The Memphis men’s basketball team made its debut at home against a much-improved Missouri Tigers team, getting the win 83-75. At one point, Memphis was down 14, but PJ Haggerty came up big in the second half, scoring 22 of his 25 points to secure the victory.
“I take responsibility for this loss,” said Missouri head coach Dennis Gates postgame. “We just weren’t able to put two halves together and at the end of the day, Memphis was able to bounce back and execute and close the game out.”
The game started very slow for both teams, as no one was able to put anything on the board for 3 minutes, until Nicholas Jordain threw down a great lob by Tyreese Hunter.
Between this and the first media timeout, only two more field goals would be made by both teams, putting the score at 5-4 in favor of Missouri.
There were more displays of putrid offense by both teams, only putting up 7 combined points. The score at the under-12 was 9-7, Missouri. At this point, both Tigers were a combined 6-22 from the field and 1-11 from three.
The first bunch of Bengals to find their offense would be the ones from the SEC. After trading baskets, Missouri went on a 7-2 run that was largely possible due to a turnover by Memphis. The Tigers in yellow would have 12 points off of turnovers in the first half, which is how the lead slowly expanded.
The score advantage would balloon to 14 late in the first half, when Trent Pierce splashed a transition three. The Tigers in blue quickly called a timeout so they could build something going into halftime and that is exactly what happened.
“[Memphis] did a great job cutting that lead that could’ve went to 15 or 17, they cut it down to 10 and, obviously, that momentum led into the second half,” said Gates. The game stood at 42-32 going into halftime.
“At halftime, I just challenged them on doing the things we’ve been taught. Going out there and playing at a high level,” said Penny Hardaway after the game. “Once we saw the adjustments on the zone, because the zone did hurt us in the first half, the offense was more fluid.”
When the second half started, it looked to be more of the same for Memphis: bad passes, leaving shooters open by doubling in the paint, etc. Suddenly, Memphis started to neutralize the buckets by Missouri with ones of their own.
Then PJ Haggerty hit another level.
He put the Tigers in blue on his back, supported by a quietly brilliant period from big man Moussa Cisse, and willed them back into the contest. Haggerty got to the line at will, shooting 9-9 from the stripe in the 2nd, and hit 6-9 FGs to get Memphis close. It would be Tyreese Hunter with a bomb from downtown to give the Bluff City Bengals the lead.
When asked about his ability to come up clutch in the second half, Haggerty said that in the first half, he looks for his teammates if the shot isn’t falling. In the later period is when “Everything just opens up, just like being able to be myself and just being able to make plays for my team.”
Once Memphis got the lead with 10:34 left in the game, it would never leave them. Haggerty would continue to dominate alongside Tyreese Hunter, who finished with 14 points, 9 of which coming in the 2nd half.
“I’m proud of my team for making the adjustments at halftime and playing a great second half,” said Hardaway.
