Memphis Men's Basketball kicked off their conference schedule with a dominant 90-62 rout over FAU in Boca Raton. This win is the ninth win in the top two quadrents of the NET rankings for the Tigers, which leads the country.
"We have a great thing going on right now," said Penny Hardaway after the game. "It's a lot of teams that want to be in our shoes."
The story of the game starts with the defense of the Tigers. They forced FAU to shoot 32.4% from the field and 16.1% from three, which is an encouraging sign for a Memphis team that has had issues defending the long ball in the past. Only two Owls players reached double digits, Kaleb Glenn (12) and Baba Miller (10).
On the other side of the ball, just about everyone had a good outing. The guard pair of PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter combined for 39 points and five made threes. The second half saw a monster performance from Dain Dainja, who scored all 16 of his points in the second half with four fouls.
After the game, FAU head coach John Jakus called the guard trio of Haggerty, Hunter, and Colby Rogers "one of the best three-headed monster guard combos in the country."
In a stretch of games that Memphis has to capitalize on for their resume in March, the Tigers have delivered back-to-back games where there were no need for second half heroics. They've played consistent, wire-to-wire basketball, which is a trait of teams that tend to go deep in the NCAA Tournament.
"It's pretty cool being the hunted. You've gotta wear that. We've got to embrace that," said Hardaway.
The Tigers are back in action at FedEx Forum against North Texas on Jan. 5.
