The Memphis Tigers blew their last chance to get a quality non-conference win this season when they fell to the no.3 Gonzaga Bulldogs 82-64 while on the road Saturday night in a game that was essentially over by halftime.
Memphis (13-8) is now 1-6 this season against the RPI Top 50 and never led in the game as they shot only 36 percent from the field.
The Tigers, who were 17.5-point underdogs going into the clash against the Bulldogs (21-1), played competitively throughout most of the first half. They lead 20-16 with 7:49 left in the half.
From that point on, however, it was all Gonzaga as they closed the half on a 23-9 run and took a commanding 43-25 lead at halftime. Gonzaga shot an incredible 14-23 (61 percent) in the first half, while holding the Tigers to just 9-34 (26 percent) shooting.
Coach Josh Pastner said his team just couldn’t score in the first half.
''That first half, we just could not score the ball,'' Pastner said after the game. “We had a bad scoring drought in the first half that really hurt us and at the start of the second half.”
Memphis needed forward Austin Nichols to have a big game for them to stay competitive but Nichols would finish the game with only 12 points on 6-16 shooting with five rebounds and three steals, many of those points coming after the game was already decided.
Forward Shaq Goodwin’s performance failed to dispel any notions that his season would turn around as he got into early foul trouble and was held scoreless on the night shooting 0-6 from the field. He did have eight rebounds in the loss.
Pastner said he thought Goodwin played hard but the fact that he and Nichols combined to shoot 6-22 from the field hurt them against the Bulldogs.
“I was happy to see Shaq (Goodwin) fight and compete, we need to get him going,” Pastner said. “Because in the second half of the conference race we need Shaq (Goodwin) to be at a high level. He played a high level energy wise (against Gonzaga) but he’s got to finish and help us out offensively too. ”
The trio in the Tigers’ starting backcourt only made a slightly better impact on the game. Guard Markel Crawford did have a solid seven point, five assist night for the Tigers. Guard Avery Woodson chipped in with nine points but on 3-9 shooting, while Kedren Johnson had a quiet six point, three rebound, two assist night although he only committed one turnover.
Off the bench, a couple of Tigers had solid games with forward Nick King having his second strong game in a row as he led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points on 5-10 shooting, and also grabbed six rebounds and had four steals. Guard Trahson Burrell brought some energy as well as he had nine points, eight rebounds and two steals.
The Tigers defense also struggled to contain a red-hot Gonzaga, who extended the longest home winning streak in Division I to 38 games, as the Bulldogs shot 55 percent from the field for the game and 50 percent from three. Center Przemek Karnowski led Gonzaga in scoring with 17 points and also grabbed six rebounds.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few had nothing but praise for his big man after the game.
''Przem (Karnowski) is load down there. He's a real load,'' Few said. ''If he can do it against Shaq (Goodwin) and (Austin) Nichols and guys like that, I mean you can pretty much do it against everybody.''
Gonzaga forward Kyle Wiltjer had the hot hand from three for the Bulldogs as he made three of their eight three-point makes in the game and finished with 15 points and seven rebounds.
The Bulldogs were also by far the more aggressive team as they went to the free throw 32 times but despite shooting only 22-32 (69 percent), the Tigers were never in a position to make them pay as Memphis only shot 8-14 (57 percent) from the line.
One sliver lining for Memphis is that they won the turnover battle 14-10 which shows that they are “valuing the ball” more like coach Josh Pastner has been stressing as of late and this game could be the start to fixing their turnover problems.
“I like the fact we only had 10 turnovers,” Pastner said. “It’s back to back games of doing a good job of taking care of the ball, valuing the ball.”
The Tigers will return to action on Wednesday against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks at the FedExForum at 7 p.m.
