NCAAB Game Preview - New Orleans at Memphis

Sat Dec 28, 2019 1:30 PM EST

Ninth-ranked Memphis returns to action for the first time in a week when it hosts New Orleans at FedExForum on Saturday, but who will not be present for the Tigers is garnering most of the attention.

Saturday's contest is Memphis' second since ballyhooed freshman center James Wiseman opted to leave the program in preparation for the NBA draft. The potential No. 1 overall pick declared his intent on Dec. 19, two days before the Tigers routed Jackson State, 77-49.

Wiseman would not have played Saturday against New Orleans. He was serving a 12-game suspension for the NCAA violation of his mother accepting $11,500 from Memphis coach Penny Hardaway in 2017, and for playing the first three games of the season while ineligible. Wiseman was slated to return Jan. 12.

Memphis (10-1) has won eight straight since Wiseman last played in an 82-74 loss to Oregon on Nov. 12. Precious Achiuwa and D.J. Jeffries, members of the same highly rated recruiting class as Wiseman, have carried the load.

Achiuwa is averaging team-highs 13.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, while Jeffries is chipping in 12 points and 4.6 rebounds per game. They have also set the pace in the absence of guard Lester Quinones, who has missed the last five games with a broken hand.

Chief in the Tigers' current eight-game run was a 51-47 victory over Tennessee on Dec. 14 that ended the Volunteers' 31-game home-court winning streak.

"This win is a big win for us, for a lot of reasons," Hardaway told reporters following the victory. "We weren't (favored) to win coming into a building like this."

It will be different on Saturday against New Orleans (4-7). The Privateers come in on a two-game losing skid and are winless on the season against Division I opponents.

They dropped their Southland Conference openers to Abilene Christian, 77-71, on Dec. 18, and at Sam Houston State, 87-79, on Dec. 21.

"I'm still positive," Privateers coach Mark Slessinger said following the Sam Houston State loss, via the team's website. "We're playing a lot of combinations right now. I'm far from being down on this team, trust me."

Slessinger is in his ninth season at New Orleans, and came into 2019-20 having led the program to three consecutive postseason appearances -- including, in 2017, the Privateers' first NCAA Tournament bid since 1996.

This season's squad is still searching for a breakthrough, but it has not been easy. Facing the nation's No. 9-ranked team continues a schedule that KenPom.com advanced metrics ranks as the fifth-most difficult in all of Division I.

Memphis is New Orleans' fifth top-100 opponent, per KenPom.com, joining Butler, SMU, Mississippi State and LSU. The Privateers dropped those by an average of 24.5 per game, and gave up an average of 82 points.

The Tigers' defense figures to present the primary matchup issue for New Orleans on Saturday. Memphis ranks No. 14 nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. The duo of Boogie Ellis and Alex Lomax, both averaging just under two steals per game, pace the team's aggressive turnover-generation.

--Field Level Media