Tennessee Volunteers vs. Memphis Tigers: game preview

The 12-5 Tennessee Volunteers return home with a nice Commodore pelt and prepare to host John Calipari and the 15-3 Memphis Tigers. Memphis isn't perfect this year like they were when these two teams met last year, but the Vols aren't quite Pearlfect, either. Regardless, the teams do appear to be evenly matched and this week's Record of Wrongs figures to be lengthy, so it should be an exciting time on Saturday.

Observations from the stats

Something's got to give, part II. As was the case with Vandy, the Vols' nationally ranked scoring offense figures to be tested by a nationally ranked scoring defense. The Tigers are really good at all sorts of defensivey things, including field goal and three-point percentage defense, blocks, and steals, but fortunately, they don't shoot all that well from the field, and they appear to be no better at hitting three-pointers as do our guys.

Memphis players to watch

Tyreke Evans. Dude's sneaky as Longfellow Deeds' foot-fetishin' butler, ranking 13th in the nation in steals. He's also averaging 16.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. And he's a guard, so expect a career day for him. It's the law.

Shawn Taggart. Taggart's the Tiger's shot-blocker, and he's averaging almost two rejects a game. He also averages ten points and seven boards per contest.

Other Stuff

KenPom's prediction: Memphis wins 78-76, with the Vols having a 43% chance of winning.

Bullets!

• John Calipari is the devil. Or has enough in common with the devil to be mistaken for him at The Kroger.
• Under Bruce Pearl, Tennessee is 2-1 record against Memphis and 12-1 against in-state, non-conference opponents. We're 28-1 in non-conference home games during Pearl’s tenure.
• Tennessee's bench has outscored its opponents bench 469-280 (27.6 to 16.5 ppg) this season. Chism coming off the bench against Vandy Tuesday night resulted in a monster game from Wheezy that started with two three-pointers. Does he come off the bench again tomorrow? I doubt it for some reason.
• The teams' respective January opponents:
  
  

  Lamar	at Kansas
  Marshall	Gonzaga
  at UCF	at Georgia
  at Tulsa	Kentucky
  UAB	South Carolina
  Rice	at Vanderbilt
  at Tennessee	Memphis
  at East Carolina	LSU
  Houston	Florida

Anyway, on to the stats:

KEY STATS COMPARISON
Category	Rank	Actual	Rank	Actual
Scoring Offense	7	83.4	45	77.2
Scoring Defense	310	76.3	54	61.8
Scoring Margin	81	7.1	11	15.5
Field-Goal Percentage	91	45.7	179	43.5
Field-Goal Percentage Defense	238	44.4	9	37.2
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game	141	6.6	177	6.2
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage	264	30.3	244	31.2
Three Pt FG Defense	280	0.366	8	0.285
Free-Throw Percentage	145	69.3	261	65.2
Rebound Margin	20	7.6	63	4.5
Assists Per Game	17	16.9	121	14.1
Assist Turnover Ratio	60	1.13	81	1.07
Blocked Shots Per Game	98	3.9	6	6.8
Steals Per Game	141	7.1	10	9.7
Turnovers Per Game	223	15.0	94	13.2
Turnover Margin	155	0.4	16	4.4
Personal Fouls Per Game	296	20.8	223	19.4

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Category	Player	Rank	Actual	Player	Rank	Actual
Points PG	Tyler Smith	68	17.9
FG%
3-Point FG PG
3-Point FG%
FT %
Rebounds PG	Wayne Chism	42	9.0
Assists PG
Blocks PG				Shawn Taggart	68	1.8
Steals PG				Tyreke Evans	13	2.6
Assist-TO Ratio	Bobby Maze	95	1.94	Antonio Anderson	70	2.06