Tigers bounce back strong at home against Tulane

The Memphis Tigers (16-11 (8-6 AAC) took care of business at home against the Tulane Green Wave (4-21 (0-13 AAC)) with a dominant 102-76 win. The Tigers gain momentum heading into their final stretch of the regular season with only four games remaining.

Jeremiah Martin led the way for the Tigers with a career high 43 points, eight assists and seven rebounds. Kyvon Davenport had his ninth double-double of the year with 10 points and a team high 15 rebounds.

“I just got to first shout out God for putting me in this position, and I got to shout my coach out,†Martin said. “He stayed on me the whole game and told me, ‘Man, get 40.’â€

Memphis now improves their overall home record against Tulane to 31-3, and Tulane continues their horrific losing streak, making it 15 games in a row, and the Green Wave hasn’t defeated Memphis since Feb. 13 in 2016 in New Orleans by the score of 94-87 in overtime. 

First half

The first 20 minutes of action were won by the Tigers as they dominated the boards with a plus-16 rebounding margin. Davenport led the team with 10 rebounds out of a total 28 boards in the half. The half started off sloppy for Memphis, but Martin scored consistently to build on their lead. Martin ended the first half with a game-high 16 points, edging out Tyler Harris with 11 points. 

Memphis used an eight-point run in the last four minutes to continue to pile on and never looked back. They led by 18 points with 2:06 to go in the half. Both teams shot nearly the same percentage-wise as the Tigers shot 46.3 percent and the Green Wave shot 45.2 percent. Memphis struggled outside the arc shooting 5-of-16, and their 26 paint points were key with almost half of their points coming near the rim. They ended up scoring 50 total paint points. 

Second half 

The Tigers came out in the second half with the same energy from the first half as they were rock solid on defense, holding Tulane scoreless during the first five minutes. Memphis scored 15 straight to build the lead to 26.

Tulane couldn’t keep up as the Tigers shot 50 percent overall in the half and shot better from the arc with 6-of-13 shooting. Martin scored 26 of his 43 points in the second half and Kareem Brewton Jr. scored 11 of his 13 points as well. Memphis came into the game averaging 37 rebounds per game and ended with 56 boards.

While Martin stole the show, other Tigers had a night to forget. Antwann Jones and Alex Lomax both combined for zero points, one field goal attempt, one rebound and played only 14 minutes. Both sat out during the second half.

Head coach Penny Hardaway said Jones didn’t come out with energy and Lomax seemed unmotivated to play the final minutes of the first half.

“He didn’t play in the second half because I tried to put him in the game in the first half with 1:42 left to go, and he acted like he didn’t want to go into the game,†Hardaway said. “(He) pouted a little bit, so I told him to go back to the bench.â€

Martin capped off the night scoring the final four points to get to the century mark for the second time this year and first in regulation. It is worth mentioning Memphis won 109-102 in a double overtime win over Yale earlier in the season.

What’s next for the Tigers

Tigers now look to sweep the season series against Wichita State (12-12 (5-7 AAC)) in Kansas this weekend. Memphis won 85-74 on Jan. 3 in the conference opener, and The Shockers are having a down season with a .500 record as of Tuesday. 

Markis McDuffie, third leading scorer in the AAC with 18.7 points, aims to give his team momentum heading to the conference tournament against the Tigers. Memphis hopes to improve their road struggles with a 2-6 record away from FedExForum. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.