Greenville, North Carolina — Nicholas Jourdain, a forward for Memphis basketball, plans to rejoin the Tigers for the upcoming campaign.
The 6-foot-9 native of New Jersey made the announcement on a radio appearance following Thursday’s 82-58 triumph over East Carolina. Later, Jourdain gave The Commercial Appeal confirmation of it.
Indeed, that is the plan, he replied.
For coach Penny Hardaway, who must deal with another offseason of possible massive team turnover, his decision is a welcome development. Among the current Tigers who still have college eligibility left is Jourdain. The others are Ashton Hardaway, Carl Cherenfant, Jonathan Pierre, Jayhlon Young, and David Jones. However, Jones, the top scorer in the AAC, has the option to start his professional career at the end of the season. Furthermore, there are rarely any certainties this early in the transfer portal age.
During an appearance on Hardaway’s weekly radio show on Monday, Jourdain shared his thoughts regarding the Tigers and Memphis in general.
“I love being a Memphis basketball player,” he stated. I enjoy performing for this city. I adore this city’s populace. They’ve shown me a lot of kindness. gave me a lot of affection. It’s been a lot of fun, so far.
For Memphis, Jourdain would be a huge boost to the team. This season, the Temple transfer has averaged 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in 29 games (22 starts). In addition, he leads the team in blocked shots (29) and field goal percentage (60.6%; 42.1% from 3-point range).
He talked about why the Tigers were a desirable place for him to settle over the previous offseason.
“I liked how they played super fast,” he stated. “I appreciated their selfless play. They moved well without the ball, in my opinion. Looking at all of that, I could see my own aptitude. And it seemed like we agreed on how I could help the team when Coach Penny extended her offer to me.”
Memphis Tigers defeat ECU to win their third straight. Here are five things to note.
Jourdain scored 14 points and pulled down four rebounds on Thursday against ECU. It was the most points he had scored since he defeated UTSA 18 on January 10. This season, he has eight games with ten or more points, and in five of the Tigers’ last seven games, he has scored eight points or more.
At FedExForum on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. CT on ESPN2, Memphis (21-8, 10-6 AAC) will play UAB (18-10, 10-5) in their return to action.
