After a tough home loss on Saturday, The Memphis Tigers secured a much-needed 99-81 road win over the South Florida Bulls.
The Tigers improve to 18-6 on the season and 8-3 in the AAC while keeping their NCAA tournament hopes alive.
The Tigers were led by Deandre Williams with 26 points and 5 assists. Kendric Davis provided 23 points and Keonte Kennedy also contributed a season-high 19 points.
As they’ve done all season, the Tigers continue their trend of bouncing back after a loss.
Coming into the game, two areas of concern for the Tigers were free throw shooting and turnovers, as they were a problem for Memphis in their previous game against Tulane.
The Tigers were night and day in those categories against the Bulls. Memphis took care of the ball and committed a season-low 8 turnovers. The Tigers shot 22/24 from the free-throw line.
The Tigers, who shot 53% from the field, started the game hot, jumping out to a 9-2 lead and forcing three turnovers in the opening minutes of the game.
Memphis was rewarded for their defensive intensity with 20 points off of 12 forced USF turnovers in the first half.
The Tigers were able to force five more turnovers in the second half, scoring a total of 30 points off turnovers in the game.
The Tigers had their largest lead of the night at 19 points in the second half, but USF and former Tiger Tyler Harris bounced back and stayed in the game.
Despite 28 points from Harris, who also broke the AAC record for all-time career made 3-pointers, the Tigers closed out the game and pulled out a convincing 18-point win.
The Tigers look to carry this momentum down the stretch as they have tough matchups ahead that will be huge deciding factors in their journey to the tournament.
Memphis now sits in third place in the AAC behind Tulane and Houston.
The Tigers will look to defend home court for a Sunday matchup against Temple at 11 a.m. on ESPN2.
