A February matchup with Wichita State bodes well for Memphis basketball given recent trends

Mark Giannotto, Memphis Commercial Appeal
·2 min read
Memphis Tigers guard Tyler Harris plays defense against Wichita State guard Tyson Etienne during their game at the FedExForum on Thursday, March 5, 2020.
Memphis Tigers guard Tyler Harris plays defense against Wichita State guard Tyson Etienne during their game at the FedExForum on Thursday, March 5, 2020.

Welcome back to the Tigers Basketball newsletter. Today, Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto takes over:

Memphis faces another can’t-lose game Sunday afternoon against the Shockers at FedExForum, right after SMU visits Houston for another crucial American Athletic Conference game, especially as it pertains to the league’s quest to get three teams into the NCAA tournament field.

Memphis and SMU are jockeying for position amongst the last four in and first four out on many prominent bracketology sites at the moment.

A setback by the Tigers, however, would be devastating for their chances of earning an at-large berth on Selection Sunday. Not so much for SMU given its opponent.

It’s good then that Memphis has a couple trends on its side.

For one, Hardaway is a puzzle Wichita State has struggled to solve. Since he became coach at Memphis, the Tigers are 5-1 against the Shockers, including a dominating win in Wichita back in January. Among conference opponents, Memphis only has a better winning percentage against Tulane (8-1) and ECU (6-1) during Hardaway’s four seasons.

The Tigers have been particularly good at slowing down Wichita State leading scorer and reigning co-AAC player of the year Tyson Etienne. Though Etienne had 17 points in the January meeting, three of his four field goals came after halftime with the game well out of reach already.

Over four career games against the Memphis defense, Etienne is averaging 8.3 points on 20.6 percent shooting from the floor.

If that’s not enough positive mojo, this game will be the last one the Tigers play in February. The month has been kind to them of late. Entering Sunday, Memphis is 11-1 during February games the past two months.

“You can’t have March Madness without February success,” Hardaway told the team before its win over Temple, noting he got the saying from former coach Perry Clark after he called the Tigers’ win at Houston for ABC.

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You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: A February matchup with Wichita State bodes well for Memphis basketball