With Landers Nolley, Jayden Hardaway out, Memphis basketball has 6 scholarship players vs ECU | Source
The good news: Earl Timberlake will be available for Memphis Saturday at East Carolina.
The bad news: The Tigers will be as short-handed as ever.
Penny Hardaway's team (9-6, 3-2 AAC) will still be without leading scorer DeAndre Williams, while guards Landers Nolley II and Jayden Hardaway – both dealing with right knee issues – will also sit out the game versus the Pirates (10-5, 1-2), according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. Memphis will also not have Alex Lomax, who is missing his fifth straight game due to an ankle problem, nor forward Chandler Lawson, who hasn't played since going down with a sprained ankle on Nov. 24.
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All the injuries mean Memphis will have just six scholarship players available for Saturday's game (3 p.m., ESPN+. Senior guard Tyler Harris, who has made two starts this season, is a walk-on and will play against ECU. Other walk-ons on the Tigers' roster include guards Connor Glennon (junior) and Tadarius Jacobs (freshman). Glennon and Jacobs have played in two games each this season (N.C. Central and Saint Louis). According to the pregame radio broadcast, Jacobs will be available in an emergency situation.
Timberlake, a sophomore guard left last week's win over Cincinnati due to concussion protocol and was held out of this week's loss at UCF for the same reason.
Timberlake, who also sat out the Dec. 14 win over Alabama with an ailing knee, is averaging 6.2 points and 3.9 rebounds a game. He has made six starts this season.
Memphis will start freshmen Emoni Bates, Jalen Duren and Josh Minott, junior Lester Quinones and Timberlake against ECU, according to Memphis' pregame radio broadcast.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball without Landers Nolley, Jayden Hardaway vs ECU
