Austin Nichols saved his best for last as he scored the Tigers last six points, including the game winning jumper with three seconds to go to give Memphis a 57-55 victory over the Tulane Green Wave in New Orleans on Saturday night.
The Tigers (12-7, 5-3 American Athletic Conference) didn’t always make things easy for themselves as they blew a 10-point lead early in the second half to set up the frantic finish.
In the first half, the Tigers came out with much better energy against Tulane (13-7, 4-4 AAC) than in their loss against Tulsa Wednesday night and took a 32-25 lead at halftime against the Green Wave.
One of the keys to their success in the first half was Memphis shot the ball well from the field shooting 13-27 (48 percent). Redshirt freshman guard Markel Crawford who went 0-2 for 0 points the last time the two teams met (74-66 Tulane win), led the Tigers in scoring in the first half with 11 points on 4-5 shooting, including two three-pointers and a monster slam midway through the first half along with three steals. Crawford finished the game with 15 points and five steals.
Nichols who had a career night (28 points) the last time he played the Green Wave also had a solid first half as he had six points on 3-5 shooting along with six rebounds and finished the game leading all scorers with 17 points on 7-11 shooting, nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks.
Three-point marksman Avery Woodson continued his solid three-point shooting making two three-pointers in the first half, and going 3-8 from the three-point line for the game with nine points and five rebounds.
The Tigers despite their great shooting, continued to struggle with turnovers in the first half as they committed 10 (17 for the game). However, Tulane joined them in the turnover fest committing nine of their own (16 for the game).
In addition, the point guard position continues to be a problem for the Tigers. Kedren Johnson got the start but didn’t play well as he shot 1-4 from the field and finished with three points, two assists and three turnovers. Sophomore Pookie Powell was a non-factor as he failed to score (0-1) and only registered one assist and one steal and two turnovers.
Tulane had a tough time scoring on the Tigers defense in the first half as they shot a measly 8-25 (32 percent) but made 4-9 three-point attempts in the first half to keep themselves in the game. The Tigers also shot well from three in the first half going 4-10. Both teams could not keep it up in the second half though as Memphis finished 5-17 (29 percent) from three, while Tulane shot 6-17 (35 percent).
The Green Wave shot a little better from the field in the second half 10-25 (40 percent) and combined with solid defense rallied to overcome an early 12-point deficit in the first half to tie it at 51 with 2:34 left. However, Tulane could never complete the comeback despite tying the game three times in the last two and a half minutes.
Guard Jay Hook led the Green Wave in scoring with 13 points including shooting 3-5 from three and five rebounds.
Junior guard Jonathan Stark who had a 24-point night in the Jan.3 meeting against the Tigers, went 3-9 with 10 points and four assists. Guard Louis Dabney, Tulane’s leading scorer on the season, had his second off night against the Tigers this season. Dabney shot 2-13 from the field scoring 10 points along with grabbing three rebounds.
The Tigers next game is against East Carolina on Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the FedEx Forum. CBS Sports Network plans to broadcast the game.
