Memphis basketball point guard Jahvon Quinerly is not in the starting lineup for the first time this season.
Tigers coach Penny Hardaway is shaking things up for Wednesday’s game versus Rice, in hopes of yielding more positive results. His team (15-5, 4-3 AAC) has lost three straight games after winning 10 in a row.
So Quinerly and Nicholas Jourdain will come off the bench, while Nae’Qwan Tomlin and Jonathan Pierre will make their first starts in a Memphis uniform. The rest of the starting lineup will consist of leading scorer David Jones, Jaykwon Walton and Malcolm Dandridge.
Given the team’s recent struggles, Hardaway hinted recently that changes were possibly around the corner.
“I have so much love for this game that, if it doesn’t change – it’s almost to the point where you might have to change one or two guys,” he said after Sunday’s loss at UAB. “I mean, it’s just, for the love of just the game and playing hard for your fans and for yourself, your coaches and your teammates – and not just going through the motions. We’ve got to get a group of guys, whoever it is, to go out there and understand that we have to defend and rebound. We can score with anyone.”
Quinerly, an Alabama transfer, is the Tigers’ second-leading scorer (13.9 points per game) and is avearging 4.7 assists per game. But he has had trouble with ball security, committing 46 turnovers in 20 games.
Tomlin (6-10) arrived at Memphis in December as a mid-season transfer from Kansas State. In nine games, he has averaged 10.3 points and 5.7 rebounds. He has either three or seven boards in eight of his nine games with the Tigers. In a win over Austin Peay, he grabbed 15.
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Pierre (6-9) has played sparingly this season, appearing in 10 games and getting just 4.4 minutes per game. The former Division II star at Nova Southeastern (Fla.) is averaging 1.0 points and 0.7 rebounds.
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