Heralded Tiger Freshman Tyreke Evans brings out the finger roll against Fairfied. Evans scored 19 points off the bench. (Photos by Warren Roseborough.)

Two games into the 2008-09 season and the U of M Tigers have made head coach John Calipari the winningest coach in the school’s history and proven that they can win late, late at night.

Tiger fans are anxious to see how the U of M stacks up after last year’s magical ride to the Final Four – a journey that saw them come up short in the title game against Kansas. The opening game against Fairfield drew a crowd of 17,741 to the FedExForum on Nov. 15.

Fairfield was overmatched and fell handily, 90 to 63, although it took several minutes for the new-look Tigers to shake off the first-game jitters. Heralded freshmen Tyreke Evans came off the bench with a sore ankle to score 19 points. He’s not as quick as the departed Derek Rose, the NBA’s No. Draft choice, but he showed that he can drive to the hoop with authority.

Monday’s game against the University of Massachusetts brought this year’s Tigers their first taste of national television exposure with a game that tipped off after 11 p.m. on ESPN. UMass was coached by former longtime Calipari aide, Derek Kellogg, who also played at the university he now coaches.

The U of M’s Robert Dozier goes up for the tip against Tony Gafney of UMass. The game was televised on ESPN and tipped off shortly after 11 p.m.

Once again, the Tigers got out of the gate slowly, but fortunately for them the Minutemen were hitting a lot of iron with their shots too. In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, the U of M nailed down an 80-58 victory as they eventually were down their opponents.

The win was number 221 for Calipari with the Tigers, surpassing hometown hero and former coach Larry Finch who amassed a 220-130 record in nine years. Calipari’s 221-65 mark covers eight years.

“Larry Finch is unique and special. It’s like Larry and Elvis and maybe Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler,” Calipari said. “I’ve been told that Larry is going back to the hospital. We need to pray for him.”

The U of M is in Puerto Rico this weekend. First up is UT-Chattanooga. A win could match the 13th-ranked Tigers against the 19th-ranked Trojans of Southern Cal, a team the Tigers beat in overtime last year at the FedExForum.