Memphis enters the last week of January riding high off back-to-back blowout wins over Wichita State and ECU. 

If Memphis (8-5, 4-2 AAC) pulls off a win against SMU (8-2, 4-2) on Tuesday at FedExForum, it will match its longest winning streak of the season. 

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The Tigers have much more to prove in the coming weeks, but there are still plenty of things to be excited about from the recent victories. I decided to rank the top five here. 

1. Offense is alive! 

It’s not hyperbole to say the offense has experienced a resurrection. Before the Jan. 21 Wichita State game, the Tigers were averaging 41.8% from the field and 30.2% from 3-point range. They had failed to score 60 points for three straight games, during which they shot 41.7% overall and 26.5% from deep. 

Compare that to Memphis’ stats versus Wichita State and ECU: 47.9% from the field and 52.5% on 3-pointers. And that’s even including a sloppy second half against ECU. 

Memphis cruises to victory over ECU

Coach Penny Hardaway added a couple of new sets to help facilitate offense dependent on the situation, and he has been happy with the resulting improvement in shot quality (even if they still take too many 3-pointers for his liking). The Tigers are looking to penetrate earlier in the shot clock to find post players near the basket or kick the ball out to open shooters. 

2. Moussa Cisse on a roll 

Cisse had been relatively quiet since recording a double-double against Mississippi Valley State way back on Dec. 8. But he found a groove offensively in the past couple of games, recording a double-double (12 points, 10 rebounds) against Wichita State and just missing another (15 points, nine rebounds) against ECU.

On Monday, he was named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week for those performances. 

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The main difference has come from the center’s positioning without the ball. Cisse is at his best when he can carve out space in the paint and let his length do the work. Against ECU, he grabbed three offensive rebounds and scored in a variety of ways around the rim: On rolls to the basket, on point-blank post feeds and backdoor cuts. Once Cisse gets going, his confidence spreads to his teammates and they start to get downhill and look for him. 

“I’ve been struggling and then I finally find the touches and stuff and I’ve been working hard,” Cisse said after Wichita State. “And I think it started showing.”

3. DeAndre Williams the point forward 

Williams scored 10 points in both games, a welcome addition. But more impressive is how his positioning within the offense helps him affect the game in different ways. 

Memphis uses what Hardaway calls an “equal opportunity offense,” meaning whoever grabs the defensive rebound can bring the ball up the floor. Oftentimes that’s Williams, and the 6-foot-9 forward has showcased his ability to operate both on the perimeter and in the paint. He has been the ballhandler in pick-and-roll action with Cisse, a willing screener and a smart cutter without the ball. He even splashed in his first 3-pointers of the season in the two games (2-for-3). 

Williams’ versatility has been key to the Tigers’ spacing and hinges not just on his scoring, but also his playmaking ability. He had five assists against the Shockers and four against the Pirates, both totals just one fewer than point guard Alex Lomax. In fact, Williams is second on the team in assists per game (3.3). 

4. Dominant defense

Memphis’ stout defense is nothing new, but it’s still impressive. The Tigers held the two teams to 29.5% shooting and a combined 6 of 45 from 3-point range. 

At the core is a seemingly better understanding of personnel. Against Wichita State, the Tigers clogged the paint to discourage drives and stuck a bigger defender, Lester Quinones, on top scorer Tyson Etienne to contest every shot. ECU is a streaky 3-point shooting team, so the Tigers chose to go under screens most times, except against sharpshooter Brandon Suggs. 

The Memphis 3-point defense has been especially good with Malcolm Dandridge, Cisse and Williams deployed to help trap on the perimeter, although that tactic sometimes left them exposed inside and unable to prevent offensive rebounds (Wichita State had 16 and ECU had 13). 

“Everything we do revolves around defense,” guard Boogie Ellis said. “We still have a lot of miscommunications and a lot of time there’s not a low man, a lot of times we’re not talking. So I feel like we’re just scratching the surface, really.” 

In two games against SMU this week, Memphis will be up against the AAC’s best scoring offense (79.1 points per game, 47% shooting) and tasked with containing guard Kendric Davis, who leads the league in scoring (19.3 points per game) and assists (7.8 per game). Attention to detail is paramount. 

5. Ball movement 

Memphis totaled 42 assists on 57 made field goals against Wichita State and ECU, a product of the aforementioned inside-out strategy. Of course, bumping the assist rate up is easier when more players are making shots, as has been the case, but a willingness to pass is also important. 

Lomax led the team with 11 assists through those two games, but the next two players are somewhat surprising: Williams (nine) and Landers Nolley II (six). Their leadership in distributing the ball, along with more aggressive play by point guards Lomax and Damion Baugh, goes a long way toward getting the best shot possible and keeping the opposing defense on its toes. 

While back-to-back games with 20-plus assists is always welcome, Hardaway couldn’t help but nitpick the Tigers’ 33 turnovers in those games, including a bevy of unforced errors in the second half against ECU (“If you play the right way, those turnovers aren’t even that high and we score 15 more points. That’s how I look at it,” he said). If the Tigers can keep up the ball movement and cut down even slightly on turnovers, they’ll be in good shape.