On Jan. 16, the Memphis Tigers stood at 0-2 in Conference USAand were trying to catch 10 different teams in the standings.
Now, a month later, the Tigers have caught -- and passed --every one of them.
Behind 24 points from Sean Banks, No. 19 Memphis defeated UAB73-66 at The Pyramid Saturday.
The victory moved the Tigers (19-4 overall, 10-2 in C-USA) intosole possession of first place. UAB (16-7, 9-3), Charlotte andCincinnati share second place, one game behind.
The victory was even more impressive considering the Tigers wereshort-handed.
Ivan Lopez played sparingly with a sprained ankle, and JeremyHunt did not play due to a knee injury he suffered in practice.
"I feel bad for him," coach John Calipari said about Hunt."Every time this young man starts peaking, he's been hurt."
Without the services of Hunt and Lopez, Calipari needed someoneto assume a bigger role Saturday.
Somebody did.
Arthur Barclay, better known as O.G., played a career-high 25minutes and amassed eight rebounds, four points and took threecharges. Calipari said Barclay's contribution was as big asanyone's.
"O.G. was terrific," Calipari said. "O.G probably, when youthink about it, was the difference. He worked hard, he got toughrebounds, he got stick backs. He played great."
With the injuries, Memphis essentially played six playersagainst the Blazers.
To make matters worse, UAB trapped and pressed from start tofinish and kept the game close by hitting some outside shots.
Antonio Burks scored 16 points, dished out six assists and hadfive steals. Without Hunt, Burks was forced to play nearly theentire game but was able to control the pace game despite the lackof rest.
"Antonio controlled the tempo of the game," Calipari said. "Weplayed the game the way we wanted. We ran at times, other times wemade them play half court, at our choosing."
UAB never led, but the game was close from the beginning. In thefirst half, the lead fluctuated between two and nine points beforethe Tigers settled for a 30-24 halftime advantage.
Barclay sparked the Tigers early scoring four points and rippingdown six boards in the first 20 minutes.
"They're a scrappy team. We give them all the credit in theworld," Barclay said of UAB. "It was a good, hard-fought game."
The "scrappy" Blazers showed they wouldn't go away, scoring thefirst five points of the second half to pull within a point.
That's when Banks took over.
The freshman hit consecutive threes to move the lead toseven.
Banks scored 21 of his game high 24 points in the second half.He shot 5-7 after the break, including 3-3 from three-pointrange.
"(Banks) stepped up and played just like a senior should play,"Burks said. "He (made a lot of) big shots and big free throws."
Morris Finley kept the Blazers close. The preseasonall-conference selection scored 19 points and had fourthree-pointers in the second half, but UAB just couldn't catchup.
After a 7-0 run cut the Tigers' lead to 42-40, Burks and Banksscored the next 12 Memphis points to move ahead 54-45.
From that point, the Blazers never got closer than six, and theTigers now sit in sole possession of C-USA first place.
"It feels good, but I love being in first place when it'syours," Banks said. "You know, when you actually get a trophy."
Memphis doesn't have a trophy yet, but they're a lot closer thanthey were Jan. 16.
