2016–17 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represented the University of Memphis in the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, the 96th season of Tiger basketball and the first under head coach Tubby Smith. The Tigers played their home games at the FedExForum. This was the fourth season the Tigers participated in the American Athletic Conference. They finished the season 19–13, 9–9 in AAC play to finish in a tie for fifth place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament to UCF. Despite having 19 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

2016–17 Memphis Tigers men's basketball
Conference	American Athletic Conference
Record	19–13 (9–9 AAC)
Head coach	Tubby Smith (1st season)
Assistant coaches	Joe Esposito Pooh Williamson Saul Smith
Home arena	FedExForum
Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 American Athletic Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 11 SMU †	17	–	1		.944			30	–	5		.857
No. 18 Cincinnati	16	–	2		.889			30	–	6		.833
Houston	12	–	6		.667			21	–	11		.656
UCF	11	–	7		.611			24	–	12		.667
Memphis	9	–	9		.500			19	–	13		.594
UConn	9	–	9		.500			16	–	17		.485
Tulsa	8	–	10		.444			15	–	17		.469
Temple	7	–	11		.389			16	–	16		.500
East Carolina	6	–	12		.333			15	–	18		.455
Tulane	3	–	15		.167			6	–	25		.194
South Florida	1	–	17		.056			7	–	23		.233
† 2017 AAC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll

Previous season

The Tigers finished the 2015–16 season with a record of 19–15 and 8–10 in AAC play to finish in a tie for fifth place in conference. The Tigers lost in the championship game of the AAC tournament to UConn. The Tigers did not participate in a postseason tournament marking the second consecutive year that the Tigers had missed the postseason entirely.

Josh Pastner left Memphis to take the head coaching job at Georgia Tech on April 8, 2016.^[1] On April 14, 2016, the school hired Tubby Smith to take over as head coach.^[2]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Trahson Burrell	0	F	6' 7"	187	Senior	Albany, NY	Graduated
Shaq Goodwin	2	F	6' 9"	229	Senior	Atlanta, GA	Graduated
Avery Woodson	3	G	6' 2"	189	Junior	Waynesboro, MS	Transferred to Butler
Randall Broddie	11	G	6' 3"	170	Freshman	Oxon Hill, MD	Transferred to Navarro College
Kedren Johnson	15	G	6' 4"	210	Senior	Lewisburg, TN	Graduated
Ricky Tarrant	20	G	6' 2"	184	Senior	Pleasant Grove, AL	Graduated
Nick Marshall	30	C	6' 11"	248	Sophomore	Lexington, TN	Left program; transferred to Motlow State CC

Incoming transfers

Name	Num	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Christian Kessee	10	G	6' 2"	180	Senior	Las Vegas, NV	Graduate transfer from Coppin State

Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Keon Clergeot G	Auburndale, FL	Auburndale HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Jun 8, 2016
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Jimario Rivers F	Memphis, TN	Southwest TN CC	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Oct 8, 2015
	Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com.

Coaching staff

The Tigers hired coach Orlando "Tubby" Smith to replace Josh Pastner in April 2016. Smith faced his first controversy as Tiger head coach early. Keelon Lawson, father of Tiger players KJ and Dedric Lawson, had served for two years as an assistant for Pastner, but Smith did not initially want to retain Lawson in that role to make room for his son on the staff. This caused Lawson to reenter his son Dedric in the 2016 draft and hint that KJ would be transferring. However, on April 25, 2016, The Commercial Appeal reported that Lawson would be retained on the basketball staff as director of player personnel. By moving Lawson to Director of player development it prevents him from recruiting off campus. Where his close ties to area coaches and talent would give him an advantage with Memphis area recruits. An area where Smith and his staff has been very weak in past jobs. With a recruiting class average in the 70s at Texas Tech. His first class at Memphis was ranked 92nd compared to the top 10 class in Pastner's last year at Memphis-^[3] Lawson claimed he never intended to indicate that his sons would be leaving the program upon the announcement of his reassignment.^[4] Dedric, however, remained entered in the draft and attended the draft combine before withdrawing his name in mid May and returning to Memphis.^[5]

The U of M announced that presumptive starting center Nick Marshall unexpectedly left the team on August 1, 2016 when he went to live with his pregnant girlfriend. Marshall was not expected to return to Memphis.

Roster

2016–17 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G/F 0 K. J. Lawson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Fr Hamilton High School Memphis, Tennessee G/F 1 Dedric Lawson 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 236 lb (107 kg) So Hamilton High School Memphis, Tennessee G/F 2 Jimario Rivers 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 193 lb (88 kg) Jr Southwest Tennessee Community College Clarksville, Tennessee G 3 Jeremiah Martin 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) So Mitchell High School Memphis, Tennessee G 4 Keon Clergeot 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 187 lb (85 kg) Fr Auburndale High School Winter Haven, Florida G 5 Markel Crawford 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 208 lb (94 kg) RS Jr Melrose High School Memphis, Tennessee G 10 Christian Kessee 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 182 lb (83 kg) Sr Coppin State Las Vegas, Nevada G 11 Jonathan Bins 5 ft 11 in (1.8 m) 150 lb (68 kg) Fr Germantown High School Memphis, Tennessee G 12 Craig Randall II 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 184 lb (83 kg) So Shadow Mountain High School Youngstown, Ohio F 15 Chad Rykhoek 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Sr Baylor Fort Worth, Texas G 20 Kaleb Castro 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Collin College Grapevine, Texas F 23 Karim Sameh Azab 6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 290 lb (132 kg) Fr Hales Franciscan High School Giza, Egypt G 30 Kytrel Williams 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 207 lb (94 kg) Jr Motlow State Community College Memphis, Tennessee F 32 Alex Moffatt 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 223 lb (101 kg) Jr Shawnee State Somerville, Tennessee G/F 42 Jake McDowell 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 218 lb (99 kg) Sr Christian Brothers High School Memphis, Tennessee	Head coach Tubby Smith (High Point) Assistant coach(es) Pooh Williamson (Tulsa) Joe Esposito (Marist) Saul Smith (Kentucky) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/07/2016* 6:30 pm		Christian Brothers	W 69–42		FedEx Forum (9,676) Memphis, TN
Regular season
11/14/2016* 7:00 pm, WLMT/ESPN3		Texas–Rio Grande Valley Emerald Coast Classic	W 94–75	1–0	FedEx Forum (9,217) Memphis, TN
11/16/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Milwaukee	W 68–54	2–0	FedEx Forum (9,398) Memphis, TN
11/19/2016* 11:00 am, ESPN3		Savannah State Emerald Coast Classic	W 99–86	3–0	FedEx Forum (8,689) Memphis, TN
11/22/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3		McNeese State	W 104–65	4–0	FedEx Forum (8,941) Memphis, TN
11/25/2016* 8:30 pm, CBSSN		vs. Providence Emerald Coast Classic quarterfinals	L 51–60	4–1	The Arena at NWFSC (2,196) Niceville, FL
11/26/2016* 3:00 pm		vs. Iowa Emerald Coast Classic 3rd place game	W 100–92	5–1	The Arena at NWFSC (2,196) Niceville, FL
11/30/2016* 8:30 pm, WLMT/ESPN3		Jackson State	W 84–69	6–1	FedEx Forum (7,507) Memphis, TN
12/03/2016* 12:00 pm		at Ole Miss	L 77–85	6–2	The Pavilion at Ole Miss (7,411) Oxford, MS
12/10/2016* 12:00 pm, ESPN3		UAB	W 62–55	7–2	FedEx Forum (9,424) Memphis, TN
12/13/2016* 8:00 pm, WLMT/ESPN3		Monmouth	L 79–82	7–3	FedEx Forum (7,831) Memphis, TN
12/17/2016* 11:30 am, CBS		at Oklahoma	W 99–94 OT	8–3	Lloyd Noble Center (9,081) Norman, OK
12/21/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3		Incarnate Word	W 95–71	9–3	FedEx Forum (7,919) Memphis, TN
12/27/2016 8:00 pm, ESPNU		SMU	L 54–58	9–4 (0–1)	FedEx Forum (10,305) Memphis, TN
12/30/2016* 8:00 pm, ESPN2		South Carolina	W 70–54	10–4	FedEx Forum (10,812) Memphis, TN
01/05/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN2		UConn	W 70–61	11–4 (1–1)	FedEx Forum (10,227) Memphis, TN
01/08/2017 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Tulane	W 80–59	12–4 (2–1)	Devlin Fieldhouse (1,525) New Orleans, LA
01/11/2017 7:00 pm, ESPNews		at Tulsa	L 71–81	12–5 (2–2)	Reynolds Center (4,017) Tulsa, OK
01/14/2017 5:00 pm, CBSSN		South Florida	W 62–56	13–5 (3–2)	FedEx Forum (11,955) Memphis, TN
01/19/2017 8:00 pm, CBSSN		at Houston	W 70–67 OT	14–5 (4–2)	Hofheinz Pavilion (4,815) Houston, TX
01/22/2017 3:00 pm, CBSSN		UCF	W 70–65	15–5 (5–2)	FedEx Forum (9,625) Memphis, TN
01/25/2017 5:00 pm, CBSSN		at Temple	L 66–77	15–6 (5–3)	Liacouras Center (4,950) Philadelphia, PA
01/28/2017 2:30 pm, ESPNews		East Carolina	W 57–50	16–6 (6–3)	FedEx Forum (10,684) Memphis, TN
02/02/2017 6:00 pm, ESPNews		at South Florida	W 85–75	17–6 (7–3)	USF Sun Dome (2,563) Tampa, FL
02/05/2017 4:00 pm, ESPNews		at UCF	L 57–72	17–7 (7–4)	CFE Arena (5,463) Orlando, FL
02/07/2017 6:00 pm, ESPNU		Tulsa	W 66–44	18–7 (8–4)	FedEx Forum (8,518) Memphis, TN
02/12/2017 1:00 pm, CBSSN		Temple	L 62–74	18–8 (8–5)	FedEx Forum (10,552) Memphis, TN
02/16/2017 8:00 pm, ESPN2		at UConn	L 62–65	18–9 (8–6)	XL Center (9,631) Hartford, CT
02/23/2017 6:00 pm, ESPN		at No. 15 Cincinnati	L 74–87	18–10 (8–7)	Fifth Third Arena (12,787) Cincinnati, OH
02/26/2017 4:00 pm, CBSSN		Houston	L 71–72	18–11 (8–8)	FedEx Forum (12,381) Memphis, TN
03/02/2017 8:00 pm, ESPNU		Tulane	W 92–70	19–11 (9–8)	FedEx Forum (9,223) Memphis, TN
03/04/2017 3:00 pm, ESPN2		at No. 14 SMU	L 62–103	19–12 (9–9)	Moody Coliseum (7,242) Dallas, TX
American Athletic Conference tournament
03/10/2017 1:00 pm, ESPN2	(5)	vs. (4) UCF Quarterfinals	L 54–84	19–13	XL Center (1,844) Hartford, CT
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

Main article: 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

References

1. Murtaugh, Frank. "Josh Pastner Leaving Memphis For Georgia Tech". Memphis Flyer. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
2. "Tubby Smith joins Memphis on five-year deal". ESPN.com. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
3. "2016 Basketball Team Rankings".
4. "Keelon Lawson to remain on Tigers' staff in support role". www.commercialappeal.com. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
5. "Tigers' Dedric Lawson pulling out of NBA draft". www.commercialappeal.com. Retrieved June 10, 2016.