It’s hard to get under Jeremy Hunt’s skin.
When he’s not in a game this mild-mannered guard is almost always flashing his dimpled smile.
And, one day removed from the biggest win of the season, an 80-73 win over No. 3 Louisville, the freshman guard was grinning from ear to ear.
Hunt said he didn’t feel the least bit panicky Wednesday as the Cardinals drew within three points of the Tigers with 35 seconds left to play.
“I’m not trying to be cocky,” Hunt said. “But you can’t be nervous in those types of games. You have to be willing to take the last shot or step up and make a big play on defense.
“I wasn’t nervous at all. I just kept saying to myself, ‘we are going to win this game,’ and I’m sure everybody else on the team was thinking the same thing.”
Memphis guard Antonio Burks said the game wouldn’t have been as close if the Tigers hadn’t made a couple of bad blunders down the stretch.
“We had some dumb mistakes at some dumb times,” Burks said, referring to the technical foul called on John Grice. “But we were still able to bounce back and put them away when we had to.”
Grice’s technical foul came after the senior forward made a throat-slashing gesture to the Cardinal fans while shooting free throws with 50 seconds remaining. Simeon Naydenov’s sunk Louisville’s two ensuing free throws to make it a two-possession game.
Memphis’s abysmal free throw shooting in the first half also made the game closer than it should have been, Hunt said.
“If we hit our free throws in the first half it might not have been so close,” Hunt said. “We still made a lot of mistakes that we’re going to be working on.”
Memphis (17-5, 8-3 in Conference USA) shot 38 percent on 5 of 13 shooting from the charity stripe in the first half but refocused well enough to hit 13 of 17 in the final four minutes of the game.
With a four-point lead at halftime, Memphis coach John Calipari warned his team about Louisville’s infamous second half comebacks.
“(Calipari) told us they would come out really hard in the second half and try to make a run,” Hunt said. “In games where they have been down at half they came out hard in the second and pressed a lot, but the way I saw it was that if we could stopped them from making the run they usually make then it would be a good game (for Memphis).”
Coming off a milestone victory could make it hard for a team to refocus for their next game, but Calipari insists the Tigers will not suffer from a lack of motivation when they travel to play the South Florida Bulls (13-11, 6-7 in C-USA) and attempt to avenge a one-point loss at The Pyramid, suffered earlier in the season.
Calipari said the bitterness of the 75-74 loss and the Bulls post-game celebration on The Pyramid floor will provide plenty of inspiration for his team.
“They absolutely celebrated after that game,” Calipari said. “From the coaches, to the players, to trainers- they all celebrated, but I think our team saw that, and one thing you always do is show respect for the other team.”
The Bulls had four players finish with double figures, freshman Yasuf Baker with 13, senior center Will McDonald with 16, junior guard Jimmy Baxter with 21, and senior guard Reggie Kohn with 16.
Kohn shot 4 of 7 from three point range in the game. Kohn leads South Florida in treys made with 54, shooting 41 percent.
McDonald and Baxter are the leading scorers for the Bulls, averaging 16 and 15 points respectively.
South Florida is 12-1 at home with the only loss coming at the hands of Alabama-Birmingham 79-69.
Memphis will have its chance to gain South Florida’s respect and deliver them a second loss in the Sun Dome when they tip-off against the Bulls Saturday at 6 p.m.
