The
Memphis Tigers basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers compete in Conference USA, in which they have won five regular season and three conference tournament championships. The team is currently coached by John Calipari. They play home games at FedExForum.
The predecessor of the University of Memphis, West Tennessee State Normal School, first fielded a basketball team in 1920. Zach Curlin began coaching the team in 1924. The Tigers joined the Mississippi Valley Conference in 1928. The team played its early home games at a local high school gym, a local YMCA, and in a room on campus called the "Normal Cage" which allowed only six inches from the court lines to the walls. In 1929, a $100,000 facility on campus named Memorial Gym became the Tigers' home.
Curlin's last season coaching the Tigers was in 1948, by which time the school had been renamed Memphis State College; it would become Memphis State University in 1957. His successor was McCoy Tarry. In 1951, the new $700,000 Field House gym was opened for Tiger home games. In 1952, John Wallisa became the first Memphis State player to be drafted by the NBA. Forest Arnold became the school's first All-American in 1954. The Tigers made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 1955 under coach Eugene Lambert. Bob Vanatta became the team's coach in 1956 and took the Tigers to the NIT final. Win Wilfong became the team's second All-American in 1957.
In 1962, Dean Ehlers took over coaching duties. The Tigers began playing its home games at the Mid-South Coliseum in 1964. Moe Iba became the team's coach in 1966, the same year the team joined the Missouri Valley Conference.
Larry Finch played in his first game as a Tiger in 1970, the same year that Gene Bartow took over as head coach. The Tigers won the Missouri Valley Conference titles in 1971 and 1973. During the 1972–73 season, All-American Finch led the Tigers to the NCAA tournament championship game, which the Tigers lost to the UCLA Bruins. Bartow also won the NABC National Coach of the Year award that season. Wayne Yates took over for Bartow in 1974. The Tigers left the Missouri Valley Conference to become one of the inaugural members of the Metro Conference in 1976.
Dana Kirk became head coach in 1979. During the 1980s, the Tigers made seven NCAA tournaments and won multiple Metro Conference titles. Keith Lee began playing for the Tigers in 1982, and Memphis was ranked number one in both major national polls for the first time the same year. Lee eventually led the team to its second Final Four appearance in 1985. Only a year later, however, Kirk was forced out after becoming the subject of a criminal investigation. He was also found to have committed many NCAA violations as well; the Tigers were forced to sit out the 1986 NCAA Tournament and were stripped of their Final Four appearance from 1985
Former player Larry Finch took over head coaching duties in 1986. One of Finch's first recruits, Elliot Perry, began playing for the team in 1987. In the 1988-89 season, the Tigers set a school record by starting the game against Louisville with a 24-0 run.
In the early 1990s, Anfernee Hardaway and David Vaughn began their careers at Memphis. Other notable Memphis players from the 90s include Cedric Henderson, Michael Wilson and Lorenzen Wright. The 1991-92 season marked a number of changes for the Tigers. The team left the Metro Conference to become part of the Great Midwest Conference and left the Coliseum to make the Pyramid Arena its new home.
On February 6, 1993, the school achieved its 1,000 all-time basketball victory. Memphis joined Conference USA in 1995, one year after the school adopted its current name of the University of Memphis. Finch stepped down as head coach in 1997 and Tic Price took over thereafter.
Team Website: http://gotigersgo.cstv.com
School Website: http://www.memphis.edu
