NCAA Tournament West Region Second Round
#5 Arizona Wildcats vs #12 Memphis Tigers
Bank of Oklahoma Center, Tulsa, OK
Friday, March 18, 2011, 2:45 pm Eastern, TV: CBS
Opening Line: Arizona -6 1/2
Current Line: Arizona -5 1/2
Opening Total: 138 1/2
Current Total: 139
Money Line: Arizona -240 / Memphis +200
Memphis head coach Josh Pastner is very familiar with his opponent in the NCAA having graduated form Arizona in 1998. After graduated he became a scout and assistant coach for the Wildcats. He stayed with the Wildcats until he was offered the head coaching position at Memphis 2 years ago. Now he leads his #12 seeded Memphis Tigers in Tulsa to take on the #5 seed Arizona Wildcats. Memphis is the youngest team in the tournament and 7th youngest team in all division 1 basketball. Memphis finished the regular season 25-9 and was the fourth place finisher in Conference USA with a 10-6 record. Memphis has won 4 straight games including a 67-66 comeback win at UTEP in the Conference USA Championship game. Te Miners were up by 9 at halftime before Memphis rallied. Arizona won the Pac-10 regular season title with a 27-7 overall record and a 14-4 league record. They had won 4 straight games before losing in overtime to Washington 77-75 in the Pac-10 Championship last Saturday.
Memphis leads the overall series 4-3 but the two teams haven’t played since 2007. Memphis is 3-3 against teams that made the tournament this year. Arizona was 5-6 against tournament teams this year. Memphis is 22-37 ATS in all games the last 2 seasons, including 6-16 when the total is between 130 and 140, and 6-18 in non-conference games in the same span.
Memphis has no significant injuries right now. The Tigers are very young with freshmen getting more than 60% of the minutes. Freshman Will Barton leads the team in scoring with 12.3 points a game. He also averages 5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.5 steals a game to also lead the team. Joe Jackson scores 9.9 points, and leads the team in assists with 3.1 a game. He also averages 2.1 rebounds and 1 steal a game. Forward Tarik Black averages 9.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks a game. He leads the team in rebounds and blocks. Junior guard/forward Wesley Witherspoon averages 9 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1 assists, and 1.1 steals a game. He is shooting 39.4% from 3 point range, but doesn’t attempt that many 3 pointers. Memphis is outscoring opponents 72-68 on the season. The Tigers shoot 45% from the field and 32.7% from 3-point range. Tiger opponents shoot 41.5% from the field. The Tigers make 67.9% of their free throws. They average 35.7 rebounds a game and have a rebounding margin of +0.7. The Tigers average 14.6 assists and 15.3 turnovers a game. They force 14.9 turnovers a game on defense. Memphis averages 8.5 steals and 5.4 blocks a game.
Arizona has no significant injuries right now. Arizona sophomore forward Derrick Williams won the Pac-10 player of the year. He leads the Wildcats in almost every statistical category except assists. He is averaging 19.1 points a game, 8.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, and 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks a game. Though he doesn’t shoot a lot of 3-pointers he is shooting 60.3% from behind the arc. Guard Lamont Jones averages 9.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists a game. Guard Kyle Fogg is averaging 8.3 points, 1.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists to lead the team and 0.9 steals a game to tie for the team lead. Forward Solomon Hill averages 7.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 0.8 steals a game. Arizona is outscoring opponents 77-68 this season. The Wildcats are shooting 47.1% from the field and 39.9% from 3-point range. Arizona opponents are shooting 44.3% from the field. The ‘Cats make 74.7% of their free throws. Arizona averages 34.6 rebounds a game and has a rebounding margin of +3.9. Arizona averages 14.1 assists and 12.9 turnovers a game. They force 12.7 turnovers a game on defense. Arizona averages 2.6 blocks and 5.1 steals a game.
Though Memphis is the youngest team in the tournament, Arizona doesn’t have a lot of experience either. In fact, there are only 2 seniors combined on both teams. Neither team rebounds very well, but defends reasonably well. This should be a close game that will come down to the wire.
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