Jan. 22, 2008

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TOP-RANKED TIGERS TO MEET TULSA IN A MID-WEEK C-USA MATCH-UP
The University of Memphis squad (17-0, 4-0 C-USA), ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll and No. 1 in ESPN/USA Today poll, travels to Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday, Jan. 23 for a Conference USA mid-week encounter with the Golden Hurricane (9-6, 1-2 C-USA). The game, to be televised by CSTV (Memphis digital cable channel 222), is slated for a 7:00 p.m. (CT) start.

The Tigers moved to the top spot in both national polls for only the second time in school history. The last time Memphis was No. 1 came in the 1982-83 campaign, and the Tigers remained there for one week.

Memphis returns to the road after an 83-47 Conference USA home victory over Southern Miss Jan. 19. In addition to that win, the Tigers defeated East Carolina Jan. 9, Marshall Jan. 12 and Rice Jan. 16 in C-USA play. Prior to opening league play, Memphis posted late December/early January wins over No. 5/4 Georgetown Dec. 22, No. 17/18 Arizona Dec. 29, Siena Jan. 3 and Pepperdine Jan. 5.

The Golden Hurricane enter Wednesday's contest having won seven of their last nine. Tulsa won at SMU in its last outing Jan. 19. Prior to that victory, the Golden Hurricane had dropped overtime decisions to UCF (97-91, 3ot) and Tulane (67-65, ot).

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN HURRICANE
Tulsa brings a 9-6 overall record and a 1-2 Conference USA mark into Wednesday's contest. The Golden Hurricane have won seven of their last nine, including a Jan. 19 victory at SMU. Tulsa's two losses in that stretch were overtime decisions to UCF (97-91, 3ot) and Tulane (67-65, ot).

The tandem of Ben Uzoh (16.0 ppg) and Glenn Andrews (11.5 ppg) leads the Tulsa offense. Calvin Walls is tops on the team with an 8.5 rebounding average, while Uzoh is second at 6.3 rpg. Brett McDade has a team-high 47 assists (3.1 apg). Andrews (44.8 percent) and Uzoh (44.4 percent) are the Golden Hurricane's top threats from the arc.

Tulsa is shooting 45.4 percent from the field, 37.8 percent from the three-point line and 73.4 percent from the charity stripe. The Golden Hurricane are out-rebounding their foes by an average margin of +5.6 boards per game (37.3-31.7).

TIGERS AT THE TOP
For only the second time in school history, Memphis is the top-ranked team in the nation. The Tigers occupy the No. 1 spot in both the Associated Press and ESPN/USA Today coaches polls released Jan. 21.

The last time Memphis was the nation's No. 1 team came in the 1982-83 season. The Tigers were voted No. 1 in the Jan. 10, 1983, poll, but then lost at Virginia Tech later that day. Memphis bounced back with a win over Cincinnati later that week, but the Tigers dropped to No. 6 in the Jan. 17 poll.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO
With their win over Southern Miss Jan. 19, the Tigers remained one of the nation's undefeated teams. Memphis is 17-0 heading into Wednesday's game at Tulsa. Memphis joins Kansas as the country's only two undefeated teams. Last Saturday, then-No. 1 ranked North Carolina fell from the unbeaten ranks with a home setback to Maryland.

#1 FOR THE NON-BCS GUYS
The Tigers took over the No. 1 spot in both national polls, and in climbing to the top position, Memphis is in rare company. The Tigers are only the fourth non-BCS program to gain the No. 1 national ranking since UNLV's 1990-91 squad.

In addition to Memphis (2007-08) and UNLV (1989-90/1990-91), the other two non-BCS schools to earn the No. 1 ranking were UMass (1994-95/1995-96) and Saint Joseph's (2003-04). Those UMass teams were coached by current Tiger mentor John Calipari.

CALIPARI IN MORE ELITE COMPANY
Memphis head coach John Calipari is considered among the best active coaches in the country. But, with him guiding the Tigers to the No. 1 national ranking in the Jan. 21 Associated Press (AP) poll, Calipari can place his name among the top coaches historically.

Calipari is one of only five coaches in NCAA Division I history to guide two different schools to the No. 1 ranking (according to AP poll). The Moon, Pa., native directed UMass to the No. 1 spot in 1995 and 1996, and has now taken this year's Tigers to the No. 1 spot. The following lists the five coaches that have accomplished this feat (NCAA Record Book and AP poll; coaches listed in alphabetical order):

Coach	Year(s)*	No. 1 Rank
	Schools
John Calipari
	Massachusetts	1995, 96	No. 1
	Memphis	2008	No. 1
Frank McGuire
	St. John's	1950, 52	No. 1
	North Carolina	1957, 58, 59	No. 1
	South Carolina	1970	No. 1
Ralph Miller
	Wichita State	1964	No. 1
	Oregon State	1981	No. 1
Eddie Sutton
	Arkansas	1978	No. 1
	Kentucky	1988	No. 1
Roy Williams
	Kansas	1990, 93, 94,	No. 1
			95, 96, 97, 2002
	North Carolina	2007	No. 1

CALIPARI, WILLIAMS THE ONLY TWO
Both John Calipari and North Carolina's Roy Williams were among the five coaches to guide two different programs to the No. 1 national ranking in the Associated Press poll. However, Calipari and Williams hold even more elite status when looking at the coaches poll since the early 1990s when USA Today took it over.

The two coaches are ther only ones to direct two different programs to the No. 1 spot in the coaches poll. Calipari's UMass and Memphis squads were ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll, while Williams led Kansas and North Carolina at No. 1.

A BOARD BATTLE ON WEDNESDAY
Wednesday's game versus Tulsa features two of Conference USA's top rebounding squads. Memphis is second in rebound margin at +6.6, followed in third by Tulsa at +5.5.

Leading the Tigers' charge on the glass is senior Joey Dorsey with a conference-leading 9.9 boards per game. Tulsa's Calvin Walls is third in C-USA in rebounding at 8.5 rpg.

IT'S A BLOCK PARTY
Fans attending Wednesday's contest between Memphis and Tulsa need to be on the watch for balls flying into the stands, as the Tigers and Golden Hurricane are Conference USA's top two shot-blocking teams. Memphis leads C-USA with 6.65 blocks per game, while Tulsa is second at 6.27 bpg.

Tulsa's Jerome Jordan leads the league with 3.67 blocks per contest. For the Tigers, Joey Dorsey is third in C-USA at 2.33 bpg and Robert Dozier is seventh at 1.93 bpg.

JANUARY PROVES GOOD FOR TIGERS
While Memphis has had a lot of success in December in the John Calipari era, January has proven to be a better month for the Tigers. Since Calipari took over the Memphis hoops program in 2000-01, the Tigers have an impressive 51-10 record (.836 winning percentage) in the month of January.

The Tigers have won their last 22 January games, with their last January setback coming to Texas on Jan. 2, 2006 (69-58 loss).

STREAKING IN C-USA
The Tigers have their current 17-game win streak, and most everyone in the nation knows about the 42-game homecourt win streak. However, Memphis has another two streaks going in Conference USA play.

The Tigers have won 21-straight regular season Conference USA games and 27-straight C-USA overall contests, including the league's postseason tournaments. The last time Memphis suffered a setback to a C-USA foe was Mar. 2, 2006, when the Tigers fell at UAB 80-74.

The 27-game win streak (includes C-USA Tournaments) is the longest in C-USA history. The 21-game regular-season win streak is tied with Cincinnati's 21-game regular season win streak from 1998-99 through 2000-01.

TIGERS AT THE TOP!!
With its 17-0 start to 2007-08, Memphis has set a new Conference USA mark for the best start by a school in the league's history. With their win over Rice Jan. 16, the Tigers moved past the 1998-99 Cincinnati squad (15-0) for the best start in the conference's history.

DORSEY GOING FOR WINS RECORD
While many Tiger fans know Joey Dorsey's climb up the career rebounding chart, there is another career list the 6-foot-9 forward is moving up. With Memphis' win over Siena Jan. 3, Dorsey won his 100th game as a Tiger, and his record now stands at 105-24 (22-16 in 2004-05; 33-4 in 2005-06 and 2006-07; 17-0 in 2007-08).

The most wins by a four-year class is the 1986-87 seniors that won 111 games. Clyde Wade, who finished up his career in 2006-07, also won 111 games in his four years.

DORSEY CLOSE TO 1,000 BOARDS
With his five rebounds versus Southern Miss Jan. 19, Joey Dorsey inched closer to the 1,000-board milestone. The 6-foot-9 forward enters Wednesday's game with 995 career rebounds, and needs only five more to become only the fifth Tiger in the program's history to have 1,000 rebounds. The Baltimore, Md., native would join an elite group that includes Keith Lee, Forest Arnold, Kelly Wise and Ronnie Robinson.

JOEY'S DOUBLE DIGIT BOARDS EQUAL WINS FOR TIGERS
The equation may look a little funny, but it's added up to success for the Tigers the past three-plus seasons. Since arriving at Memphis, Joey Dorsey has hit the double-digit plateau in rebounds 45 times, and the Tigers have won 42 of those games.

The 6-foot-9 senior forward and the Tigers are looking to carry that trend to 2007-08. So far, so good, with Dorsey grabbing double-digit boards in eight games this year, and the Tigers getting victories in all eight games.

FIRST TIME SINCE...
The Tigers are off to a 17-0 start this year, and it's been awhile since Memphis began a campaign with 17-straight wins. The last time the Tigers started off 17-0 was the 1985-86 season. That squad began the year with a 20-0 record, the best-ever start in Tiger basketball history. Memphis went 20-0 before losing at Virginia Tech on Feb. 1, 1986.

HE'S IN THE CLUB!
Well, it took a little longer than expected in the Dec. 29 Arizona game, but Chris Douglas-Roberts reached the 1,000-point milestone for his career. He entered the contest needing only five points to reach the goal, and with 2:07 in the first half, the 6-foot-7 guard scored his 1,000th point on an emphatic dunk off an assist from Derrick Rose.

He now has 1,100 career points and is the 43rd player in Tiger history to accomplish the feat. The Detroit, Mich., is in the No. 34 spot on the Tiger career scoring chart.

ANDERSON BACK TO OLD FORM
In his first two seasons, Tiger Nation came to expect the "normal" game from Antonio Anderson, and that was some scoring, a few boards and an excellent floor game that included several assists and two turnovers or less. However, the 6-foot-6 guard went missing in Memphis' first seven games this year and had 19 assists (2.7 avg.) and 22 miscues (3.1 avg.).

That all changed Dec. 15, as the Lynn, Mass., native got back to playing his game. Since then, Anderson has 44 assists (4.4 avg.) and only seven turnovers (0.7 avg.). To show further improvement in Anderson's game, the junior guard has 26 assists and only one miscue in his last five contests for an unheard-of 26:1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

THE D-MACK ATTACK IS BACK; TIES SCHOOL MARK FOR THREES
That's what his billboard says, and it's what Tiger Nation has been waiting on all season. And Doneal Mack finally gave the fans what they expected to see.

In the Tiger win over Pepperdine Jan. 5, the 6-foot-5 guard broke out of a season (to date)-long slump with an explosive 23-point performance. The 23 points were a career high to go along with career bests for three-pointers made (7) and attempted (13). The seven treys made also tied a school record for a single game. Mack shares the record with five other players, including teammate Antonio Anderson.

Mack missed the Jan. 12 Marshall game as a result of illness (flu-like symptoms), but has come back strong since missing that game. In the Tigers' last two wins over Rice and Southern Miss, the Charlotte, N.C., native was instant offense off the bench with a 14.0 scoring average. He shot 50 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from the arc in the two contests versus the Owls and Golden Eagles.

KEMP THE CONSISTENT
While many Tiger fans point out the play of Chris Douglas-Roberts, Antonio Anderson or Derrick Rose, head coach John Calipari can't stop talking about how Willie Kemp is playing this year. And for good reason.

The 6-foot-2 guard has been the Tigers most consistent player all season, as he has 34 assists compared to only seven turnovers in 282 minutes of action. For the record, that's a 4.9:1 assist-to-turnover ratio for the Bolivar, Tenn., native. To take it a little further, the sophomore guard is committing 0.02 turnovers per minute.

Kemp had 17 assists and three turnovers in the Tigers' last six wins over Siena, Pepperdine, East Carolina, Marshall, Rice and Southern Miss. His one turnover versus Pepperdine Jan. 5 was Kemp's first since the Dec. 4 game versus Southern Cal in New York City.

For more game notes on the Memphis-Tulsa match-up, click the pdf link at the top of the page.