Near the midway point in the first half, junior guard Trahson Burrell dribbled into a double team, nearly lost the ball and chunked a desperation lob to junior Chris Hawkins, who was diving down the lane. Prairie View A&M’s Reggis Onwukamuche was perfectly positioned to stop the alley-oop, but Hawkins finished over him anyway.
It was that type of night for the visiting Panthers. Even when they executed flawlessly, the Tigers athleticism and size trumped everything.
The Tigers (1-1) nabbed their first win of the young 2014-15 season, rolling to a 77-49 win over the winless Panthers (0-5) in front of an announced crowd of 14,412 on Monday night.
Redshirt freshman guard Markel Crawford said the Blue and Gray stayed much more in control against Prairie View, and he wants to take that composure to Las Vegas later this weekend.
“Finally, we got to see some shots go down,” Crawford said after the game. “We need to stay more relaxed, slow it down and stay composed.”
In just the second game of the season, Memphis coach Josh Pastner elected to shake up the starting lineup replacing junior guard Kedren Johnson and junior forward Shaq Goodwin with redshirt Crawford and Hawkins. The message must have gotten through loud and clear to Goodwin, who led the way for the U of M with 16 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.
Both Goodwin and Pastner said the move to the bench was not any type of punishment, but an attempt to make Goodwin more effective.
“The message given to me was ‘we want you to be more effective; this is what we’re going to try for this game’,” Goodwin said after the game.
Pastner echoed the same sentiment, adding Goodwin tends to get in early foul trouble and, essentially, takes himself out of the game. The sixth-year coach said Goodwin will continue coming off the bench for now, but it could change later into the season.
“Shaq’s a starter,” Pastner, who received fourth technical foul of his career in the first half, said after the game. “He just won’t have his name called at the beginning of the game.”
Prairie View was not only outmatched by the Tigers’ athleticism, the Panthers were at half strength without their two leading scorers. Both Montrael Scott (15 PPG) and Karim York (10.8 PPG) missed the game with the flu.
Memphis, who shot 50 percent from the field, started the game with two made 3-pointers from Crawford and sophomore Avery Woodson. The threat of the deep ball opened up the paint for Goodwin and sophomore forward Austin Nichols, and it pulled the Panthers out of their zone defense, which has given Memphis’ offense fits in the past.
“We got those 3-pointers because of the way we were playing,” Woodson said after the game. “We were getting paint touches, and playing inside out, which pulled them out of the zone early.”
The Blue and Gray spread the scoring out, and Goodwin was the only Tiger to reach double digits. Crawford and Burrell were just shy with 9 points apiece.
After a rough stint in the first half, Johnson, a junior transfer from Vanderbilt, played much better in the second half, according to Pastner. Entering the season, most expected Johnson to fill the void left by last year’s four senior guards, but Johnson has struggled in the early going, averaging more turnovers (3.5) than points (3) per game.
Pastner also confirmed freshman guard Dominic Magee will transfer at midyear. He said there were no discipline or academic problems, but Magee misses his hometown and may not have been the right fit.
The Tigers hit the road again on Thursday, when they travel to take on Baylor at the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. The contest tips off at 11 p.m., and will be televised nationally on Fox Sports 1.
