Tigers’ basketball coach Josh Pastner and his team’s struggles continued Saturday as they fell to the lowly Tulane Green Wave in overtime 94-87 in New Orleans. The Tigers (14-11) have lost six of their last eight games, and are 5-7 in the American Athletic Conference, tied for seventh place. The Daily Helmsman decided to look deeper into the numbers, to see how a promising season has potentially gone off the rails.
6: As I mentioned in the lead, Memphis has lost six of its last eight, and, as a result, it’s chances of securing a bye in the first round of the AAC Tournament is in serious jeopardy. Unsurprisingly, the Tigers’ two worse losses in the 2015-16 season have come in this recent slide. Memphis’ now infamous loss to East Carolina Jan. 24 prompted much discussion about Pastner’s job status, and the Tigers’ most recent shock loss to Tulane only further escalated that discussion. With only six regular season games left before the start of the AAC Tournament, the pressure has never been greater on Pastner and his team.
43: The Tigers are the tenth worst shooting team (40 percent) in the American. In addition, Memphis is also the tenth worst two-point shooting team in the conference at just 43 percent. While all of the discussion early on this season was about the Tigers’ lack of three-point shooting, two-pointers have been just a big, if not more, of a problem for Pastner’s squad. Memphis still has the second-highest scoring offense in the AAC scoring 75.2 points per contest, but its inefficiency has cost them especially in recent contests.
76.8: The main reason, apart from its inefficiency, that has cost the Tigers in this stretch is its once solid and reliable defense, which at one point was ranked 24th nationally, has completely lost its way. Memphis gives up 76.8 points per game, which is the tenth lowest in the American. In addition, only once in its past eight games has Memphis given up fewer than 76 points (a 63-59 victory over Cincinnati Feb. 6). Of course, a declining defense is not part of the recipe for success, or salvaging the season.
5,889: On Friday The Commercial Appeal, released the turnstiles numbers from the University of Memphis men’s basketball team home games this season, and the numbers don’t make for fond reading. The Tigers are averaging 5,889 people per home game at FedExForum this season, a 44 percent decrease from two seasons ago when Pastner’s squad made it to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
The turnstile count measures the number of people who actually attend each game while the announced attendance, which is the number of tickets purchased and includes complimentary and students' tickets, which are covered by student fees.
Memphis fans have tuned out the team for quite sometime now, and the numbers now show that’s the case. The next three home games are vital for Memphis basketball, because if the team fails to average an attendance of less than 6,000 per game, the team could lose some or of all of the $800,000 annual payment from the Memphis Grizzlies to the university. This recent skid certainly does not put Memphis in an ideal position to reach that goal. Nevertheless, the Tigers return to return to action against Central Florida 6 p.m. Wednesday at FedExForum.
University of Memphis coach Josh Pastner looks at the box score following the loss to UConn Feb. 4. The UConn loss is one of six Tigers’ losses in their last eight games.
