The games must be played. However uncomfortable the next six weeks may become for the Memphis Tigers and their beleaguered head coach, at least 11 games remain on the schedule (counting at least one in the American Athletic Conference tournament). As of this writing, the Tigers are 13-8 with a 4-4 mark that has them tied for seventh place in the 11-team AAC. If the empty seats at FedExForum and calls for Josh Pastner’s job have been unsettling to this point, just wait for the reaction to a nosedive — if a nosedive occurs — while 68 other programs book tickets for next month’s Big Dance.
Last Saturday’s loss at SMU can be viewed one of two ways. Glass half full: The Mustangs are a tier above every other team in the AAC (as the standings indicate), making a loss — even a blowout — on the team’s home floor nothing worthy of teeth-grinding. Glass half empty: The dramatic gap in talent between the SMU roster and the one at Pasner’s disposal accentuates how far this program has fallen, and how large the gap has become between reality as a Memphis Tiger and the dreams of a Sweet 16 (let alone Final Four) appearance.
Larry Kuzniewski
Shaq Goodwin: ‘We’ll man up.’
Forget the Tigers’ horrid record against ranked teams under Pastner. For now, the U of M program needs to find ways to merely beat its own league’s elite: SMU, Connecticut, and Cincinnati. Since moving to the AAC from Conference USA in 2013, the Tigers are now 4-12 against this trio of league exemplars. You can’t compete for national championships unless you can compete for your conference title. Which makes this week at FedExForum maybe the biggest two-game home stand of the 38-year-old Pastner’s career. Sweep Connecticut (here Thursday) and Cincinnati (Saturday) and the Tigers will find themselves at worst tied in the loss column with the Huskies and Bearcats this time next week. Split these games or (teeth-grinding time) lose both, and we can consider the nosedive underway. This is the collateral effect of the home loss to East Carolina on January 24th. Memphis must knock off a team it’s not expected to beat. One, at the very least.
Can the Tigers sweep this week’s contests? So much must happen to counter what we’ve seen of late. Freshman star Dedric Lawson is averaging 14.4 points and 9.0 rebounds this season, but averaged 8.5 points and 6.0 boards in the Tigers’ two narrow losses at UConn and Cincinnati last month. Lawson must make a difference against an AAC power before we can consider him truly among the best freshmen in Tiger history. Trahson Burrell must be the player who came an assist shy of a triple-double in the loss to ECU, and not the one who disappeared (eight points, two rebounds, no assists) at SMU. And the Tigers simply must find offensive support for their “Big Three” of Lawson, Shaq Goodwin, and Ricky Tarrant Jr. Two starters against the Mustangs — Sam Craft and Markel Crawford — failed to score. “Organizing” the team (Craft’s specialty) and marking the opponent’s top gun (Crawford’s) are important, but Tiger opponents have taken to sagging on Lawson and Goodwin. Points must be generated elsewhere.
Surely the Tigers welcome turning a page on the calendar, having finished a 4-5 January highlighted only by the narrow win over Temple at home and a road beatdown of UCF. Pastner and his staff would be wise to erase (or hide) any indication of the January stumble-fest. Make February a season within a season. Take the two big games this week, then focus on winning four — if not five — of the remaining six. (SMU comes to town February 25th). Six wins this month would put the team on the cusp of 20 when we next turn the calendar to March where college basketball’s elite are separated from the hoi polloi.
This team knows what’s being said about its performances to date. “I’ve been here a while,” said Goodwin after the Temple win, “and I know how they do Coach Pastner. My sophomore year, I asked him why, and he said, ‘You gotta win. You gotta win big games.’ We’ll accept that. We’ll man up on that. But we pay attention to it, and we’ll get it right once we get on a winning streak.”
If a winning streak is to happen for the 2015-16 Memphis Tigers it will start this month. Would it be enough to erase January, to lower the temperature on Josh Pastner’s hot seat? Come Thursday night, we’ll have some answers.