Barry Tompkins, who famously commentated Rocky Balboa vs Ivan Drago, was on the call for another knockdown, drag out fight tonight, as the Memphis Tigers won at San Francisco 68-64. They pick up their best win to date in a physical affair, and head into the loaded Maui Invitational field undefeated.
Here is how it happened:
A Slow Start… Again
Like they have all year, Memphis got down early, 10-1 in the first 3 minutes. They were able to claw back into the game, evening the game up at 14, before a horrible close to the first half leading to San Francisco being up 9 at halftime.
In the first half, Memphis only hit 6 shots, shot 24% from the field and turned the ball 10 times. If not for their defense and knack for getting to the foul line, they could have, and should have, been down much more.
Second Half Outburst… Again
Like they have all season though, Memphis came out firing in the second half. They instantly took the lead for the first time all game with a 10-0 run in the first 3:33 of the second half and scored more points in the first 8:29 of the second half than they did in the entire first half.
They scored 46 points on 48% shooting from the field, 41.7% from deep, and 15/17 from the line, while forcing 8 San Francisco turnovers.
Tyrese Hunter scored all 11 of his points in the second half, and PJ Haggerty scored 9 of his 13 in this period.
The team that took the court after halftime did not resemble the one that left the court in the first half, which is becoming a real theme this season.
Dain Dainja Show
Tonight was the Dain Dainja coming out party, as after getting benched for the first time all season, he responded with 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, in what was by far his best game as a Tiger.
He led a bench unit that had been struggling this season. The Tigers’ bench was averaging 16.3 ppg (311st in Division 1) heading into the game but scored 26 on their best output of the season, in large part due to Dainja’s production.
Dainja made big plays late as well, as he had a massive offensive rebound off a Tyrese Hunter missed free throw that let Memphis push the game to two possessions late. If he plays like he did tonight, Memphis will be hard to beat.
Defensive Clinic
Memphis won this game on the defensive end tonight. San Francisco had averaged 84 ppg coming into the night and was held to just 64 points.
Memphis forced 15 turnovers, blocked 9 shots, and held everyone except Malik Thomas to single digits. San Francisco’s leading scorer, Tyron Riley IV, only scored 2 points tonight, after coming into the game averaging over 19 ppg.
On a night where the offense struggled for large portions of time, the defense kept Memphis in striking distance until the shots started to fall.
PJ Haggerty’s Off-Night
PJ Haggerty had his weakest performance as a Tiger, scoring *only* 13 points on 2/9 shooting from the field.
However, his ability to make big plays late, even when it is not his night, is what won Memphis this game.
With 2:47 left in a tied game, he hit a transition 3 that gave Memphis the lead for good and went 4/4 from the line down the stretch to keep Memphis’ lead intact.
Even when he is not playing great, it is a good sign that Memphis is able to win in spite of it, as Haggerty has had to be near superhuman in all of Memphis’ wins thus far.
What’s Next
Memphis travels to Maui to play in the premier in-season tournament in college basketball. It all begins with a date with the two-time defending national champion, and No. 2 ranked team in the country, UConn Huskies at 1:30 p.m. CT Monday.
