The 2014-15 season was always going to be a rebuilding one for the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team.
Losing five seniors from last year’s team that made it to the NCAA Tournament round of 32, and bringing in eight new players was always going to make it tough for the Tigers to make a fifth straight NCAA Tournament under coach Josh Pastner.
Overall, the Tigers finished 18-14 and lost in the quarterfinals in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, and as a result, missed the postseason for the first time since 2000.
The warning signs showed as early as the exhibition with Christian Brothers on Nov. 12. Memphis lost in overtime to CBU, a Division 2 team, 74-70 at FedExForum, and this would more or less set the tone for the remainder of the season.
In their first game of the regular season, Memphis clashed against the then no.11 Wichita State Shockers. The Shockers ran all over the Tigers and defeated them 71-56. Memphis had more turnovers (24) than field goal makes (20) in the loss.
Memphis would pick up their first win of the season in their home opener against Prairie View, but the good times would not last for long. The Tigers would get blown out of the Las Vegas Invitational by the Baylor Bears, 71-47, in a game in which they lead at halftime.
They would save face at the Invitational, beating Indiana State to claim third place. Memphis would now begin a crucial nine game home stand at the Forum with a 2-2 record.
The Tigers would drop two of their first three in that stand to Stephen F. Austin and Oklahoma State by double digits, at 3-4 Memphis’ NCAA Tournament chances appeared slim despite being only seven games into the season.
With eight new faces on the roster it was always going to take sometime, and they did turn the corner if only it was a brief one. They would win five in a row, including their first AAC game of the season a 73-54 victory over the Houston Cougars on New Year’s Eve to kick off their second year in the American. The scoring droughts and turnovers that plagued the Tigers this season seemed as if they would lessen as the season wore on.
On Jan. 3, the low point in the Tigers season would come when the Tulane Green Wave would beat Memphis at home for the first time since the 1992 season, winning 74-66. This was despite the fact that sophomore Austin Nichols had a career-high 28 points to lead the Tigers. This game described the Tigers’ season in a nutshell.
Though Nichols would get revenge on Tulane by hitting a game-winning shot against them in New Orleans on Jan. 24 to lead the Tigers to a 57-55 victory.
Although the Tigers’ most impressive win of the season to that point was a 63-50 victory over the Cincinnati Bearcats on Jan. 15. It would be their only victory against an NCAA Tournament team all season, and Vanderbilt transfer Kedren Johnson had one of his best games of the season registering a 13-point, five assist performance in the victory.
Memphis had one more chance to get a key non-conference after the start of the AAC schedule when they traveled to Spokane, Washington, to take on the then no.3 Gonzaga Bulldogs. Though it was competitive early, the Bulldogs blew out the Tigers 82-64 on Jan. 31. Memphis would drop to 13-8 (6-3 AAC) after the loss.
The following week, the Tigers would lose Nichols to a right-ankle injury in the second half of a 62-61 loss to Temple. Memphis led by as much as 16 points, and Nichols was the catalyst of their early success scoring 17 points in 30 minutes. After the he went out, the Tigers went on one of their “scoring droughts”, and ultimately cost the Tigers another victory.
After missing two games, Nichols returned to the lineup for a clash between the Tigers and the UConn Huskies. Though the national champions had a rough season like the Tigers, Memphis had lost to them three times last year, and were out for revenge.
Nichols like he did so many times this season helped drive the Tigers to victory with a 16-point, 8-rebound, 7-block effort in a 75-72 victory. Johnson also scored a season-high 21 points in the win.
Three games later, Nichols would injury his right-ankle again in a loss to Tulsa, and would not play again. He would finish the year as the Tigers leading scoring over 13 points per game and averaged 3.4 blocks a game, third in Division I, showing his tremendous growth on the defensive end.
Though another high-point would soon come against UConn in their following game. Junior forward Shaq Goodwin who had been criticized for his play earlier in the season hit the game-winning jump shot in a 54-53 win against the Huskies on the road on March 5, it would be the Tigers last win of the season.
Memphis would drop their final game of the regular season on the road to Cincinnati. They finished the regular season 18-13, and a 10-8 conference record good enough to earn them the fifth spot in the standing and a first-round bye.
The Tigers would end their season in a hard-fought 80-75 loss to Temple in the AAC Tournament quarterfinals. There would be not NCAA Tournament or NIT for Memphis this season.
The results did not always go according to plan, but Memphis always played hard and with more fortune they may have made the postseason, but their inability to score the ball consistently and turnovers always made the mountain a little harder to climb.
Next year, Pastner and the Tigers will have hoped the lessons they learned from this season can be applied, and that the 2015-16 season is a much different story.
The Tigers always stuck together despite the tough season. Memphis will hope to qualify for the postseason in 2016. Photo by David Minkin.
