Memphis Roar

The Memphis Tigers basketball team can be something of beauty to watch. They can also look like a hideous deformed monster. IUPUI rolled into town with a 9-4 record and was considered to be the 2^nd best team this young Tiger team had faced. There were some concerns prior to the game that the Tigers would be rusty. Another concern was that Memphis would overlook IUPUI with the rivalry game of Tennessee just a few days away. Fortunately these concerns were unfounded. There was only a brief glimpse of that hideous monster that showed in Boston. Instead the Tigers rolled to a beautiful 87-67 victory over the Jaguars. There was no apparent looking ahead to the next opponent either. The team looked well-rested, rust-free and ready for the next opponent.

Elliot Williams scored 27 points, his 8^th game this year that he has scored 20 or more points. Pierre Niles came in with 15 points. Both were collegiate career highs for them. Wesley Witherspoon scored in double-figures for the 3^rd straight game. For the Jaguars, Leroy Nobles finished the game with 18 .

IUPUI came out in a zone defense. They tried to push their zone out to the perimeter. Once that happened Niles scored 7 straight points inside the zone and ended up with 11 at the half. Niles’ inside play caused the defenders to collapse the zone away from the perimeter. Once they did, Memphis started hitting 3’s left and right. Combined with pressure defense, which caused IUPUI a bunch of trouble, it was too much for the Jaguars to overcome. Memphis pushed to a 13 point halftime lead. IUPUI was never able after than to get it to single digits.

Things of Beauty:

• Pierre Henderson-Niles play to start the game.  When Pierre decides to play and can keep his hands on the ball, there are not a lot of people that can stop him around the basket.

• Memphis’ three-point shooting. Memphis shot  11-19 for 58% for the game. Wide-open looks due to the zone didn’t hurt. Pastner has been saying this for a while now. When teams are in a zone, they come out real quick if you start hitting shots.

• Elliot Williams play. Williams shot 5-6 three-pointers. He made 6-7 free throws and had 6 rebounds. He also had 5 assists, one of which was a no look behind the back past to a trailing Sallie on a break that lead to a Sallie dunk.

• Wesley Witherspoon’s jump shot.  Witherspoon has a textbook jumper. He shot 3-4 three-pointers and is now shooting 39% for the season.

• Willie Kemp’s assists. Kemp finished with 8 assists. Some of his assists resulted from successful in drives to the basket and a dish to either Coleman or Stephens when a player came to help. Coleman and Stephens seemed to be having their own private dunk contest going for awhile in the 2^nd half.

• Rebounding. Anytime Memphis wins the battle on the boards it’s a good thing.

• The Memphis pom squad. I was not able to see any rust in any of their performances either.

There were only a few negatives from this game. Free throw shooting was foul, pun intended. Memphis finished 10-17 at the line, a paltry 59%. They shot nearly as well beyond the arc. The other slight negative was that IUPUI had a few too many penetrations to the basket. Some of these were on the break were the Tigers didn’t get back in transition defense. Others were in IUPUI’s half-court offense and caused the Tigers to foul a little more than necessary. The Jaguars shot 13 more free throws than the Tigers but made 14 more.

ESPN Box Score

ESPN Memphis-IUPUI Recap