Jackson, Witherspoon keys for UM

The Memphis Tigers will put a 12-game winning streak against UAB on the line as they welcome the Blazers to the FedExForum tomorrow night, a streak that dates back to 2006.

Entering Saturday's game against UAB, Memphis is tied with Southern Miss for first place in Conference USA with a 7-2 league record. Southern Miss fell to UAB on Wednesday, while second-place Tulsa lost on the road to UTEP.

Memphis will hope for continued improvement from senior forward Wesley Witherspoon, whose performance has stepped up considerably in the last few games. After scoring 22 points in the first game against Belmont, he struggled to produce on the floor, failing to score in double digits until the game against Marshall on Jan. 28.

However, he has scored 12 points in three of the last four games, and head coach Josh Pastner said the credit must go to his player.

"I'd like to say it's all my coaching, but it's not," Pastner said. "Wesley is continuing to get better. He's got to stay the course and continue to do what he's been doing."

Pastner was complimentary about sophomore guard Joe Jackson's recent performances, whose playing time has increased despite not exactly lighting it up offensively.

"His whole game is dictated through his defense," Pastner said. "The game is being slower to him. The last two games he has 15 assists to seven turnovers, and some of those turnovers weren't his fault."

Jackson is not shooting particularly well of late, hitting 13-of-44 (29.5 percent) from the floor in the last seven games. Despite this, Pastner said he was pleased with Jackson's play.

"He's been great in both of those games and it's without even scoring or making a bunch of shots. He's been great through defense, fifty-fifty balls and making the right reads to pass," he said.

Jackson has also turned out to be the most consistent Memphis player from the free throw line.  He is hitting 86.7 percent of his foul shots this season, and has gone 31-of-34 (91.2 percent) from the charity stripe in the last five games, including 12-of-12 against Xavier.

Memphis will have to contain senior forward Cameron Moore, who leads the team with 16.4 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Moore led the Blazers on Jan. 7 with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Sophomore wing Jordan Swing also will also concern the Tigers, after he hit five three-pointers and scored 19 points when Memphis won 62-59 in Birmingham.

"We got lucky up there in Birmingham," Pastner said. "They missed a shot that would've sent it to overtime. We were fortunate and we're going to have to play a great game."