Memphis-Southern Miss. Preview

3/14/2008 12:59 PM

By MATT BECKER
STATS Writer

Top-seeded Memphis entered the Conference USA tournament knowing a loss could cost it a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

It certainly played like a team trying to lock down a No. 1 seed in its conference tournament opener.

The second-ranked Tigers look to advance to their fourth straight C-USA championship game and take another step closer to earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament when they play fifth-seed Southern Mississippi in the semifinals on Friday at the FedEx Forum.

After back-to-back 16-0 regular-season conference finishes, Memphis (31-1) opened the C-USA tournament with a 75-56 victory over ninth-seeded Tulane in Thursday's quarterfinals. The Tigers jumped out to a 16-4 lead just over five minutes into the game, and never looked back.

Memphis outrebounded the Green Wave 43-28, and the Tigers even managed to hit their free throws. Memphis came in shooting 58.7 percent from the line - one of the most obvious weaknesses on a team with few - but against Tulane, it went 22-for-31 (71.0 percent) from the stripe.

"It's always hard the first game. I was really excited about the way we started and our energy," said Memphis' John Calipari, the C-USA coach of the year. "It was a good win. It was a good first game."

Memphis has won the last two conference tournament titles since losing to Louisville in the 2005 championship game. The Tigers also have won 30 straight conference games at the FedEx Forum since that loss, and 40 consecutive league games - including seven in the conference tournament - since an 80-74 loss to UAB on March 2, 2006.

Memphis has won its last nine over Southern Mississippi (19-13) since a 66-63 loss on Jan. 10, 2004. The Tigers beat the Golden Eagles 83-47 in Memphis on Jan. 19, and won at Southern Mississippi 76-67 on March 1.

Memphis guard Chris Douglas-Roberts, who was named the league's player of the year on Wednesday, has scored 41 points in the two games against Southern Mississippi this season. Douglas-Roberts leads the Tigers in scoring at 17.3 points and finished with 17 on Thursday.

Derrick Rose, who picked up league freshman of the year honors on Tuesday, is averaging 18.0 points on 61.9 percent shooting versus the Golden Eagles this season. On Thursday, Rose had seven points, six assists and six rebounds, but was just 2-for-8 from the floor.

The Tigers have the top-ranked scoring defense in the conference (61.3 ppg), and they have frustrated the Golden Eagles during their seven-game home winning streak against them. Southern Mississippi shot just 25.5 percent from the floor and missed all 14 of its 3-point attempts in its January loss at the FedEx Forum, and is averaging 52.7 points on only 32.5 percent shooting during the losing streak in Memphis.

The Golden Eagles had little trouble with their shooting in Thursday's quarterfinals, connecting on 52.5 percent of their shots in their 68-62 victory over Central Florida.

Jeremy Wise leads the Golden Eagles in scoring at 18.9 points, but was in foul trouble on Thursday and finished with just 11, his lowest-scoring game since scoring nine on 3-of-11 shooting at Memphis in January.

He had a much better performance against the Tigers earlier this month, scoring 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting.

This is Southern Mississippi's third trip to the conference semifinals, and first since 2001. The Golden Eagles, who have never advanced to the tournament championship game, defeated Memphis 85-57 in 1998 in the only meeting between these two schools in the C-USA tournament.

The winner of this game plays the winner of sixth-seeded UTEP and seventh-seeded Tulsa in the C-USA championship game on Saturday.