Tag: Ricky Tarrant

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

AAC Championship: Connecticut 72, Tigers 58

The UConn Huskies extinguished the Tigers’ last flicker of hope for an NCAA tournament bid in winning the 2016 American Athletic Conference tournament title today in Orlando. UConn led virtually start to finish and and answered a pair of second-half Tiger runs with tears of their own. Despite committing four fouls, Shonn Miller led Connecticut with 13 points and Rodney Purvis added 12 as the Huskies improved to 24-10 with their third win over Memphis this season.

The Tigers trailed by 13 (32-19) at halftime, having missed 19 of their 25 shots over the game’s first 20 minutes. But a 13-1 run keyed by a three-point shot and three free throws from Ricky Tarrant Jr. brought the Tigers within four (36-40) with just over 13 minutes to play. UConn stretched the lead back to 17 (59-42) only to later see Memphis score nine straight points to pull within eight with 3:05 left on the clock. The Huskies countered once more, though, scoring 10 of the game’s final 14 points. The win is UConn’s first in the AAC final after losses the previous two seasons.

Four players for each team finished the game with four fouls. UConn shot 46 percent from the field while Memphis hit 38 percent.

Tiger forward Dedric Lawson scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to tie the program’s freshman record for double-doubles (17) set by Keith Lee in 1981-82. Tarrant was the only other Memphis player with double figures (11) on the scoreboard.

While the Huskies await their seeding and placement in the NCAA dance party, Memphis (19-15) is left to wonder if its run to the tourney final will be enough for a bid to the NIT. (An 18-14 record wasn’t enough last March.) If theTigers don’t land a berth in the second-tier event, today’s game will have been the last in a Memphis uniform for seniors Shaq Goodwin, Trahson Burrell, and Tarrant. Speculation will begin on the status of Lawson, the AAC Rookie of the Year and now eligible to enter this summer’s NBA draft.

The last time Memphis missed consecutive NCAA tournaments was in 2001 and 2002 under coach John Calipari. The Tigers reached the NIT semifinals in ’01 and won the event the next year.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Senior Day ’16: Love Shaq?

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Senior Day can be awkward. Before the Tigers’ 2014-15 home finale, the only senior on the roster — Calvin Godfrey — walked to center court to receive the customary salute, along with a framed jersey from coach Josh Pastner. It’s a special moment to witness every year.

But Godfrey played exactly one season of basketball for Memphis. We were just getting to know the lunch-pail forward when it was time to say goodbye. Such will be the case again this Sunday, when two more senior “one-and-dones” suit up at FedExForum for the last time. Caleb Wallingford made more impact as a U of M pitcher than he did as a guard on the hardwood. (He started 13 games for the 2015 Tiger baseball team.) Ricky Tarrant Jr. took over point guard duties this winter and became, in the eyes of Pastner, a member of this team’s key trio, pivotal to the success (or failures) of the squad. He’ll be saluted, though, having played more college games for Tulane than for Memphis (and a few for Alabama).
Larry Kuzniewski


Kedren Johnson and Trahson Burrell are a bit more familiar, having spent two seasons in blue and gray, with Burrell taking star turns this season as the Tigers’ sixth man. (Against East Carolina on January 24th, Burrell finished one assist shy of becoming just the third Memphis player to record a triple-double.)

But we know Shaq Goodwin, know him well. The Atlanta native — a McDonald’s All-American from Southwest DeKalb High School — is a member of a dying breed in college basketball: the four-year starter. If you’re good enough to start as a freshman at a prominent program these days, surely you’ll be cashing your first NBA paycheck before any music is played on Senior Day. Not Shaq Goodwin, though.

If Goodwin doesn’t miss another game, he should finish his Tiger career at least tied for 10th in games played. With 39 more points, Goodwin will join an exclusive club in Memphis history, players who rank among the program’s top 15 in scoring and top 10 in rebounds. The three others: Keith Lee, Forest Arnold, and Kelly Wise. Having entered the season with career averages of 9.5 points and 6.0 rebounds, Goodwin saved his best basketball for his senior campaign. His 14.9 points per game this season rank ninth in the American Athletic Conference. His 8.2 rebounds per game rank sixth. Only teammate Dedric Lawson ranks as highly in both categories. A second-team all-conference honoree as a sophomore, Goodwin will get plenty of votes for the first team at season’s end.

But Shaq Goodwin’s legacy as a Tiger will be one with contradictions. He was awarded the AAC’s Sportsmanship Award as a junior and has played with the brightest smile this program has seen in recent memory. But his senior year has been tarnished by a suspension for tripping an opponent (from the Tiger bench) and the technical foul he earned for dangling from the rim — by his right elbow — following a breakaway dunk at Tulane. The latter penalty provided the Green Wave a precious point in a game Memphis lost in overtime, one of the most embarrassing defeats in Goodwin’s college career. This is a young man you’d want babysitting your kids — especially with a basketball court nearby — but not necessarily occupying the next seat in a boardroom. Childish exuberance can be endearing until it presents as immaturity.
Larry Kuzniewski

When I asked Goodwin last fall about his primary objective as a senior, he emphasized consistency. And he has indeed been the most consistently solid performer on the Tigers’ current roster. Alas, Goodwin’s elevated play won’t be enough to reach the NCAA tournament unless the Tigers catch lightning in a bottle at the AAC tournament next month in Orlando. Among all the games Goodwin has played as a Tiger, only four were in the Big Dance. It’s a contradiction matched only by Anthony Rice (three NCAA tournament games) among the U of M’s career-games leaders.

I’ll miss Shaq Goodwin. He stuck around while prominent teammates like Tarik Black, Nick King, and Austin Nichols chose to jump ship for other programs where they’d be more comfortable. (Goodwin will graduate in May with a degree in Human Services.) Goodwin has stood by his embattled head coach, displaying the kind of loyalty rarely seen in boardrooms of struggling companies, let alone college basketball programs in the crosshairs of a fed-up fan base. There’s maturity in that, a grace that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Sunday’s game will not be a sellout. Who knows how many Tiger fans will be standing and cheering for the pregame senior salutes. It won’t be as many as Shaq Goodwin envisioned when he played his first game as a Tiger in November 2012. But he will have earned the cheers. As for those in attendance, they should be grateful for one last smile, among the brightest in Memphis Tigers history.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

#13 SMU 80, Tigers 68

No contest. The SMU Mustangs may be ineligible for postseason play this season, but they made clear the disparity between their talented roster and that of the Memphis Tigers Saturday night at Moody Coliseum in Dallas. Led by point guard Nic Moore (the favorite for American Athletic Conference Player of the Year scored 22 points), the Mustangs led by 11 points just nine minutes into the game and Memphis never closed within single digits.

The loss is a damaging opener to the hardest four-game stretch of the Tigers’ season. Now 13-8 and 4-4 in the AAC, the U of M will face Connecticut (Thursday) and Cincinnati (Saturday) at home in what amounts to must-win games for any chance at a favorable seeding in the AAC tournament come March. The team’s chances for an at-large NCAA tournament bid likely died last Sunday when East Carolina won its first league game at FedExForum.

The Tigers were held to 34-percent shooting (22 for 65) and missed 15 of 20 attempts from three-point range. SMU controlled the glass with 47 rebounds to the Tigers’ 32.

Senior Shaq Goodwin led the Tigers with 18 points before fouling out late in the second half. Two Memphis starters — guards Sam Craft and Markel Crawford — failed to score, freshman forward Dedric Lawson missed seven of eight shots from the field (seven points, 12 rebounds), and Ricky Tarrant Jr. was held to 10 points before also fouling out. Freshman guard Jeremiah Martin contributed 11 points off the bench, his highest point total of the season.

Shake Milton scored 13 points for SMU with Sterling Brown and Ben Moore each adding 12. The Mustangs are now 19-1 for the season and in control atop the AAC standings with an 8-1 mark. SMU will visit FedExForum for a rematch on February 25th, by which time both teams may be playing solely for pride.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Memphis Tiger Basketball: Midseason Musing

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Four thoughts on the Tigers’ season as conference play heats up.

• When Ricky Tarrant Jr. stepped to the foul line last Wednesday against Temple, I thought of Darius Washington Jr. and the very same foul line, not quite 11 years ago. Washington, you may recall, went to the line with his team trailing Louisville by two points in the 2005 Conference USA championship game, time having expired. Having been fouled attempting a three-point shot, Washington had the chance to earn an unlikely NCAA tournament berth for Memphis. With the no players on either side of the lane for the shots, Washington made the first but missed the next two, falling to the FedExForum floor in a heap of misery. If you were there and had a heart, it was painful to witness.

Tarrant made his two shots. And with a mouth full of blood and three loose teeth. The shots beat a tough Temple bunch, many of whom remembered winning a nail-biter in the same building last season. And there really seemed to be little doubt the shots would hit their mark, Tarrant being this team’s best free-throw shooter (86 percent) and, more and more it seems, its metaphorical backbone. A team — and a season — often has moments that flip the script. These Tigers have not beaten many talented teams. But they did last Wednesday, and with a late-game comeback that included their leader’s ability to literally swallow blood and answer the bell. The challenge now, of course, is to make that moment the start of something big.

Larry Kuzniewski

Sam Craft and Josh Pastner

• The Sam Craft story is developing momentum. Less than three weeks after playing in the Birmingham Bowl for the Memphis football team, Craft started his first game at point guard for the Tigers (in the win over Temple). Now with two starts and a total of 54 minutes (over four games) under his belt, Craft has exactly zero turnovers. Pastner insists he believes in freshman point guard Jeremiah Martin, who started five games before Craft took over against Temple. But the coach described Craft’s skill at “organizing our team” in making the decision to start the former (and presumably future) tailback. 

And there’s this. “Bigs are hard to get,” said Pastner after last Saturday’s win over USF, “but for perimeter players, I believe in guys who have been around winning. I’ve really shifted toward that. And Sam’s a winner. He won in high school [a 2011 state championship at Craigmont, where he was the state-tournament MVP], and he’s won in football. That matters. He’s a flat-out winner.” In playing terms, Craft is a basketball freshman. In winning terms, he’s a veteran. Consider this an intangible worth watching the remainder of the season.

• How will these Tigers handle the road? It’s really impossible to tell, the team having played 14 of 17 games to date at FedExForum. (What other sport includes this kind of home-cooking in drawing up a schedule? In seven years under coach Josh Pastner, the Tigers have played 66 road games, 30 on neutral courts, and a whopping 127 at home.) The Tigers have 14 more regular-season games, eight of them away from home, starting Thursday night in Cincinnati. Pastner’s winning percentage at home is .842. His winning percentage in those 66 games with hostile fans: .576. The U of M went 5-5 on the road in each of its first two seasons in the American Athletic Conference. The Tigers lost their only two true road games this season, but played well at both South Carolina and Connecticut. Starting Thursday night in Ohio, we’ll see if this group is worthy of NCAA tournament consideration. Another 5-5 season away from home won’t do it.

• With seven double-doubles already, Dedric Lawson is well on his way to becoming just the third Tiger freshman to have ten such games. Keith Lee had 17 in 1981-82, a season that saw Memphis [State] go 24-5 and reach the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 a year after missing out on the Big Dance. Lorenzen Wright had 15 in 1994-95, a season that saw Memphis go 24-10 and reach the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 a year after missing out on the Big Dance. 

Can Lawson be the swing variable for another Memphis team trying to return to the only college basketball tournament that matters? He’s currently averaging 14.5 points and 8.9 rebounds, not quite the numbers posted by Lee (18.3 and 11.0) and Wright (14.8 and 10.2) as rookies. But with Shaq Goodwin playing like a senior with McDonald’s All-American on his resume (13.8 and 8.3), Tarrant in command of the offense, and role players like Avery Woodson and Trahson Burrell making a difference, Lawson can continue to quietly climb the Tiger freshman-record book. But he needs to register a few double-doubles against the AAC’s best. Against UConn two weeks ago, Lawson had but 10 points and four rebounds in 36 minutes. This week’s tilt in Cincinnati is the kind of game that measures a player’s impact, freshman or otherwise.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 71, USF 56

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Josh Pastner knows his team won’t break any shooting records. Since well before the current season opened two months ago, the Tiger coach has preached defense and ball protection. To win consistently, the 2015-16 Tigers must keep opponents from lighting up the scoreboard, and they must value every possession. Saturday at FedExForum may become the 40-minute prototype for the balance of the campaign.

The U of M held USF to 32 percent shooting and committed only three turnovers in beating the Bulls to improve to 12-5 (3-1 in American Athletic Conference play). Freshman forward Dedric Lawson earned his seventh double-double of the season (18 points and 12 rebounds) and the Tigers pulled away with a second-half sequence that featured two dunks each by Trahson Burrell and Shaq Goodwin. But if you’re looking for a sign this team may be turning a corner, look at that turnover total. (The team’s previous low was seven against Southern Miss in the season-opener.)

Larry Kuzniewski

Sam Craft

“You gotta give a lot of credit to Sam [Craft], the starting point guard,” said Pastner. “And Ricky [Tarrant] played 34 minutes: three assists, no turnovers. He’s had a total of 25 turnovers all year, and he’s played a lot of minutes. But Shaq Goodwin and Dedric Lawson had no turnovers. Our biggest problem has been our bigs turning it over. We’ve got to take care of the ball Thursday [at Cincinnati].”

Craft started his second game less than a month after playing in the Birmingham Bowl for the Tigers’ football team. The junior hit four of six shots from the field for nine points. And Tarrant played every second of the first half, three days after getting three teeth loosened in a late-game collision with a Temple opponent. He scored nine points and picked up a pair of steals.

Goodwin struggled against a big USF frontcourt in the first half, but rallied late in the game to finish with 13 points and six rebounds. Sophomore guard Markel Crawford twisted an ankle early in the second half and had to be helped to the Tigers’ locker room, but he returned to the court not long after.

Angel Nunez led USF with 16 points and Jaleel Cousins grabbed 16 rebounds. The Bulls are now 3-16 and 0-6 in the AAC.

“We were knocking on the door,” said Pastner, reflecting on the season to date. “I think we were actually able to get through the door against Temple. We needed that, a confidence boost. But we’ve got to keep it going. The one thing we haven’t done well this season — in addition to shooting — is finish. Today, and this week, we finished strong.”

Craft is becoming the season’s most distinctive story line, having replaced Jeremiah Martin in the starting lineup without so much as practicing — basketball, that is — until January. “I feel myself getting better every day,” said Craft. “I’m just listening to Coach Pastner, soaking in what he has to say. Like everything else, it takes time. I’ll keep pushing forward.”

The Tigers will next push forward against longtime rival Cincinnati (now 13-6, losers to Temple Saturday). The Tigers and Bearcats meet Thursday night in Ohio.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

#23 Connecticut 81, Tigers 78

For the second straight Saturday, the Tigers battled a Top-25 team to the final minutes on the road. And for the second straight Saturday, they came up short. Tonight in Storrs, Connecticut, Avery Woodson gave Memphis a 75-74 lead with a three-pointer from the left corner with 51 seconds to play. But the Huskies drew fouls on their next two possessions and made all four free throws (two by Sterling Gibbs and two by Daniel Hamilton). Trahson Burrell missed a jumper and Woodson missed a three-point attempt that would have tied the score at 78. A desperation heave by Dedric Lawson missed its mark as time expired.

The loss drops Memphis to 10-5 for the season (1-1 in American Athletic Conference play), while UConn improves to 11-4 (2-1).

Senior forward Shaq Goodwin picked up two fouls in the game’s first four minutes and watched the rest of the first half from the Tiger bench. (This after serving a suspension and missing the Tigers’ win over Nicholls State four days ago.) He dominated much of the second half and finished with 23 points before fouling out with just over a minute to play. Lawson also battled foul trouble, finishing with 10 points but making only four of 13 attempts from the field.

Gibbs led the way for UConn with 26 points, draining five of seven shots from long range. Rodney Purvis added 13 and Hamilton 12. As a team, the Huskies hit nine of 19 three-pointers (47 percent) and shot 43 percent overall.

Ricky Tarrant Jr. scored 15 points for the Tigers and Burrell added 17 off the bench. The Tigers kept in the game by hitting 84 percent of their free throws (26 for 31) and winning the rebound battle, 32-26. The case could be made the Tigers’ three most impressive outings this season have been losses, against Oklahoma, South Carolina, and now the Huskies.

The Tigers return to FedExForum Wednesday night to host Temple and will host USF next Saturday.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 77, Tulane 65

Memphis won its American Athletic Conference opener Tuesday afternoon at FedExForum to improve to 9-3 on the season. Starting for the first time this season, senior Trahson Burrell led the Tigers with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Coming off the bench for the first time this season, senior forward Shaq Goodwin added 17 points and eight rebounds.

{image-1]

Three Tigers who started the team’s first 11 games were not on the floor at tipoff against the Green Wave. Freshman forward Dedric Lawson sat out the game with an abdominal strain, while Goodwin and guard Markel Crawford were held out of the starting lineup presumably for disciplinary reasons. (Crawford scored four points off the bench.) Freshman K.J. Lawson got his first college start and contributed 15 points and seven rebounds. Senior point guard Ricky Tarrant Jr. scored 16 points and led Memphis with six assists.

Malik Morgan led Tulane with 18 points. The Green Wave shot 35 percent in falling to 7-7 for the season.

The Tigers have won seven of eight games and will now hit the road for a big test Saturday at South Carolina. The 24th-ranked Gamecocks will likely be 12-0 entering the game (they face Francis Marion Wednesday).

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Ole Miss 85, Tigers 79

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

We learned Friday night that it takes longer to ignite the Tiger offense than most of downtown Memphis. After a delay of just over an hour — due to a massive power outage — the Tigers missed 19 of their first 24 shots in falling behind by 17 against Ole Miss. They managed to close the margin to five (76-71), but not with enough time on the clock (1:53) to earn a sixth straight win. Led by Stefan Moody’s 21 points (16 of them in the first half), the Rebels improved to 9-2 and are now riding a six-game winning streak. Native Memphian Martavious Newby added 12 points and 12 rebounds. Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy described Newby as “like a damn tiger, pardon the pun” during the lengthy pregame delay.

“They punched us right in the mouth in the first half,” said Memphis coach Josh Pastner. “We didn’t match their physicality. In the second half, we competed, we played hard. I thought we punched them in the mouth. The issue — a recurring theme — is our start. It’s on me to make a change. We’re going to have to change things up. We’ve started the same way since [the opening game]. Our starts have not been good.”

Larry Kuzniewski

Ricky Tarrant Jr.

The Tigers shot a miserable 26 percent over the game’s first 20 minutes and were down 12 at halftime only because a desperation three-pointer by Dedric Lawson — off a lengthy inbounds pass from Shaq Goodwin — found the net as time expired. The U of M outscored Ole Miss (48-42) in the second half and shot considerably better (42 percent), but finished the contest with more turnovers (15) than assists (13). The loss drops the Tigers to 7-3 with one game to play (next Tuesday against IUPUI) before their American Athletic Conference opener against Tulane (December 29).

“We’ll learn from [this game],” said Goodwin. “We’ll watch film Sunday and figure out what we need to do to get better.” Goodwin battled his way to 15 rebounds but was held to seven points (1 of 4 from the field).

“We didn’t come out with any energy,” said senior guard Ricky Tarrant Jr., who finished with a game-high 29 points and hit five of seven three-pointers, including the shot that brought Memphis within five points late in the game. “Their physicality surprised us. Double-teaming Moody in the second half isn’t what brought us back. It was our energy.”

Lawson logged his fifth double-double of the season (21 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks) but the Tigers got only nine points off the bench, eight of them by Trahson Burrell. K.J. Lawson missed all six of his shots from the field and committed four fouls in 19 minutes on the floor. The Tigers’ nine three pointers were one shy of the team’s season high, but the 85 points Ole Miss scored are the most by a Memphis opponent this season.

“They hit some big shots,” acknowledged Pastner, “some tough shots. Especially in the first half. But our starts . . . . We’ve tried every motivational tactic. We’re going to have to  do something different.”

The game was the first regular-season meeting between these regional rivals since December 2006 and one of two against SEC competition for the Tigers this season. Memphis travels to South Carolina to face the Gamecocks on January 2nd.

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 72, Southern 67

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The Tigers finished Tuesday night’s game on a 16-8 run, erasing a three-point deficit with just under seven minutes to play to earn their fifth straight win, matching the team’s season high from the 2014-15 season. Southern center Jared Sam missed a free throw with 26 seconds left that would have tied the game at 68 and K.J. Lawson converted a driving layup from the left side with 17 seconds left to clinch the victory.

The older of the Tigers’ two Lawson brothers scored a game-high 16 points off the bench and Trahson Burrell added 15 points and eight rebounds (also off the bench) to lead the way on a night senior Shaq Goodwin fouled out in only 14 minutes of playing time. Freshman forward Dedric Lawson earned his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Memphis improved to 7-2 on the season despite committing a season-high 19 turnovers.

Larry Kuzniewski

Dedric Lawson

Senior point guard Ricky Tarrant Jr. struggled from the field (3 for 10) but managed to score 11 points, grab six rebounds, dish out four assists, and earn four steals. He knew it was the Tiger bench, though, that decided this one. “It’s something we expect [the reserves] to do,” said Tarrant. “It’s their mentality, to bring energy. They did a great job, picking up the pace of the game. Not just by scoring, but with defense and rebounding.”

Led by Sam (26 points and 12 rebounds) and guard Adrian Rodgers (18 points), the Jaguars battled the Tigers to a tie at halftime (29-29) and led for more than 14 minutes of the game (there were 10 lead changes). But in addition to dominating bench play (Memphis outscored the Jaguar bench, 32-6), the Tigers got to the free-throw line 42 times and made 28, compared with a total of 16 free-throw attempts (12 made) by Southern.

“In the first half, we weren’t taking our time,” said K.J. Lawson. “We had some jitters. But in the second half, we took it to the goal; they couldn’t stop it.”

“Overall, it was a good win,” said Tarrant. “They’re a hard-nosed team. There are things we have to get better at on both the offensive and defensive end.”

Asked about the Tigers’ next opponent, Ole Miss (Friday night), K.J. Lawson all but shrugged his shoulders. “At the end of the day, it’s just another game,” he said. “We’re gonna prepare for them just like we prepare for everybody else. We played Oklahoma . . . top 10. How did we prepare for them? We know the crowd will be there, and we’ll be prepared to play. We just hope they’re ready to play.”

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Memphis Tiger Hoops at the Quarter Pole

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

With seven games in the books, a quarter of the Tigers’ 2015-16 regular season is almost behind them. They’ll play four games in 11 days starting this Saturday, then open American Athletic Conference play against Tulane on December 29th at FedExForum. A few quick observations on Josh Pastner’s seventh team as it continues to coalesce.

• Dedric Lawson has filled a void, and then some. The precocious power forward could be playing his senior season in high school, remember. Instead, he scored 22 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in his second college game, against the 8th-ranked team in the country. (Those numbers were never achieved by one Austin Nichols.) Last Saturday against SEMO, with the Tiger bench shortened by injuries, Lawson scored 28 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in 38 minutes on the floor. His current averages of 15.9 points and 9.0 rebounds haven’t been put up by a Memphis player since Chris Massie averaged 16.7 and 10.8 in 2002-03. Lots of season to play, and the competition gets stronger in January. But Dedric Lawson, as Pastner has said, “is a stud.”

• As good as Lawson has been, the case could be made that Ricky Tarrant Jr. has been the Tigers’ early-season MVP. This time last season, no one knew who the Tiger point guard was (or would be). Pookie Powell wanted the job. So did a desperately out-of-shape Kedren Johnson. Markel Crawford took some turns. There is no debate this season. Tarrant has met every standard Pastner and the Tiger staff could have envisioned for the Alabama graduate transfer. With Johnson nursing an injured shoulder and freshman Jeremiah Martin finding his sea legs, Tarrant has set the pace for a team that must push the ball offensively to win. He leads the team with 31.3 minutes per game and has dished out 28 assists with only eight turnovers (10 and 1 against SEMO last weekend). Tarrant is aggressive to the rim and makes his free throws (87 percent on 56 shots). Tiger fans will wish they had more than one season with him.

Larry Kuzniewski

Ricky Tarrant Jr.


• Shaq Goodwin is playing with urgency. Pastner likes to endorse Goodwin’s “high motor.” During his first three college seasons, that motor sputtered regularly. But the senior seems to know this will be the season his impact will make the most difference, on young teammates like the Lawson brothers, on the Tigers’ standing in the AAC, and on any chances this team has of reaching the NCAA tournament. Goodwin’s last three games (points and rebounds): 23 and 3, 18 and 12, 20 and 6. His averages (14.1 and 8.6) are significantly up from his career numbers entering the season (9.5 and 6.0). Not incidentally, Goodwin has seemed to be especially happy on the court (he smiles as easily as any Tiger in memory). “I need to make sure I enjoy [the season],” said Goodwin after the Louisiana Tech win on December 1st. “If I’m not, it’s a cancer to the team, and it shows.”

• The Tiger bench is thin . . . but capable. Let’s start with the positive: Trahson Burrell can be one of the finest sixth men in the country. His sheer athleticism and active play at either end give the Tigers a boost five or six minutes into a game. In six games (all off the bench), Burrell has averaged 23.3 minutes and scored or rebounded in double figures in five of the six games. Martin has shown signs of manning the point full time, perhaps as early as next season. And K.J. Lawson brings the energy you’d expect from someone known by too many as “the other Lawson.” After those three, though, the Tiger rotation is lacking. The biggest man on the team, Nick Marshall, hasn’t earned Pastner’s confidence. Based on the coach’s first six seasons, if a player isn’t an established part of the rotation by the time conference play begins, he’s unlikely to gain such status. Dedric Lawson and Goodwin are going to get into foul trouble. How will the reserves keep Memphis competitive in such scenarios? We don’t have a complete answer, at least not yet.

• There are too many empty seats at FedExForum. Over six home games, the Tigers have announced attendance (ticket sales) above 12,000 only once (the Oklahoma game). This after attendance dropped precipitously last season (average of 13,915 after 16,121 in 2013-14). It’s an ugly contrast with the U of M football program, the latter having set attendance records at the Liberty Bowl this fall. Have basketball fans simply shifted their time, attention, and money to football? I don’t think it’s that simple. The Tigers need big wins, and they need a star. Dedric Lawson may fill the latter. As for big wins, would beating Ole Miss on December 18th count? What about South Carolina on January 2nd? The Tigers have six more home games before they travel to UConn to face the Huskies on January 9th, then just eight more games at FEF the rest of the season. For those of us who’ve been around the program for some time, the vacant sections of the home arena are uncomfortable statements on the condition of the program. Sponsors and boosters see these sections. When will they be filled again?