Memphis has made a phenomenal run all the way to the finals of the Maui Invitational where their final test of this stretch is another set of Tigers and a top five team: Auburn.
The Tigers in orange are coming off a very convincing win of North Carolina, where they were led by a career day from big man Johni Broome, who put up 23/19/5 with three blocks.
With a win, Memphis would go into the final stretch of the non-conference schedule with an almost ironclad resumé for March. Here’s what needs to happen for Memphis to pull the upset:
Let It Fly
Going into this game, Memphis has the third best 3-point shooting percentage in the country at 45.38%. They’re coming off an 8 for 23 night from downtown yesterday against Michigan State in a grindy contest. This team is dangerous when the threes are falling at a good rate, which is especially the case when Tyrese Hunter gets going. The Texas transfer has shot an absurd 12 for 20 through two games in Maui and will be crucial to Memphis’ chances today.
Limit Broome
As a team, Auburn is average in terms of rebounds per game, getting about 38 a game. That’s not the issue…Johni Broome is. He is second in the country in rebounds per game (12.3) and fifth in total boards (74). The 6’10 senior from Florida has been one of the best bigs in the country this year on the glass. He is also Auburn’s leading scorer by a mile, putting up 20.7 points a game. If Memphis can get him in foul trouble early, the Auburn Tigers will lose a massive source of production, and it will allow Cisse and Dainja to work freely down low. Look for PJ Haggerty to help in this task as well.
Don’t Get Caught In the Moment
After the UConn upset, Memphis received much more national attention than they have had in a while. They absolutely cannot let this pressure get to them and must continue playing their style of winning basketball.
Prediction
This is going to be a phenomenal game to cap off what has probably been the greatest Maui event of all time. Memphis has played so many different styles of games that they can adapt to pretty much anything. Tigers win by single digits in a back-and-forth affair.
