Last year Memphis got all the way up to No. 9 in the country and was 15-2 going into a game against South Florida at home. In front of a severely diminished crowd due to winter weather, Memphis blew a 20-point lead and lost 74-73 in what was the first domino in the spiral that was the end of last season.
Fast forward to today, Memphis was up as much as 18 points and had been leading wire-to-wire when East Carolina tied it up with 1:11 to go off two C.J. Walker free throws. So do not blame the entire FedExForum crowd who trudged through the snow outside for having some traumatic Deja vu. Even Penny Hardaway felt that way, saying that “It was eerily similar to last year”
The difference this year? “Toughness and grit. When we needed stops, we got stops, when we needed scores, we got scores,” said Nicholas Jourdain.
“We got guys that can finish the game,” said Hardaway.
Those guys today were the usual suspects, Tyrese Hunter and P.J. Haggerty. After Walker tied it up, Haggerty drew a foul and hit both free throws, Memphis got a stop on the defensive end, and Tyrese Hunter drove and hit a layup at the end of the shot clock to push Memphis’ lead to four with just 18.4 seconds left. Haggerty finished with a game high 25 points with 10/10 shooting from the line, which Memphis needed every bit of. Hunter chipped in 14 points as well, hitting timely shots down the stretch.
When winning time came, Memphis was ready, as it has been all season, and the Tigers escaped a Quad 4 loss that would have been a disaster to Memphis’ resume.
Here’s what you need to know about the game:
First Half Defense
Memphis had one of its best defensive halves of the season, which led to the 38-24 halftime lead Memphis built.
Memphis opened the game on an 11-2 run and East Carolina opened the game just 3/21 from the field. After East Carolina went on a mini 7-0 run, Memphis went on the 16-0 run to put them up 27-9 that gave them the distance from East Carolina they needed to hold off the Pirates’ desperate comeback bid.
In the first half, East Carolina shot just 25% from the field and turned the ball over nine times, which led to easy Memphis fastbreak buckets. East Carolina just could not get anything going in the first half at all.
Turnovers and Rebounding
The second half, was a different story. Memphis turned the ball over 10 times in the second half, with 9 of them coming in the first 12 minutes of the half. East Carolina’s zone suddenly caused issues for Memphis, and they went on an instant 6-0 run off of Memphis turnovers to open the half.
“In the second half, we started to try to drive one on one and just didn’t move the ball as well,” said Hardaway. “We just get so ‘one more dribble’ when we should pick the ball up and pass it.”
East Carolina got 17 points off of Memphis turnovers in the second half, almost reaching it to their first half scoring output on that alone.
“They knew that they could only score by getting turnovers and runout dunks and we weren’t able to stop that,” said Jourdain.
After this game, Memphis fell to No. 315 in the country in turnover rate, turning it over on 20.4% of their possessions. This will be something the Tigers will have to clean up.
In addition, the Tigers got outrebounded 40-36 by the Pirates today. 6’3 guard R.J. Felton got 13 rebounds on his own, 5 of them being offensive which helped him get to 20 points. 6’9 forward C.J. Walker got 3 offensive rebounds as well, and he was giving Memphis all kinds of issues, scoring a team high 23 for East Carolina.
Memphis ranks even lower at offensive rebounding percentage than turnover rate, sitting at No. 325 in the nation, allowing an offensive rebound on over a third of opponents’ missed shots.
The reason East Carolina got back in the game was Memphis gifting them extra possessions, and Memphis must stop doing that going forward.
Dante Harris
The biggest standout today apart from P.J. Haggerty for the Tigers was Virginia transfer Dante Harris who had his best game as a Tiger after missing North Texas with an ankle injury.
After playing just 15 minutes total in his first two games against Ole Miss and Florida Atlantic, he played a season high 22 minutes and looked the part of a player that could take some of P.J. Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter’s heavy minutes.
Although he only scored 2 points, he dished out 4 assists and most notably, fit like a glove in Penny Hardaway’s press. In the 22 minutes Harris was on the court today, Memphis forced 13 turnovers. That is no coincidence, as Harris was excellent spearheading the press.
His development into a legitimate member of the rotation to take pressure off of Haggerty and Hunter will be a key storyline to watch in the coming AAC games.
What’s Next
Memphis will go on a two game road trip this week, starting with Temple on Thursday at 6 p.m., then they travel to Charlotte on Sunday at 2 p.m.
“We’re winning ugly and I’d rather win ugly than lose ugly for sure,” said Hardaway. That’s the right sentiment, but let’s see if the Tigers start winning not ugly after back to back close home wins.
