Over the weekend, the Memphis Tigers (20-9, 9-7 American Athletic Conference) traveled to New Orleans for their second meeting of the season with Tulane (12-17, 4-13 AAC). Although the loss at SMU may have nixed their at-large hopes, it would be crucial that they won and held steady in the jam-packed AAC standings.
Despite outrebounding the home side 27-12 and allowing them to shoot only 32%, the story of the first half were the 16 Green Wave points created off 13 Tiger turnovers. While the shooting woes continued for the Tulane after the break, they were able to get to the stripe often enough to prevent Memphis from pulling away, knocking down 14/18 from the line.
Georgia transfer Teshaun Hightower’s game-tying layup with two seconds left in regulation sent the game to overtime, but a 22-point, 22-rebound masterpiece of a night from Precious Achiuwa and clutch free-throw shooting down the stretch was enough to propel Penny Hardaway’s team to a tough 74-67 win.
“It’s been blow after blow this season,” Hardaway said. “I’m so proud of this group. They put so much pressure on themselves to play well and I think sometimes they get tight and that’s why we turn the ball over. We’re not loose enough, not having enough fun. It’s like they put the pressure to play well on themselves individually and all they have to do is play well as a team and everything’s going to be okay.”
The duo of Hightower and Christion Thompson carried the Green Wave, accounting for 28 of their 33 total second-half points and 52 of their 67 points for the game. Tulane shot 28% from the field. In overtime, the Wave would finish without a field goal over the last three minutes.
“To look at the stat sheet and see we’ve won that many games with so many turnovers this year, that lets you know that we’re defending the ball well. We’re still giving up 16 offensive rebounds and 24 turnovers; the math on that says that we lose. Some kind of way, we find a way to make it happen. It’s just the weird science of Memphis basketball.”
When Achiuwa signed on to round out Hardaway’s top-ranked class last summer, it was never the assumption that he would be playing his minutes primarily at the five. While the plans obviously changed, it is a testament to Precious as both a player and a person to see how he has adapted to this unexpected role. His 16th double-doubles through 29 games is tied for 11th in the country. He iss the only freshman inside the top 15 in that category.
“Give Memphis credit,” Green Wave coach Ron Hunter said. “The big fella (Achiuwa), he’s a difference maker. I’ll go home and text every general manager to get him out of this league. He’s great. He’ll be a first-round draft pick.”
Two games remain on the regular season slate. Both are huge opportunities to pick up statement wins entering the league tournament. Thursday night, they will face Wichita State in their final home game of the season. Sunday, they then travel to Houston for a rematch after they edged the Cougars out by a single point a week ago.
Two wins would likely secure them the fourth and final first-round bye in the AAC tournament. Two losses would be a brutal close to the year. Their first opportunity to build momentum against the Shockers is set to tip Thursday night at 8 p.m.
