Memphis basketball: Tigers vs. UCF pivotal for AAC Tournament seeding

Before Memphis basketball senior Jeremiah Martin scored 31 points to carry his team in a win over ECU Wednesday night, he spent the day spreading a specific message to his coaches and teammates.

"We're not losing," Martin told the team, because the Tigers' leader needed revenge for the embarrassing loss to the Pirates last season.

It's exactly the feeling Memphis coach Penny Hardaway expects Central Florida to use when the Tigers travel to Orlando for a pivotal matchup with the Knights Saturday. 

"We're not knocking ECU," Hardaway said, "but UCF is a better team at home. We know after beating them by 20 points that they are going to want revenge, so we know we have to raise it up another level on the road."

The Tigers' 77-57 drubbing of UCF at FedExForum last month is the most lopsided loss the Knights have suffered this season. 

"I could just tell they were a little shocked at the time," Hardaway said, "and after it was like, 'We'll remember this.' So, I think they are going to bring their level of intensity up and try to knock us out in the first half."

Memphis gameplan vs UCF

Just like the first meeting between the two schools, assistant coach Mike Miller is in charge of developing the scouting report against the Knights (18-5, 8-3 AAC). 

"They've changed some things, but you have to do similar things against Tacko Fall, Aubrey Dawkins and B.J. Taylor," Hardaway said. "At home, they are going to play different, they are going to shoot the ball better."

Fall, Dawkins and Taylor combined for just 19 points in the matchup last month, which was less than half of the 42.2 the trio is averaging. 

The Tigers (15-10, 7-5) were particularly aggressive with Fall, attacking the 7-foot-6 center on the offensive end to get the reigning AAC Defensive Player of the Year in early foul trouble. 

"I look at him when I guard him like, 'Man, this dude's tall,'" 6-foot-8 Memphis senior Mike Parks Jr. said laughing. "When he posts up he's hitting me in the head with elbows, but I'm just used to it now."

Memphis was also successful with its pressure in the backcourt, forcing 17 turnovers and disrupting the rhythm of Taylor and Dawkins. The Knights' two leading scorers finished just 4-for-21 shooting.

"You still have to make things uncomfortable," Hardaway said, "but you don't tweak the (gameplan) as much. You try not to tweak it as much."

How Memphis can get AAC tournament bye

The fifth-place Tigers are 1.5 games back of third-place UCF in the conference standings, which makes Saturday's meeting a pivotal game in deciding which teams will earn one of the four first-round byes in the AAC Tournament next month. 

A win would not only put Memphis just a half-game back of the Knights, but it would also give Hardaway's team the tiebreaker between the two schools should they tie for fourth place at the regular season's end. 

The Memphis coaching staff is aware of that, of course, and is using the game's importance as a motivating factor for the trip. 

"We've been doing that all year, but we just haven't been stepping up to the challenge when we have those games," Hardaway said. "But this last road trip (against ECU), we did."

Hardaway hoped his team can use that road win, only its second of the season as a confidence boost for the game in Orlando. 

"They are going to swing first," Parks said. "We've just got to swing back. They're ahead of us, and they're not trying to lose that spot."

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Memphis at UCF

Saturday

5 p.m. CT

TV: ESPN2

Radio: 600 WREC / Rock 103