MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The University of Memphis Tigers women's basketball team has shown a night and day difference from the last few years.
The season started strongly and has continued with them being 5-7 in the American Athletic Conference, compared to their 2-11 finish in 2021.
Senior guard Jamirah Shutes was there for it all.
“My first three years were rough. This year has been a whole 360,” said Shutes.
The Tigers came off of a huge double-digit win over SMU, who is now ranked just above the Tigers at 5th in the conference.
“Of course, we’re proud of that as a coaching staff, but we don’t take credit for it. We think they are really bought in and that has a lot to do with what we’re able to do right now,” said head coach Katrina Merriweather.
In addition to the statement game, Shutes scored her 1,000th career point in the matchup. It was a huge accomplishment for the senior after her sophomore season was cut short.
“Coming back off that ACL injury, sometimes, players have no idea how they're going to bounce back. I think it’s easy to say that she has bounced back very well,” said Merriweather.
“When I got the blocking foul called, my teammate Alana said 'you know, if you hit this free-throw, you’ll hit your 1,000th point,” Shutes added.
In the 72-54 win over SMU, on a three-point play, she hit the free-throw.
However, even after accomplishing so much in one season under a new coaching staff, with three regular season games left, the Tigers feel the job's not done.
“The last game that we played and the last few practices that we’ve had have been really solid and really good. We’re going to try to feed off of that energy and not anything that happened before it,” said Merriweather.
The Tigers are set to take on Wichita State on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Elma Roane Fieldhouse.