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 |
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|
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| 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
|