After a disastrous loss at home against Arkansas St. on Sunday, Memphis undid all the harm done to its resume by notching its best win of the season, an 87-82 victory at No. 16 Clemson in an overtime thriller.
Clemson ranks 14 in the NET rankings, representing the highest rated team Memphis has beaten this season, and one of the best wins in all of college basketball this season due to this being a road victory.
Penny Hardaway improves to 7-3 in his last 10 games against ranked teams, and this Tigers team boosts its undefeated record on the road to 2-0 and its Quad 1 game record to 4-1.
Here is how Memphis picked up this massive victory:
The Three Guard Trio
It’s no secret: Memphis has been carried this season by one of the best backcourts in the nation of PJ Haggerty, Tyrese Hunter, and Colby Rogers. The trio combined for 57 of Memphis’ 87 points, but it came with a twist today: PJ Haggerty was well below his season average of 23 ppg and was largely held in check by Jaeden Zackery, scoring only 12 points on 3/10 shooting.
Today, the story was Tyrese Hunter and Colby Rogers, who scored 23 and 22 points respectively, on 11/18 shooting from deep. They paced a 48% 3-point effort from Memphis on a great shooting performance from the second best 3-point shooting team in the nation. Every time the Tigers needed a big play or big shot, these two delivered.
To close the first half, Memphis was down two with 6 seconds left, and Tyrese Hunter stole the inbound and promptly nailed a transition three to give Memphis the lead and momentum going into half. When Memphis went down 3 with five minutes left, Colby Rogers hit a 3 to tie it. When Memphis was down 5 with 51 seconds to go, Rogers hit another 3 that helped set up a Dain Dainja layup to force overtime. In overtime, Colby Rogers opened with a 3 to put Memphis up 1, then Tyrese Hunter hit back-to-back 3’s when Memphis was down 1, the final of which gave Memphis the lead for good. This does not even mention Hunter’s massive steal after a Tigers turnover with Memphis up 1 with 19 seconds to go.
Simply put, the poise and shot making by Rogers and Hunter were unmatched from anyone on the court, and were a large reason Memphis won the game
Limiting Ian Schieffelin
Memphis’ gameplan today on Ian Schieffelin, one of the nation’s best rebounders, was excellent. Coming into the game, Schieffelin was averaging 12.6 rebounds per game, and was held to just 6 boards, his lowest number of the season.
As a result, a Clemson team that is one of the best in the nation at rebounding was outrebounded 34-33 by Memphis. Not giving Clemson those extra possessions was massive for Memphis today.
While Memphis did a good job on Schieffelin, familiar foe, starting center Viktor Lahkin, went off for the other Tigers, scoring a season high 23 points and collecting 11 boards too.
Turnover Problem
Coming off of 20 turnovers against Arkansas St., the turnover bug bit Memphis again, and was a large reason Clemson was in this game. Memphis had 15 turnovers to Clemson’s 8 when Clemson grabbed its largest lead of the game of six with two minutes to go. Whenever Clemson went on its runs, it was because of Memphis’ turnover problems.
However, from that moment on, Memphis only turned the ball over once and forced 5 Clemson turnovers. The offensive execution of this team down the stretch was incredibly impressive, and the lack of turnovers in the final minutes showed that. The turnovers in the first 38 though, need to be cleaned up.
Two Other Players of Note
Memphis got an excellent game from Moussa Cisse, who had 8 points and 8 boards in 24 minutes and an outstanding defensive effort to go with it. Unfortunately for Memphis, he fouled out with 3:39 to go in regulation.
Jaeden Zackery for Clemson was their MVP today and was amazing on PJ Haggerty. He had 11 points and 2 steals, and while his box score is not all that impressive, he hit massive shots down the stretch and really did shut down Haggerty for most of the game.
Both of these players had a massive impact on the game, but it may not seem that way at first glance.
What’s Next
Memphis finishes its ACC road trip on December 18 against Virginia, before returning home for two games against regional rivals Mississippi St. and Ole Miss.
