Kyvon Davenport goes for the dunk in a fast break. Memphis defeated San Diego 74-60 in the first round of the NIT.
University of Memphis seniors Jeremiah Martin and Kyvon Davenport have a little more basketball to play before the NCAA Tournament wraps up this weekend.
The two Tigers will be participating in the 2019 Dos Equis 3X3U National Championship scheduled from April 5 to 7 at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. The Final Four will be in Minneapolis during the three-on-three tournament event as well.
The Dos Equis National Championship tournament consists of four seniors on one team within all conferences in Division I basketball. That is 32 teams battling it out for a cash prize. The winner of the tournament will receive $100,000 and earn the right to compete in the 2019 USA Basketball 3X3 Open National Championship later this spring. For Martin and Davenport, this could be a chance to showcase their talent on a national stage.
Martin led the American Athletic Conference in scoring with 19.7 points per game and dished out five assists. He earned first team all-AAC as well. He finished his Memphis career as the program’s 10th leading scorer with 1,625 points. That is an absolutely incredible career for an underappreciated player going into the draft season.
Jeremiah Martin cheers after scoring the basket. Martin goes for a team-high 21 points and seven rebounds in his final game at the FedEx Forum.
Davenport was a two-year starter for the Tigers after transferring from Georgia Highlands College. He was a JUCO All-American before coming to the UofM. In this past season, he averaged 13.1 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Tigers. His season was a roller coaster to say the least but played well for the team in the postseason, especially in the AAC tournament where he averaged 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He will look to show everyone his skill set in Minnesota.
The other two players that will be joining the two Tigers are East Carolina’s Isaac Fleming and Tulane’s Jordan Cornish. Fleming is a 6-foot-4 guard who had a better shooting year this past season but not enough production. He averaged only 9.2 points per game and handed out 4.1 assists per game for the Pirates. Their season ended in AAC tournament when Wichita State sent them home in the first round.Â
Cornish is a 6-foot-6 two-guard who also had a down year in production. He averaged only 9.4 points and dished out 3.9 assists per game this season. His season ended when Tulane lost in the first round against Memphis in the AAC tournament.
This team will have their hands full with other teams in the tournament. The teams to look out for are Southern, Big Ten and ACC. One big name out of the whole tournament will be Fletcher Magee from Wofford. His performance at the NCAA tournament was spectacular even though his team were knocked out in the first weekend. He broke the NCAA record in three pointers made in his college career. The American Conference will have to be prepared if they go against him and the Southern conference.
Teams will be organized into eight different pools and are guaranteed three games before the knockout stage. The American Conference will play two games Friday against the Atlantic 10 conference and the Big West. The American Conference will play in the Northeastern conference to wrap up their pool play games Saturday. The knockout stage and championship will be Sunday if the American Conference make it that far.
