Tiger basketball head coach John Calipari will get his wish after all.
Head coach Bob Huggins and the Cincinnati Bearcats pulled out a close win over the University of Alabama Birmingham Blazers at the Conference USA tournament.
Memphis did the same in a big win over the Marquette Golden Eagles. These two teams will meet tonight in a long awaited rematch.
Memphis came out shooting in the first half and went on a 6-0 run with 18:10 remaining.
The Golden Eagles committed three turnovers in the first three minutes of the game.
Chris Wardle was the first Golden Eagle to score with 17:45 left to play.
He was left open underneath the basket to score again at the 15:51 mark making the score 5-6.
Kelly Wise was sent to bench early in the first half after being charged with his second foul, leaving Earl Barron to do the dirty work down low.
This did not seem to pose a problem for the 6'10 sophomore.
He and his Tiger teammates continued to take it to the Golden Eagles. With 11:56 remaining, Barron didn't hesitate to fuel his team with a monster jam to get the adrenaline pumping, extending the Tigers lead to five.
Marquette kept hanging around, but the Tigers refused to let the Golden Eagles break their stride.
With 10:57 left, Marcus Moody leaned in for two and drew the foul putting the Tigers up 14-9.
Thirty seconds later Brian Wardle answered with a shot from behind the arc pulling Marquette within three.
The Tigers went on an 8-0 run behind the teamwork of Courtney Trask, Shyrone Chatman, Paris London and Barron.
With 2:07 left to play in the half, Barron awed the crowd with a sweet turnaround jumper, extending the Memphis lead to 13 points.
The half ended with the Tigers leading 34-22. Memphis controlled the tempo of the first half with Marquette struggling, 12 of the last 16 points came from the Tigers.
The second half proved to be different.
Moody got his team going with a pull-up jumper with 8:42 left to play. Cordell Henry came back with a three leaving the score 26-38.
As the Eagles started to close in on the Tigers, Shannon Forman had to leave the game because of a head injury. One minute later Shamel Jones went to the line shooting two. The Golden Eagles had pulled within seven.
At The 14:02 mark Wardle was left wide open for the trey and the Memphis lead was cut to four.
Things seemed to be falling apart after Wise missed a wide-open monster slam and Wardle slithered his way to the hoop for two. The score was now 38-40.
Jones quickly answered increasing the score to four. Moody followed with a three, the Tigers then led 45-38.
With 9:34 left to play Wise took his 35th steal of the year and followed through with a slam. The Tigers led 42-51.
The Golden Eagles kept flying around and were in a position to attack with 4:40 left in regulation when it became a two-point game.
Greg Clausen contributed big time for Marquette, scoring in clutch moments. He even tied the game at 59 with a little more than two minutes left to play.
At the 1:41 mark, Wise shot over a host of defenders for the score that put the Tigers up 61-59.
Clausen answered to tie the game at 61 but the Golden Eagles never got a chance to overtake them for the lead. With 45.5 remaining Wise hit a lay-up and Memphis regained the lead 63-61.
The Golden Eagles tried to come back but their efforts were unsuccessful. Memphis had finally defeated Marquette 71-64.
Wise received player of the game with 16 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
