Memphis lit up Tulsa 83-71 on neon night in FedExForum on Wednesday night to improve to 19-4 overall and 9-1 in AAC play, good for first place in the conference.
P.J. Haggerty, against his old team, led the way with 23 points on 10/16 shooting, and was complemented well by Dain Dainja, who stuffed the box score with 21 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks, and 3 steals.
”That’s the biggest one-two punch… that’s something a lot of teams don’t have around the country,” said Memphis Head Coach Penny Hardaway about Haggerty and Dainja after the game.
Against the worst team in the AAC in the metrics, Memphis struggled to get things going early, finding themselves in a dogfight early in the second half, only up 44-41. From there though, Memphis uncorked an 11-3 run to push the lead to double digits, and extended their lead to as much as 19.
A massive reason for this was the second half shooting of the team, who shot 62.1% from the field and a scorching 6/10 from deep in the final period. The leading scorers, Haggerty and Dainja, scored 15 and 13 points respectively in the second half, while Tyrese Hunter was a big reason for the game defining 11-3 run, hitting two threes in that stretch.
Here is what you need to know about the game:
Dain Dainja Continued Success.
Every since Dainja was put back in the starting lineup against UAB, he has been incredible. Dainja is averaging 16.8 points, and 7.3 rebounds since that UAB game, and tonight was probably his best all around performance of the bunch, with seven total stocks (a now popular phrase in the city of Memphis’ basketball lexicon) to go with his scoring and rebounding.
”When we first got him, we understood he had great footwork.. But where he’s grown is being more vocal, being a better defender, being a better leader… when he got here in June, it’s lightyears now because the carefactor is there,” said Hardaway.
PJ Haggerty Against Former Team
An obvious storyline coming into the game today was P.J. Haggerty playing his old team, but that did not seem to phase Haggerty too much today.
“Just another game to me,” said Haggerty. His play on the court echoed this sentiment, with another steady performance for him, and at this point, it feels like his scoring is even getting taken for granted.
Haggerty and Penny both noted that there was no bad blood between him and Tulsa, which greatly helped him today compared to Colby Rogers’ first game against his old team against Wichita St. this year, which was much more heated.
Box Score Notes
The most important number on the box score for the Tigers tonight is eight turnovers, the fewest they have had in a game all season. To compliment the good care they took of the ball, they assisted on 20 of their 34 shots, as well as forced 16 turnovers for the Golden Hurricane.
”I’m very proud (of the assists and TOs)” said Hardaway after the game. 20 assists a game was a stated goal of Hardaway early in the season, and in the past four games, Memphis has 82 assists and the turnovers have been dwindling down.
Additionally, the Tigers were able to play the bench for more extended minutes than usual tonight. For a team that is 343rd in the nation in bench minutes at 22.9%, they were able to get 33% of the total minutes played tonight by the bench.
The sore spots were less glaring than the bright spots, but Memphis did lose the rebounding battle 27-29 against an average rebounding team in the AAC, and shot 50% at the free throw line.
What’s Next
Memphis plays Temple on Sunday at FedExForum, the only team to beat them in AAC play so far. What are the Tigers focusing on for this? ”Just get back… y’all gonna see Sunday,” said Haggerty.
