the ball, as the team's 46.7 percent field goal percentage ranks 11th in the country. Sophomore forward Pauline Love will take a majority of the team's shots, averaging 16.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game. Three other Golden Eagles also average double digits, led by Stephanie Helgeson's 12.0 ppg, and Kendra Reed's 11.6 ppg. Amber Eugene rounds out the double-digit scorers with 10.2 ppg. USM crashes the glass, out-rebounding its opponents by almost four rebounds a night while the inside players pose a force to inside shooters with 117 blocks so far this season, including 66 from Helgeson. Memphis vs. Southern Miss This is the 45th meeting between Memphis and Southern Miss, with the Lady Tigers holding a slight 23-21 advantage heading in to tonight's game. Southern Miss has a five-game winning streak in the series, having swept all the series match-ups dating back to 2005-06. Alternating Wins and Losses The Lady Tigers have alternated wins and losses over the last eight games, pushing their league record to 6-8 after an 0-2 start to the conference slate. The 61-59 win at East Carolina was the first ever Memphis victory at East Carolina in five tries and also marked the first Lady Tiger victory after trailing at the five-minute mark. Memphis trailed 55-51 with 5:00 to play at ECU, but got back-to-back threes from Paris Leonard sandwiched around an ECU jumper to erase the deficit and tie the game at 57-57. Latoya Bullard drove the paint to try break the tie with a lay-up, but was blocked by the ECU defense. Freshman Alex Winchell flashed to the wing and Bullard saw her and got her the ball. Winchell knocked down the triple to put Memphis in front and the Lady Tiger defense managed to hang on for the win when Paris Leonard drew a charge with 0.5 seconds remaining to seal the game. Bullard Hands Out 100th Assist Sophomore point guard Latoya Bullard became the first Lady Tiger since 2005-06 to hand out 100 or more assists in a single season with a career-best 11 assist effort at East Carolina to give her 103 assists heading in to the final conference weekend. Bullard managed to hit the 100-assist mark despite only being eligible to play the second semester after sitting out the fall semester per NCAA transfer rules. Splitting Conference Series Memphis is still looking to sweep its first-ever conference weekend. To date, the Lady Tigers have split every conference weekend on the slate. Five times, Memphis has lost the first game of a conference weekend, only to bounce back to win the second game to salvage the split. On one weekend, Memphis won the first game, but dropped the second game (Tulane/UTEP). Jackson Coming Off Best Conference Outing The East Carolina game was the game of the conference slate for junior center Jessica Jackson. Jackson led Memphis with 18 points, nine rebounds and four blocks in the win at ECU, season-bests in all three categories since league play began back in January. The 18 points was her sixth double-digit outing of the season, but her first since a 12-point night at UTEP (1/20/08). Home Sweet Home Memphis has seen a lot planes, trains and busses as of late, spending 11 of the first 23 days of February on the road. Memphis has gone 3-3 in that tough stretch, but will have its hands full in its final home weekend against Southern Miss and UCF. Hall Moves In To Single Season Top 10 Redshirt junior Jessica Hall moved in to the single season top 10 in three-point field goals made with her three triples at Marshall. With 45 threes made so far this year, Hall is currently tied for ninth overall with current Assistant Director of Basketball Operations LaTonya Johnson's 1996-97 season. Two more triples will push Hall in to a three-way tie with Johnson's 1994-95 season and Kelly Herron's 1998-99 season. For her 55-game old Lady Tiger career, Hall has 58 career triples, ranking her ninth on the list of career threes for Memphis. She is also approaching the 500 career point mark, with 449 points heading in to the East Carolina game. With 51 more points, she would become the fourth player on the Lady Tiger roster with over 500 career points. Leonard Pushing 900 Junior guard Paris Leonard will likely be Memphis' next 1,000 career point scorer, heading in to this weekend with 859 career points (41 shy of the 900 point mark). While it will likely be her senior season before she hits the 1,000 point mark, she is gathering points in bunches from beyond the arc. She knocked down four triples at ECU, including back-to-back threes with Memphis down by four, 55-51, to move to 97 triples for her career. With just three more threes, Leonard will become the sixth Lady Tiger to connect on 100 or more threes in her career. Jennings Wrapping Up Her Lady Tiger Home Career This weekend will be the final home weekend for senior forward Aroha Jennings, a transfer from Dodge City Community College in Kansas. Jennings comes in to the weekend needing 19 more points to pass 600 for her two-year Lady Tiger career, which spans 58 games so far heading in to this weekend. Jennings averages 10.0 points and 4.9 rebounds so far in her career at Memphis, including 64 steals, 19 blocked shots and 90 assists. Best League Win Total in Four Years The six C-USA victories is the Lady Tigers' highest win total in conference play since 2003-04's nine-win league team. The six wins ties the 2002-03 team, who went 6-8. In the last seven seasons, Memphis has managed six wins just three times now (2007-08, 2003-04, 2001-02). In that same stretch, Memphis has never finished the league standings higher than sixth (2003-04). The 2002-03 squad finished 8th and the 2001-02 team (the two-other six-plus league win teams) finished 10th in the C-USA standings. If Memphis could manage to finish either fifth or sixth in the standings this season, it would be the highest league finish since 2003-04. The Lady Tigers have finished in the top six in the league just one time (2003-04) since the league standings merged in 2001-02 after being separated in two (1997-2001) and three (1995-1997) divisions in the early years of the league. First C-USA Series Sweep With the win at East Carolina, Memphis swept its first two-game league series since 2003-04 when Memphis swept former-C-USA member Saint Louis, 69-65 and 69-60. Big Weekend for the Memphis Posts The Memphis centers might have had their best weekend of the season last weekend. At Marshall, freshman Savannah Ellis came off the bench to score a career-high 14 points and tying a career high wi