G L I D E H O Y A S: Hoyas glide to the "Birthplace of Rock 'N' Roll" and "Home of the Blues" to take on 16th ranked Memph Tigers

GLIDE

HOYAS

VS.

When I think about Memphis, I think about the blues music and sadly, the city where the late great civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, who was assasinated at the Lorraine Motel. While my father was in the Air Force when we traveled through Memphis and stayed at the Lorraine Motel prior to the assasination. It was one of the very motels blacks could stay at. Most of the time when we traveled through the South my father told me we had to sleep in our car, and the car we had was a 1966 black Thunderbird.

I hope I got the year of the car right. I was a baby and don't remember any of this. For some reason, I do remember the uproar of something that was going on. Many renowned musicians grew up in and around the Memphis and Mississippi Delta. These included such musical greats as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Muddy Waters, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Robert Johnson, W. C. Handy, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. Jones, Al Green, and many others.

Hoyanation and friends, the #9 mighty Hoyas (11-1) glide into action Thursday night to face the #17 Memphis Tigers (9-1) of Conference USA. The tigers' one lost came from Big 12 conference foe #4 Kansas U on December 7, 2010. Memphis is second in Conference USA at the present. The Tiger's have been short-manned with their play as of late with their leading scorer junior Wesley in IR (injury) and junior Angel Garcia (gone back to Puerto Rico to get a paycheck). The Tigers have been pushed by teams with lesser reputations. Arkansas State and Austin Peay took Memphis to overtime earlier this month.

Freshman Joe Jackson, led the Tigers in scoring in their last win with 23 points. He was 9-10 at the free throw line with 2 blocks and 6 rebounds. “We’ve been going through this for the last couple of games,” Jackson said of the struggles. “I knew we were going to win. That’s how the game goes sometimes. It’s up and down. We’re young too. You have to take that into consideration.”

Regardless of Memphis' situation, the Hoyas look to dismantle the Tiger's in a tough road game in a hostile environment. Senior Hoya Austin Freeman is leading the Hoyas in scoring at 18.5 per outing. The Hoyas are playing great team basketball with a "sense of urgency." With the Hoyas there have been some improved development team wide especially in the paint with the bigs.

ALL YOU NEED IS NOW HOYAS!