The Memphis Tigers defeated the Temple Owls 90-82 thanks to a strong second half offensive performance.
The Tigers got faced with a challenge this Sunday, playing the only team that they have lost to in conference play thus far.
To add on to the challenge, Memphis star Tyrese Hunter was out today. It got announced about 10 minutes prior to tipoff. He is considered day to day with a knee injury. He has been facing a knee injury all season.
On the opposite end, Temple’s star player, Jamal Mashburn Jr, was also out today. He is averaging 22.1 ppg on 43% shooting on the season.
Here's what stood out:
The Leaders of the Game
Dain Dainja put together another strong game, scoring 6 of the first 10 Memphis points. He would go on to have a solid game, finishing with 18 points and 8 rebounds.
PJ Haggerty had yet another 20 point performance, this time with 7 assists and 2 steals.
Dante Harris
After being thrown into the starting lineup, Dante Harris took over the point guard role this game, replacing Tyrese Hunter.
Despite coming into the contest averaging 2 ppg, Dante Harris took the crowd by surprise by putting up a season high 14 points with 2 rebounds in 29 minutes.
Nick Jourdain Bounce back
After a shaky couple of games, Nick Jourdain seems to be back to his usual self. Jourdain put up 11 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.
Turnover Bug
In the first half turnovers made this game closer than it should have been. Memphis had 12, while Temple had 13. The difference was that Temple had 13 points off turnovers while Memphis only had 9.
In the second half, the Tigers flipped the script. Memphis tallied only 2 turnovers and forced 6 Temple turnovers.
Defensive Troubles
While they did force 16 Temple turnovers, Memphis continued to struggle defensively. Temple shot 55% from the field and 50% from three.
In the second half, they started to pressure more to get some of those turnovers, but then they allowed a Temple run to close the gap in the final minutes.
Memphis’ next game is at USF on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. central.
