The fourth time was the charm for coach Josh Pastner and the Memphis Tigers as they finally defeated the defending NCAA Champion UConn Huskies 75-72 Thursday night at FedExForum.
Though the teams are in much different places this season, it was a nice win for Memphis (16-10, 8-5 American Athletic Conference) after losing to UConn (14-11, 7-6 AAC) all three times last season.
For the second home game in a row, Memphis came out with a lot of energy and built a nice lead, leading by as many as 13 in the first half. UConn cut the lead to 39-33 at halftime despite the Tigers shooting 58 percent in the first half.
The story was different in the second half this time around. Unlike the Temple game, Memphis got over the finish line after nearly giving the game away to the Huskies after going through one of their infamous “scoring droughts” in the second half.
The return of star forward Austin Nichols after missing the past two games with a sprained ankle, made life a lot easier for his fellow Tigers in the first half. Nichols had 13 points in the first period and finished the night with 16 points, eights rebounds, seven blocks and three assists. His performance showed how much Memphis missed him in the past two games.
Pastner said after the win it was a great team victory and praised Nichols’ performance.
“I'm so proud of the guys,” Pastner said. “It wouldn't have been that close if we had made free throws late and if Austin knocked down some of those open shots late. He's a little rusty though. This was his first game back after being off for two weeks. He was a warrior. He played 38 minutes and I wouldn't want anyone else taking those shots. It was a great win. We gutted it out. I was so proud of our guys. What a great win. This was a great win for the Tigers."
Nichols wasn’t the only player to carry the load on Thursday as point guard Kedren Johnson scored a career-high 21 points on just nine field goals. He also dished six assists and only committed one turnover.
Johnson after one of his best games as a Tiger said they are just playing to their potential and playing hard.
"We are having fun and we are not worrying about the things we cannot control,” Johnson said. “We are just playing to the best of our abilities and play with as much effort as we can."
Guard Markel Crawford also had a strong game for Memphis as he had 14 points in the victory, 10 of which came in the second half when the Tigers needed every bucket as they only shot 38 percent in the second half.
Crawford and the Tigers also did quite a job on defense limiting UConn star guard Ryan Boatright to just seven points on 2-6 shooting from the field. He had been averaging nearly 19 points a game coming into the contest.
"(I was) Just doing my roll (guarding Boatright), playing my defense and doing whatever I need to do to get my team to win,” Crawford said.
Memphis played zone throughout the game, and it paid off as UConn only shot 5-20 from three-point range.
Nichols said he was surprised at the success of the Tigers’ zone defense tonight.
"Well, in practice we started really going over it this past week in practice,” Nichols said. “I was actually really surprised at how well it was tonight honestly. (Ryan) Boatright is a great player, and Markel did a great job on him."
However, the Huskies stayed in the game by outscoring the Tigers in the paint 38-28. UConn also dominated second chance points outscoring Memphis 22-9.
Freshman Daniel Hamilton did give the Tigers problems, however. The forward scored 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had three assists in the loss.
UConn center Amida Brimah had 19 points and 12 rebounds, once again giving the Tigers fits like he did in the AAC Conference Tournament, last season.
This time though it wasn’t enough and the Tigers next game will be at Central Florida at CFE Arena in Orlando, Florida, on Sunday. CBS Sports Network will televise the game.
