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Memphis aims to extend streaks vs. Southern Miss

Feb 28, 2009 - 11:08 AM Southern Miss (14-13) at No. 4 Memphis (25-3) 1:00 p.m. EST

MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- After passing one of its stiffest tests of the conference season, Memphis returns home to face an easier opponent.

The fourth-ranked Tigers will look to extend their Conference USA winning streak to 56 games Saturday when they host Southern Miss.

Memphis (25-3, 13-0 C-USA) avenged its last conference loss with a 71-60 victory over Alabama-Birmingham on Thursday. The Blazers, who usually play the four-time regular season champions tough, beat the Tigers, 80-74, on March 2, 2006.

Despite losing most pieces from last season's NCAA runner-up squad the Tigers, who own the country's longest winning streak at 19 games, were up to the task again. Doneal Mack led the way with 17 points as Memphis used a 22-7 spurt late to pull away for the win.

Robert Dozier added 15 points and 11 rebounds while Shawn Taggart collected 13 and 11 to overcome a rare poor performance by freshman Tyreke Evans.

Evans, who leads the team at 17.1 points per game, had just eight points on 3-of-14 shooting while committing nine of Memphis' 19 turnovers.

Southern Miss (14-13, 4-9) has lost seven of eight overall and is coming off a 73-59 loss to Tulane on Tuesday.

Jeremy Wise leads the Golden Eagles with 16.0 points and 4.8 assists per game.