Memphis vs. UTEP Pre-Game Notes

UTEP Basketball Notes/Game 29/Memphis

The Tip-Off ...
UTEP (14-14, 6-8 C-USA) faces its second ranked opponent of the season on Thursday when Memphis (25-3, 14-0 C-USA) makes its first visit to the Don Haskins Center since 1977 ... the Tigers are ranked sixth in the Associated Press top-25 poll and seventh in the ESPN/USA Today top-25 poll ... tip-off is slated for 7:05 p.m. MST ... the game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 ... it marks the first time a UTEP home game has been carried on either ESPN or ESPN2 since Jan. 17, 1998 (62-50 win over UNLV on ESPN2) ... UTEP lost at then-20th ranked Syracuse, 83-69, on Nov. 12 and is 31-73 all-time versus AP Top-25 teams (20-23 at home, 11-15 in the Haskins Center) ... the Miners won their last home game versus a ranked foe, 80-61 over then-20th rated Fresno State on Feb. 17, 2001 ... UTEP hasn’t beaten a team rated as high as sixth in the AP poll since upsetting second-ranked Kansas, 66-60, in the second round of the 1992 NCAA Tournament in Dayton ... Thursday’s game marks a reunion of Memphis head coach John Calipari and UTEP head coach Tony Barbee ... Barbee played for Calipari at UMass from 1989-93, before joining him as an assistant coach at Memphis from 2000-06 ... UTEP is 11-6 at home this season, including 5-2 in C-USA play ... the Miners are 58-11 at home over the last four seasons, with a 28-4 mark in home conference games (12-2 since joining Conference USA for the 2005-06 season) ... Memphis is 7-2 on the road in 2006-07 with losses to Tennessee (76-58) and then-ninth ranked Arizona (79-71) ... the Tigers bring a 17-game winning streak to El Paso, including a 77-64 conquest of Houston on Sunday at the FedExForum ... UTEP lost its last game at East Carolina, 79-78, on Saturday.

On The Air ...

Dave Revsine (play-by-play), Doug Gottlieb (analyst) and Tom Brennan (analyst) will call the action on ESPN2 ... English and Spanish radio coverage is available on KOFX 92.3 FM and ESPN Deportes 1150 AM respectively ... Jon Teicher (play-by-play) and Steve Yellen (color) are the English broadcasters, while Omar Ropele (play-by-play) and Victor Luces (color) are the Spanish commentators.

Noting Memphis ...

The Tigers entered the week ranked third nationally in won-lost percentage (.893), fifth in scoring margin (+17.9 ppg), sixth in steals per game (10.2), eighth in field goal percentage defense (.383), ninth in scoring offense (80.4 ppg) and 14th in blocks per game (6.1) ... Memphis leads Conference USA in scoring offense, scoring margin, field goal percentage defense, three-point field goal percentage defense (.305), steals and assist/turnover ratio (1.12) ... sophomore guard Chris Douglas-Roberts is averaging 15.1 ppg, senior guard Jeremy Hunt 13.9 ppg and sophomore forward Robert Dozier 10.5 ppg ... junior forward Joey Dorsey is first in C-USA in rebounding (9.8 rpg), field goal percentage (.645) and blocks (2.6 bpg) ... sophomore guard Antonio Anderson is first in assist/turnover ratio (2.69) and second in steals (1.9 spg) ... Hunt is second in three-point field goals per game (2.5).

Series History ...

Memphis leads the series 5-1 ... the Miners and Tigers have split two previous meetings in El Paso ... UTEP defeated Memphis 85-79 in the Sun Carnival Classic championship game on Dec. 18, 1971 ... Memphis beat UTEP 71-65 in the opening round of the Sun Carnival Classic on Dec. 16, 1977 ... Memphis edged UTEP 66-56 last season at the FedExForum in the first matchup between the teams as members of Conference USA.

Miners Versus Memphis ...

Kevin Henderson, Stefon Jackson and Maurice Thomas all played in last year’s UTEP-Memphis game ... Henderson and Jackson both started ... Henderson was on the floor for 36 minutes, scoring 13 points (4-for-7 FGs, 3-for-4 3FG, 2-for-4 FT)) with four rebounds, three assists and a steal ... Jackson tallied 12 points (4-for-8 FGs, 4-for-4 FTs) in 27 minutes with three rebounds and two assists ... Thomas came off the bench to produce two rebounds and a steal in seven minutes, missing both of his shot attempts ... Marvin Kilgore has faced Memphis once in his collegiate career as a freshman at East Carolina on Feb. 2, 2005 ... he tallied seven points (3-for-4 FGs, 1-for-1 3FG, 0-for-1 FT) with four rebounds and an assist in 21 minutes in the Pirates’ 72-66 loss to the Tigers at the FedEx Forum ... Darren Clarke played seven minutes in St. Louis’ 63-54 loss to Memphis on Feb. 7, 2004 at The Pyramid, missing his lone shot attempt.

The Last Meeting ...

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 17 points, leading fourth-ranked Memphis to a 66-56 win over UTEP on Feb. 22, 2006 at the FedExForum ... Douglas-Roberts made 7-of-10 shots and 3-of-4 free throws, propelling the Tigers to their 14th consecutive victory ... UTEP’s John Tofi played only nine minutes before suffering a season-ending knee injury ... minus Tofi, UTEP was outrebounded for just the second time in 11 conference games, 35-30 ... UTEP shot 44.7 percent from the field and Memphis shot 39.7 percent ... the Miners got off to a good start, leading 15-14 midway through the first half ... they trailed by only four points (28-24) with two and a half minutes remaining in the period before the Tigers built a 32-24 cushion at the break ... a layup by Edgar Moreno cut the deficit to 32-26 early in the second half ... that was as close as UTEP would get in the second stanza, as Memphis built leads of as many as 17 points ... the Miners kept fighting, however, pulling to within eight points (63-55) with 1:11 to play on a three-pointer by Kevin Henderson ... Henderson was 3-for-4 from beyond the arc and scored 13 points ... Jason Williams led the Miners with 18 points, and Stefon Jackson added 12 points ... UTEP held Memphis star Rodney Carney to 10 points – eight below his average – on 3-for-13 shooting ... Darius Washington was the only other Tiger in double figures with 11 points ... UTEP committed 19 turnovers, leading to 23 Memphis points.

UTEP in the C-USA Stats ...

UTEP leads Conference USA in assists (15.3 apg) ... the Miners are second in scoring offense (76.3 ppg) and steals (8.6 spg), and third in rebounding offense (38.6 rpg), turnover margin (+3.11) and offensive rebounds (13.8 rpg) ... Malik Alvin is fifth in assists (4.5 apg), tied for eighth in steals (1.5 spg) and ninth in three-point field goal percentage (.394) ... Stefon Jackson is third in scoring (18.5 ppg), tied for seventh in offensive rebounds (2.5 rpg), tied for eighth in steals (1.5 spg) and 10th in rebounding (6.0 rpg) ... Kevin Henderson is sixth in steals (1.6 spg) and ninth in rebounding (6.0 rpg) ... Jeremy Sampson is ninth in blocked shots (1.3 bpg) ... Maurice Thomas is third in field goal percentage (.560) and offensive rebounds (2.9 rpg) ... UTEP is second in scoring offense (72.6 ppg), tied for second in steals (9.1 spg), third in turnover margin (+3.36) and tied for third in assists (13.4 apg) for C-USA games only ... Alvin is third in C-USA in steals (2.0 spg) for league games only.

Senior Night ...

Senior guard Kevin Henderson will be playing in his final home game for the Miners on Thursday ... Henderson has appeared in 58 games for UTEP, making 40 starts ... the Minneapolis native has averaged 9.4 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 steals in a Miner uniform ... he ranks 10th in school history with 98 three-point field goals, and 12th with 98 steals ... Henderson leads UTEP in rebounding (6.0 rpg) and steals (1.6 spg) this season, while ranking second on the team in scoring (11.1 ppg) and third in assists (2.8 apg) ... he has scored in double figures 28 times at UTEP ... graduate assistant Chris Judge will also be honored at Thursday’s game ... Judge has been with the Miners for the last five seasons, starting as a manager before being elevated to head manager and graduate assistant ... he has been involved with many facets of the Miner basketball program, including coordinating camps and film exchange and compiling video highlights for the coaches television shows ... he graduated from UTEP in December, 2006 with a degree in public relations.

Memphis West ...

Five members of the UTEP staff have ties to the University of Memphis ... head coach Tony Barbee was an assistant for the Tigers from 2000-06 ... assistant coach Tony Madlock played for Memphis from 1988-92 ... assistant coach Milt Wagner was coordinator of basketball operations at Memphis from 2000-06 ... director of basketball operations Mike Babul was assistant director of basketball operations at Memphis during the 2003-04 season ... video coordinator Nathaniel Root lettered for the Tigers from 2000-03.

UTEP Home Notes ...

The Miners are 11-6 at home this season, including 7-2 in their last nine games ... UTEP is averaging 80.6 points at home (69.4 ppg over the last five home games) ... UTEP has scored 80+ points in nine of 17 home games ... the Miners have held their last eight home opponents to field goal percentages below 40 ... over the last eight home games, opponents have averaged 61.5 ppg with a .353 field goal percentage and .326 three-point field goal percentage ... UTEP has been outrebounded once in seven Conference USA home games (by Tulsa, 49-35).

Home/Road Splits ...

Every player on the UTEP roster has a better shooting percentage at home than on the road ... UTEP’s leading scorer, sophomore guard Stefon Jackson, is averaging 19.4 ppg at home while shooting .475 (104-for-219) from the field and .440 (22-for-50) from three-point range ... Jackson is averaging 17.3 ppg on the road with a .400 (52-for-130) field goal percentage and .176 (6-for-34) three-point percentage ... Jackson also shoots 80.6 percent (100-for-124) from the line in home games and 62.2 percent (46-for-74) in road games ... junior guard Darren Clarke is averaging 8.6 ppg in the Haskins Center with a .446 (50-for-112) field goal percentage and .421 (24-for-57) three-point percentage ... Clarke has averaged 5.8 ppg on the road, shooting .278 (15-for-54) from the floor and .259 (7-for-27) from outside ... freshman forward Dale Vanwright has shot 52.4 percent (11-for-21) from three-point land at home, and 30.8 percent (4-for-13) in road games.