Home Streak at 40 or is it?

Home Streak at 40 or is it?
Posted by John Stacy, Tiger fan blogger

According to most the Tigers have now won 40 consecutive home games and go for 41 tonight against East Carolina. So I thought it was as good a time as any to look back at some quirky little facts about the streak.

The truth is the streak is actually at 43 games. The Tigers have played 3 exhibitions in that time frame. They took down CBU and Lemoyne Owen in the process which did not count towards the streak. That makes no sense to me but hey what do I know.

During the home winning streak the Tigers have exterminated Spiders. They clipped the wings of Cardinals, Eagles, Golden Eagles, Jaspers, Owls, and Skyhawks. They have corralled Mustangs and a Thundering Herd. They have put Miners out of work. They sunk a ship full of Buccaneers. They have impeached Governors. They exposed the tricks of the Magicians as back parlor hacks. Men of the cloth didn’t fare too well either as the Tigers beat down both Cardinals and Saints. They stopped Mother Nature by turning a Golden Hurricane into a shower, repelled a Green Wave and then surfed some Waves. They faded the Blue Raiders, Golden Eagles, Golden Hurricane, Golden Knights, and a Green Wave. The put Hoyas and Saints (a Saint Bernard is their mascot) in the kennel. They took care of a politically incorrect school when they beat the Indians. They have de-clawed Bearcats, Cougars, Tigers and Wildcats. The stopped the uprising of Rebels and Volunteers. The sent the out of style Blazers to the back of the closet.

The Tigers are 3-0 against the Big East during the streak, which puts a little smile on my face. They have beat Cincinnati and Georgetown by an average of 23.5 points. The Tigers against other conferences breaks down like this:
A-10–Richmond
Big South—Winthrop
C-USA games—21 conference games including C-USA tournament play
MAAC—Manhattan and Siena
OVC—Austin Peay and UT-Martin
PAC 10—Arizona
SEC—Tennessee and Mississippi
Southland—Lamar

Sun Belt—Middle Tennessee and Arkansas State
SWAC–Jackson State
WCC—Pepperdine

The Tigers have owned C-USA since the defectors left the league. They are unbeaten against C-USA teams and have scored 1,622 points while holding the opposition to a mere 1,207. The Tigers averaged 77 PPG while holding C-USA to 57 PPG. That’s an average margin of victory of 20 PPG. The largest point total against conference mates came when they dropped 99 on Rice last February. The lowest total was 57 against UAB in the C-USA tournament finals in 2006. The closest any C-USA team has come to beating the Tigers was when Southern Miss came within 3, 67-64, last January. The Tigers have won 17 of the 21 games by double digits. Only the aforementioned Golden Eagles, UAB (7 pts), Tulsa (9 pts), and Houston (7 pts) have managed to keep the margin of victory under 10.

The Tigers have hosted two C-USA tournaments during the streak. The closest any of the games came when UAB’s stayed within 11 points in the 2006 Conference Finals. The Tigers finished off four different teams in the six games Marshall and UAB once then Houston and Tulane twice. The Tigers scored well under their scoring average in these games only scoring 72 ppg while allowing only 57.

In the games that actually counted during the streak the Tigers scored 100 points four times. Siena was the latest team that the Tigers scored triple digits against. The other teams that the Tigers scored more than 2.5 points a minutes against were Jackson State, UT-Martin and Austin Peay. The 111 points against Jackson State was the highest total.

The 19 non-conference games during the streak really showed the Tigers home supremacy. They scored 89 ppg while only allowing 61 ppg. The Jackson State game showed them with their highest total while the Winthrop Eagles held them to their fewest points (73). The fewest points the Tigers allowed was when they held Middle Tennessee to score a mere 46 on 12/2306. The Governors of Austin Peay scored the most this past November when they put 82 on the scoreboard. The biggest margin of victory came in the Tigers last 100 point performance when they beat Siena by 42 points. The closest any of the OOC foes came was when the Volunteers got within 9. It was the only OOC game where a team got to within single digits of the Tigers.

Just a few things to think about when the Tigers open their C-USA schedule tonight in the FEF. Ironically enough, this will be the first time East Carolina has played the Tigers in almost 4 years at a Memphis home court. The last time they played in Memphis was 2/11/04 when the Tigers still played in the Pyramid. In all likelihood, the Tigers will add yet another victim to the list of downed opponents in the FEF. At least let’s hope so. I don’t want to jinx them in any way.