After a week off, Memphis returns to action Wednesday night and will look to win three in a row against New Orleans. The Privateers are also coming off a week break, and they’re looking to snap a four-game losing streak.
New Orleans entered the season with a ton of negative headlines after three players from last year’s team were banned by the NCAA for gambling-related violations. The Privateers won only four games and finished the season losing 13 straight.
In the offseason, New Orleans brought in Percy Miller, known more commonly as Master P, as its president of basketball operations, and he and head coachStacy Hollowell brought in 13 new players this season. With so many new faces, it’s been an up-and-down start to the season, and the Privateers currently sit at 2-5 on the year.
While they’re there games under .500, they have a road win against TCU and led Mississippi State with 13 seconds left in the game. Hollowell’s team averages 72 points per game, and they shoot 41 percent from the field, 34.4 percent from three and 72.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Senior guard Colton Benson leads the team with 16.9 points per game, and he shoots 41.8 percent from three on 9.6 attempts per game. Benson had his best game of the season a few weeks ago on the road against Tulane when he went off for 33 points and shot 8-for-12 from deep.
Jakevion Buckley also plays a massive role on this team, and he impacts the game in multiple different ways. The 6-foot-2 guard averages 15.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.4 assists and connects on 38.1 percent of his threes.
As a team, New Orleans averages 37.9 rebounds per game, but they have a -0.3 rebounding margin. Forward MJ Thomas leads the team with 7.4 rebounds, while center Churchill Abass averages 5.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks.
The Privateers also have 7-foot-4 center Mathok Majok, who has only played in the last two games against Pepperdine and Texas Tech. Majok only played two minutes against Pepperdine, but he recorded nine points, six rebounds, a block and a steal in 11 minutes of action against Texas Tech.
Defensively, the Privateers are allowing 81.1 points per game, and opposing teams are shooting 42.5 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from three, which ranks as the 33rd lowest percentage in college basketball.
Memphis should make it back-to-back wins Wednesday against New Orleans, and it’s pretty close to a must-win for the Tigers with Baylor, Louisville, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State all right around the corner.