QUICK FACTS SCHOOL INFORMATION Location: ...............................Memphis, Tenn. Founded: ............................................... 1912 Enrollment: ......................................... 22,725 Nickname:............................................ Tigers Colors: .................................... Blue and Gray Arena: ......................Elma Roane Fieldhouse Capacity:............................................... 2,565 President: ......................... Dr. Shirley Raines Athletic Director: ......................... Tom Bowen SWA: ......................................... Lynn Parkes Conference: ........................ Conference USA Web Site: ......................www.gotigersgo.com
STAFF INFORMATION Head Coach:.......................Melissa McFerrin Alma Mater: ............................Missouri, 1983 Record at Memphis: ...............79-54/5th year Overall record: ....................129-124/8th year Associate Head Coach: .............. Keila Whittington Alma Mater: ...............................Dillard, 1989 Assistant Coach:...........................Erin Grant Alma Mater: ....................... Texas Tech, 2006 Assistant Coach:...................Michael Wholey Alma Mater: ............. Emerson College, 2004 Dir. of Basketball Opps: ..............Donease Smith Alma Mater: ..........Central Missouri St., 1998
Athletics Communications Director: ........................................Ron Mears WBKB Contact:..................... Tammy DeGroff Office Phone: ...........................901-678-5787 Cell Phone: ..............................901-734-1504 Email:........................tdegroff@memphis.edu
GAME DAY BROADCASTS Game-day station ............... WUMR, 91.7 FM Play-by-play .............................Jeff Brightwell
TEAM INFORMATION 2011-12 Record: .....................................25-8 ............Home (17-2) Away (7-5) Neutral (1-1) 2011-12 C-USA Record/Finish: .......13-3/2nd Starters Returning/Lost:............................ 2/3 Letterwinners Returning/Lost:................... 5/6 Newcomers:................................................. 8
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
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Tigers vs. Illinois State This is the eighth meeting between Memphis and Illinois State. Memphis leads the overall series, 6-1, but the two teams have not met since the 1979-80 season. Illinois State won that last meeting, 72-58 to snap a six-game winning streak in the Memphis series that had been a yearly meeting dating back to 1974-75. With the Loss at Middle Tennessee - Memphis Falls to 1-2 in the Preseason WNIT. The Tigers’ only other experience in the Preseason WNIT was in 1995, when they lost 89-81 to Drake. - Memphis falls to 0-1 in road openers. Memphis is now 2-3 in road openers under Melissa McFerrin in her fifth season. Memphis went 1-3 in true non-conference road games last year, losing at Illinois, Missouri and St. John’s and winning at eventual NCAA tournament team UALR. Memphis is 6-12 in true non-conference road games since McFerrin took over the Tigers’ schedule and added some new opponents to the schedule. Since McFerrin has taken over, Memphis has road wins at Tennessee Tech (2008-09), Missouri (2009-10), South Alabama (2009-10), Indiana (2010-11), Saint Louis (2010-11) and UALR (2011-12) since the 2008-09 season. Another Veteran Opponent Life does not get any better for Memphis with the announcement that the Tigers would be playing Illinois State in the Preseason WNIT Third Round Consolation. The Redbirds have the Missouri Valley Conference Player and Freshman of the Week on their roster coming into the non-conference matchup. Senior guard Jamie Russell started her season with a bang, scoring 20 points against Morehead State in the first round game, then dropping 30 points and tying her career high in the road loss at Iowa in the second round. Russell just missed a triple double in the Iowa game, finishing with 30 points, 12 rebounds and eight steals. Transfer Janae Smith was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week after averaging 12 points and 7.5 rebounds in the two games last week. The Redbirds sport a roster with five seniors and two juniors for third year head coach Stephanie Glance. Glance guided the Redbirds to the WNIT last season, marking the program’s sixth consecutive post-season bid. Glance sports a significant coaching resume, having spent time as an assistant with Pat Summitt at Tennessee (2009-10) after spending 15 years as the associate head coach at North Carolina State working with the late Kay Yow. Aging the Youngsters Memphis’ run in the Preseason WNIT this year is giving the five-member freshman class plenty of high-level competition to start the season. Against Middle Tennessee, a team that has gone to the NCAA tournament in six of the past seven seasons and which sported the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, the Tigers countered with a line-up that at times included three freshmen on the floor at once. Ariel Hearn and Mooriah Rowser have started both games to date for the Tigers in their freshman campaigns, while teammates Jaymie Jackson and Asianna Fuqua-Bey have come off the bench for significant minutes in both contests as well. Freshman Courtney Powell played against Grambling State, but with senior forward Nicole Dickson playing the full 40 minutes at the four against Middle Tennessee, Powell was the lone freshman to not hit the floor on Sunday. About the Freshman Starters When Ariel Hearn and Mooriah Rowser appeared in the starting line-up in the season opener against Grambling State, they were doing something that isn’t done often at Memphis. They became the first two freshmen to start the regular season opener since Malissa Bush and Kelly Herron appeared in the starting line-up in 1997-98. Memphis lost that game with Bush and Herron in the line-up, 68-65, at Southern Illinois, but that team went on to post a record of 22-8 overall and 13-3 in Conference USA play, winning the C-USA championship and appearing in the NCAA Tournament. Bush and Herron did have some more experienced teammates to help them out though. Former WNBA players Tamika Whitmore and LaTonya Johnson were Tigers teammates to the duo. 20-20 Vision Two Tigers scored 20 or more points in Friday night’s win. Freshman Mooriah Rowser led all players with 24 points, on 12-for-20 shooting. Senior forward Nicole Dickson also went for 20 points, shooting 6-for-11 from the field and 3-for-5 from three-point range. It’s appropriate that Rowser and Dickson both went over 20 in the same game. The last time a Memphis freshman scored 20 points in her first collegiate game, it was then-freshman Nicole Dickson scoring 20 points on Indiana in FedExForum. That’s Foul Melissa McFerrin already has her hands full with a roster with eight newcomers and two new assistant coaches, but that task got a little tougher on Sunday at Middle Tennessee. Mooriah Rowser and Nicole Dickson, two of the Tigers’ starters, had two fouls at the half and reserve guard Lauren McGraw had three fouls, leaving McFerrin with freshman guard Jaymie Jackson left on the bench from the guard corps. Dickson played through her foul trouble, but McGraw and fellow sophomore starter Ann Jones both fouled out of the game. After fouls were 14-8 against the Tigers in the first half at Middle Tennessee, McFerrin had to juggle the line-up to adjust for the loss of Rowser, who scored 24 points in her college opener. Rowser played just six minutes in the first half at Middle Tennessee, as did starter Ann Jones after Jones picked up a quick foul early in the game. Balancing the Bench The upside with so many young players is that all of them are scoring to start the season. The Tigers’ bench has out-scored its counterpart in each of the first two games, 46-24. And in Other Freshmen News Ariel Hearn was the other true freshman in the starting lineup on Friday night. She made the most of her opportunity to get some playing time, playing 30 minutes and dishing out 12 assists, adding seven points, three rebounds and two steals. That was the first time a Tiger has had double-digit assists
UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS
2012-13 MEMPHIS WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAME NOTES