Player Performance

Elliot Williams:
By far the best player on the team, and he showed it against LeMoyne Owen. When the Tiger's where starting slow, and everyone had some anxiety about initiating a drive, Williams stepped up. He scored the first two points of the night, free throws. He is obviously not afraid to make a play through contact. Williams led the Tigers in scoring with 24 points and 8 of 11 from the floor. Also hit 3 of 4 from behind the arc and 5 of 6 free throws. Tied for highest assists with 6. Had a few too many turnovers, however, and I did not see the pesky on the ball defending he is so highly regarded for.

Wesley Witherspoon
Definitely the second best player on the team. The Tigers will need him and Williams to perform consistently if they want to win. He solidified his status as a playmaker in this game. It shows as he is tied with Williams for most assists with 6. Second leading scorer with 13 points. Second leading rebounder with 7 boards. Almost had some foul trouble in early second half but managed to keep it under control after that. Very versatile, very athletic, and very confident. Considering what a slow first half he had, his stats are phenomenal. If he learns to play with a high effort every minute of every game, he could become more of an asset than Williams.

Pierre Henderson-Niles
Leading rebounder with 11 boards. It should be noted, however, that four of these rebounds came one after another as he would shoot, miss, rebound, and repeat. The main thing about Niles was he looked a lot better. He can jump, he can run, and he played 20 minutes without looking tired.

Willie Kemp
Very strong defense. He tripped up the guards fairly consistently. 3 assists to 1 turnover. Did not have an extremely strong night offensively, but he shot 4 of 5 from the field. Kemp did play with a lot of confidence, which is also true for the rest of the senior class. 1 of 1 from behind the arc and 3 of 3 from the free throw line. Scored 12 points.

Roburt Sallie
Showed something we rarely saw from him last year, a great ability to drive. Sallie had a suprisingly low 3 point percentage as he only hit 1 of 3 from behind the arc. He did, however, his 5 of 10 overall. Scored 11 points.

Doneal Mack
His best attribute was his smoothering defense. When he was trying, he made LeMoyne Owen's guards look foolish. Hit 1 of 1 from behind the arch.

Will Coleman
Pretty much what was expected. No outstanding stats, but he showed amazing athleticism. Definitely slammed a few alley-oops. Almost had some foul trouble early on that had hit sit out a good portion of the first half. Needs to do a better job of rebounding. Scored 11 points, mostly from other Tigers' missed shots.

DJ Stephens
Did good. A lot better than I expected. I had my doubts about his ability to play power forward with his lack of height, but when you see him stretch his arms, you know it won't be a problem. Very athletic. Dunks with ease and is pretty fast. Wouldn't be surprised to see him contribute significant minutes this season.

Drew Barham
Almost non existent. 0 for 3 from the field, two of them from behind the arc, but he's a freshman, and it's early. This is what exhibitions are for.

Lemoyne Owen Exhibition

The Tigers had the first showing against LeMoyne Owen. The starters were Willie Kemp, Elliot Williams, Roburt Sallie, Wesley Witherspoon, and Pierre Henderson-Niles. Doneal Mack did not start as a punishment for showing up late to a team meeting. When on the floor together, Williams and Kemp seemed to trade the point and shooting guard positions. If a guard got a defense rebound, he often iniated the offense. Doneal Mack also played point guard for a time while Kemp and Williams were both on the bench.

The first half of the game was rather sloppy. A major part of the problem was defense. Most players, not including Willie Kemp and Doneal Mack, were simply not bringing sufficient defense to the table. LeMoyne Owen kept up with Memphis' score and even exchange the with the Tigers. Around the three minute mark, you could see that Memphis had begun to warm up. There was no looking back after that.

Field goal percentages improved from a first half 47.2% to 69% in the second half. Likewise 3pt percentages improved from 25% in the first half to 83.3% in the second. It should also be noted that most of the points came in the paint and not from three pointers.

The most memorable play of the night: Roburt Sallie got a steal and nearly swotted the ball out of bounds. He saved it and passed it to Willie Kemp. Kemp drove, when he noticed a defender was closing in on him, he pass it off the backboard for a dunk from Will Coleman.

The scariest moment of the night: Wesley Witherspoon took a hard fall and hurt his leg. He limped off the court. When he walked back to the bench he looked fine, but he sat out the rest of the game (Not much time left coupled with a high lead). It turned out to only be a cramp.

Many recruits were at the game. Chris Crawford, Joe Jackson, and Tarik Black all watched the game together. Ray Parks and Adonis Thomas were also in attendance