The 2010–11 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represented the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

in the 2010–11 college basketball season, the 90th season of Tiger basketball. The Tigers were coached by head coach

Josh Pastner Joshua Paul Pastner (born September 26, 1977) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the men's basketball head coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Pastner was a player on the 1997 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball nat ...

(assisted by

Glynn Cyprien Glynn Ray Cyprien (born September 13, 1966) is an American basketball coach who is currently an assistant coach at Texas Tech. He was formerly an assistant under Billy Kennedy at Texas A&M University in College Station. He previously assisted ...

, Jack Murphy, and

Willis Wilson Willis Thomas Wilson Jr. (born March 22, 1960) is an American former basketball coach. He was most recently the head coach of the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders men's basketball team before retiring in March 2021. He previously served an a ...

), and played their home games at the

FedExForum FedExForum is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It is the home of the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the NCAA Division I Memphis Tigers men's ba ...

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. They are members of

Conference USA Conference USA (CUSA) is a collegiate athletic conference of member institutions in the Southern and Western United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. CUSA's offices are located in Dallas, Texas. Mem ...

. They finished the season 25–10, 10–6 in C-USA play and won the 2011 Conference USA men's basketball tournament to earn an automatic bid in the

2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2010-11 ...

where they lost in the second round to

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Pre-season

The 2009–10 Memphis Tigers finished the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

with a record of 24–10 (13–3 C-USA). The Tigers finished in second place in C-USA, but were upset in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament by 7 seed and ultimate champion,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. For the first time since

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, the Tigers did not earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. The Tigers accepted an invitation to the

2010 National Invitation Tournament The 2010 National Invitation Tournament was a single-elimination tournament of 32 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that were not selected to participate in the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. T ...

, beating St. John's before being defeated by

Ole Miss OLE, Ole or Olé may refer to: * Olé, a cheering expression used in Spain * Ole (name), a male given name, includes a list of people named Ole * Overhead lines equipment, used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses or trains Co ...

in the second round. The Tigers signed a number of highly rated recruits before the 2010–2011 season began, including three native Memphians: Tarik Black of Ridgeway High School, Joe Jackson of

White Station High School White Station High School is a four-year state school, public Secondary education in the United States, high school located in Memphis, Tennessee. White Station High is a member of the Shelby County Schools (Tennessee), Shelby County Schools syst ...

, and Chris Crawford of Sheffield High School. The incoming freshman class of 2010 also included Will Barton and his brother, Antonio Barton, Jelan Kendrick, and Hippolyte Tsafack. The signing class, which included three All-Americans (Jackson, Will Barton, Kendrick), was rated the country's second best.

Departures

''Statistics accurate as of 29 March 2010''.

Recruiting

Transfers

Season summary

The Tigers began the 2010–2011 season ranked 19th in the AP Poll and the pre-season favorite to win the Conference USA championship. Prior to the team's first regular season game with Centenary, Jelan Kendrick was suspended. After the game, Kendrick asked for permission to seek a transfer and was released. The team announced on December 10, 2010 that junior forward Wesley Witherspoon would be out a number of weeks as a result of knee surgery. On December 12, 2010, junior forward Angel Garcia left the Tigers to play professionally in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Highlights of the regular season included wins over pre-season No. 12

Gonzaga Gonzaga may refer to: Places *Gonzaga, Lombardy, commune in the province of Mantua, Italy *Gonzaga, Cagayan, municipality in the Philippines *Gonzaga, Minas Gerais, town in Brazil *Forte Gonzaga, fort in Messina, Sicily Surname *House of Gonza ...

and two victories each against both

Southern Miss The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

and UAB. However, beset by injuries, transfers, suspensions, and inconsistent play from their heralded freshmen and upperclassmen, the Tigers underachieved relative to their pre-season expectations during a majority of their regular season schedule. The Tigers suffered their worst margin of defeat in the FedEx Forum in several years in their loss to then No. 10 Georgetown on December 23, 2010 by a score of 69–86. The Tigers also lost at Rice, SMU, and East Carolina during their Conference USA schedule. The Tigers entered the 2011 Conference USA men's basketball tournament as the 4 seed with a 22–9 overall record and 10–6 record in conference. Tournament MVP Joe Jackson led the Tigers to the tournament championship, defeating 5 seed Southern Miss, 8 seed East Carolina, and 3 seed UTEP, which was playing at home, for the conference crown. Jackson sealed the victory against UTEP in the championship game in dramatic fashion, scoring the final two of his 17 points on two free throws with 7.8 seconds remaining, causing the Tigers to take their first lead of the game. The Tigers earned a 12 seed in the 2011 NCAA tournament, where they were defeated by 5th seeded

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

on Friday March 18, 2011 in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

by a score of 77–75.

Roster

Schedule

, - !colspan=9 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=9 style=, Regular Season , - !colspan=9 style=, Conference USA Tournament , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA Tournament

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:2010-11 Memphis Tigers men's basketball team Memphis Tigers men's basketball seasons Memphis Tigers Men's Basketball Team, 2010-11

Memphis Tigers men's basketball The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team represents the University of Memphis in NCAA Division I men's college basketball. The Tigers have competed in the American Athletic Conference since 2013. As of 2020, the Tigers had the 26th highest winnin ...