(Sports Network) - The 13th-ranked Memphis Tigers and the Chattanooga Mocs have traveled to San Juan for the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Chattanooga, which competes in the Southern Conference, has certainly challenged itself with a very difficult schedule to open this new season. The Mocs dropped a 114-75 decision at Tennessee on Saturday, and they followed that effort with a 103-75 setback at Missouri on Monday. Clearly, things won't get any easier today.

Memphis is fresh off Monday's 80-58 decision over UMass, and John Calipari is now the winningest coach in program history with 221 victories. The Tigers are 2-0 on the young season, as they also beat Fairfield on Saturday in convincing fashion. Last season, the Tigers reached the national title games, and while it can be argued that the three best players from that team are gone, there is still plenty of talent in place.

Memphis owns an 8-2 series lead over Chattanooga, and the last meeting took place in 1996.

Poor defense has been the biggest problem for Chattanooga through the first two games of the season. The Mocs permitted Tennessee and Missouri to shoot a combined 54.5 percent from the floor en route to 108.5 ppg. Chattanooga has also been outrebounded by seven boards per contest and has shot a lackluster 61.4 percent from the charity stripe. Ty Patterson leads the Mocs in scoring through two outings with his 17.0 ppg, and Nicchaeus Doaks is close behind with 16.0 ppg on the strength of his 58.8 percent shooting from the field. More than just a scorer, Doaks is pulling down 9.5 rpg. Stephen McDowell (14.0 ppg) and Jasper Williams (10.5 ppg) have been solid as well, and Khalil Hartwell has 9.0 rpg to his credit. In the most recent loss to Missouri, Patterson led the way with 18 points for Chattanooga, which turned the ball over 20 times and finished with just 10 assists.

Last season, Memphis freshman Derrick Rose took the college basketball world by storm and went on to become the top pick in the NBA draft. This season, there is another highly touted rookie in place for the Tigers in the person of Tyreke Evans. In the victory over UMass on Monday, Evans scored a team-high 19 points to go along with six rebounds, five steals and four assists. There is room for improvement, as he shot just 7-of-17 from the floor and turned the ball over six times, but Evans is clearly a special talent. Robert Dozier tallied 18 points against the Minutemen, and Antonio Anderson finished with 15 points and 12 boards. The Tigers made good on only 39 percent of their field goal attempts in the contest, including a dismal 2-of-19 showing from three- point range, but they forced 24 turnovers and held UMass to 30.3 percent overall shooting. Five players scored in double figures for Memphis in the season opener against Fairfield, with Evans logging 19 points in that game.







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