Memphis' Wesley Witherspoon returned from knee surgery much quicker than expected. He's hoping to regain his shooting touch fairly quickly as well.
Witherspoon and the 21st-ranked Tigers look to bounce back from a loss to a top-10 team when they host Lipscomb on Thursday night.
Witherspoon was averaging a team-leading 13.0 points when he underwent surgery for torn cartilage in his right knee Dec. 10. The junior injured the knee in November and tried to play through it before finally getting the procedure after struggling in back-to-back games earlier this month, scoring 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting.
The injury was expected to keep Witherspoon sidelined through possibly mid-January, but he returned last Thursday after missing only two games. His return wasn't enough as Memphis (9-2) lost 86-69 to then-No. 10 Georgetown.
Witherspoon had three points and three turnovers in 19 minutes. He shot 1 of 5 from the field as Memphis had a 13-game home winning streak snapped.
"He had practiced really well the last two days and said he wanted to go," coach Josh Pastner said. "It wasn't one of his better games. He will get the rust off and be just fine."
Witherspoon was disappointed by his return to game action. The Tigers need the 6-foot-9 forward to be a better inside presence after they gave up 48 points in the paint to the Hoyas.
"Hopefully not long," Witherspoon said when asked how long it will take to get back into game shape. "I can't have performances like that."
Witherspoon also brings a veteran presence to a lineup that has three freshmen. The inexperience showed in the two games he missed as Memphis struggled to put away Austin Peay and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Tigers defeated the Governors 70-68 in overtime and escaped with a 68-63 win over the Islanders.
Joe Jackson had 23 points against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, but he was held to six on 1-of-8 shooting against Georgetown. Fellow freshman Will Barton had 18 points against the Hoyas, but scored a combined 15 the previous two games.
"We just have to get all the guys playing on the same page," Pastner said. "Everyone we need to play well or score for us needs to be good on the same night. ... So far, we've had a guy or two be good and another guy or two not as good."
Memphis hasn't lost back-to-back home games since falling to ranked Louisville and Cincinnati squads late in the 2005-06 season.
Lipscomb (7-3) is hoping to finally break through against a ranked opponent after being relatively competitive against then-No. 8 North Carolina and then-No. 12 Baylor last month. The Bison fell 80-66 to the Tar Heels and 72-60 to the Bears with both games coming on the road.
Lipscomb hasn't played since having a five-game winning streak snapped in a 71-51 loss at Alabama on Dec. 21. The Bison shot a season-worst 28.8 percent.
"We did not compete the way we typically compete," coach Scott Sanderson said. "I did not see this coming at all."
Adnan Hozic, the team's leading scorer, had 12 points on 6-of-16 shooting. He came in averaging 21.1 points and shooting 58.1 percent.
The Tigers lead the all-time series against the Bison 4-1, but the teams have not met since Lipscomb's 43-25 victory in 1935.
