Frank Murtaugh reports on the Tigers’ convincing victory over UCF, Tuesday, in Tampa.
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Month: December 2013
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Tigers 88, USF 73
As the year ends, a new era begins for the University of Memphis basketball program. The 18th-ranked Tigers traveled to Tampa and beat the South Florida Bulls in the U of M’s first American Athletic Conference game. (Memphis and USF spent ten years together in Conference USA before the Bulls left for the Big East in 2005.) The game was the centerpiece of a nationally televised triple-header featuring members of the American, including recent national champions Connecticut (2011) and Louisville (2013).
The Tigers and Bulls exchanged the lead seven times over the game’s first seven minutes before Memphis pulled away. Michael Dixon came off the bench and hit consecutive three-pointers to give the Tigers a 28-14 lead with 7:25 to play before halftime. The Tigers were still leading by 14 when senior guard Joe Jackson flew through the lane for a breathtaking dunk just before the halftime buzzer. Jackson finished the contest with 18 points despite his playing time being limited by foul trouble (he picked up his second 12 minutes into the game).
A Chris Crawford three-pointer extended the lead to 21 (60-39) with just over 14 minutes to play and the Tigers cruised the rest of the way.
Geron Johnson paced the Tigers in scoring with 19 points, while Dixon added 18. Shaq Goodwin was limited to five points but pulled down nine rebounds, while senior center David Pellom came off the bench for 10 points and seven boards.
John Egbunu led the Bulls (now 9-5) with 20 points and 14 rebounds. As a team, USF shot 42.3 percent from the field but missed all nine of their three-point attempts. Memphis shot 51.6 percent and hit eight treys.
The Tigers (now 10-2) return to action Saturday when they host Cincinnati in an early game (11 a.m. tip-off) at FedExForum. The game will be a renewal — after five years — of the third-longest series in the Tiger record book. (Only Southern Miss and Louisville have played Memphis more often than the Bearcats’ 67 games.) The teams last played on December 29, 2008, a 60-45 Tiger win. One more reason to welcome the new year with some gratitude for the American Athletic Conference.
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Good Times at Sekisui East
Susan Ellis liked the food at Sekisui East. And she really liked the bathroom.
Greg Akers reviews Nebraska, a black-and-white meditation on age and mortality starring Bruce Dern.
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Sekisui East
Pam and I met up with a friend at the new Sekisui East for lunch.
The place is small with a nice-looking bar. The menu is familiar, with Pam ordering the Nabeyaki Udon noodle soup ($9.95).
It comes with vegetables, shrimp tempura, fishcake, and a wonderful poached egg.
Our friend ordered another soup, the Kistune Udon (seafood broth and marinated tofu), to warm up on this vaguely snowy day. I stuck with sushi.
We talked movies and books and holiday parties, and as we were winding down the meal, I made a visit to restroom … and then proceeded to play with the toilet for 5 minutes.
But this is no ordinary toilet, it’s the Toto Washlet Toilet …
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A sign posted near this awesome machine explains, “This is one of the most luxurious toilets available, from the Japanese company based in Kitakyushu, Japan.”
The cover is self-rising through a motion sensor, the seat is heated. There are bidet features that control the water’s aim, intensity, and temperature.
I pressed all the buttons and made the lid go up. I took a video of the lid going up. And then I made Pam go check it out, and she pressed all the buttons.
We would have sent our friend in next, but, alas, the Toto is only in the ladies room, and it’s the only one in all of the area Sekisui locations.
According to a Sekisui rep, “It’s sort of an experiment to see if Memphis is ready.”
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Grizzlies Lose to Bulls, 95-91
Kevin Lipe chronicles the ugliness that was the Grizzlies’ final 2013 game, a homely loss to the Bulls.
- Larry Kuzniewski
- Dave Joerger got Thibodeau’d last night, plain and simple.
You want to know what Colonel Kurtz sees at the end of Apocalypse Now when he utters those words? Highlights of last night’s Grizzlies-Bulls game at FedExForum. The Grizzlies were missing Marc Gasol (and Quincy Pondexter) and the Bulls were missing Derrick Rose and Luol Deng, and as a result they played a disjointed, ugly game of runs in which the Grizzlies took more field goal attempts than the Bulls, didn’t make a single 3-pointer, and only scored six points in the first eight minutes of the third quarter.
I’m not really willing to blame the ugliness of this game—especially on the Grizzlies’ end—on the injuries. The Grizzlies just played a game Saturday night where they hung 120 on the Denver Nuggets and did it while looking pretty comfortable on offense. Part of last night’s problems were caused by the Bulls’ defense. The other part was this putrid Grizzlies offense that pops up from time to time this season, incapable of doing anything.
The stretches where the Grizzlies did well were stretches in which they were forcing the Bulls into turnovers. The stretches where the Bulls did well were stretches where the Grizzlies were turning the ball over—they turned the ball over 20 times, something you may remember from early November when they were getting creamed by the Raptors and other Eastern teams—and not converting layups at the rim into the easy points they so desperately needed.
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Watching the game last night (and I watched from home, instead of from my usual spot at the Arena Formerly Known As The Grindhouse) was incredibly frustrating to me. Jerryd Bayless is going to play backup point guard that badly, and coach Dave Joerger still isn’t going to just put Nick Calathes out there? What was he going to do, turn the ball over 20 times? The Bulls concentrated a lot of defensive effort on not letting Mike Miller do anything. As a result (and also because he only attempted one 3 and it didn’t go in) he ended the night with 2 points and 2 assists in 16 minutes. Jon “Jonny Basketball” Leuer didn’t play in the second half because of back spasms—and I was almost relieved to hear that he wasn’t 100%, because he played the first half like he’d had one of his feet amputated at shootaround.
It was a bad loss. No way around that. The Grizzlies should’ve beaten the Bulls last night, and they didn’t.
One Thing I Liked
There was only one redeeming factor last night: Mike Conley. Conley played 36 minutes—including almost all of the second half—and did his best to will the Grizzlies to a win, just like he’s had to do all year long. He ended up with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 6 steals, and he got drilled every time he went to the rim, sometimes without anything being called. And yet he just kept on going. Conley’s heroic effort, especially in light of how much he’s struggled since returning from injury, was wasted last night because the rest of the team couldn’t match his effort, his intensity, or his heart. And that’s a bummer.
Mike Conley has been the best player on the team all year long, and it’s not even close. It’s a shame that he’s having such a great year because no one else around him can or will. He deserves better than that.
Four Things I Didn’t Like
• When can we start talking about Tony Allen’s Trick-to-Treat ratio this season? Every previous year, the rap on Tony was that he’s a brilliant defender and a terrible offensive player. This year, he’s scoring on cuts to the basket, he’s jacking up terrible three-pointers (presumably because he made 3 of them in the season opener against the Spurs, but since then he’s only made 2 others), he’s trying to do too much on offense and he’s helping off everybody who isn’t an All Star level player, allowing spot-up guys and scrubs to have huge games against the Grizzlies. I don’t know what the deal is—and I’m certainly not questioning his effort, just his effectiveness—but the Grizzlies need the Tony Allen of last season to come back. This year’s model has looked off to me. (While we’re ranting about Tony Allen, can the Grizzlies stop running that play where they kick out to TA in the corner for three? Please?)
• In their last five losses, the Grizzlies have made 4, 16, 20, 22, and 13 more field goal attempts than their opponent, respectively. Sure, some of those are Z-Bounds that don’t go in, which inflate both the OREB and FGA numbers, but still: if you take 22 more shots than your opponent and lose by ten points, something is horrifically wrong with your shooting percentage. The Grizzlies rank 24th of 30 teams in eFG% this season.
• Minor lineup quibble of the night: Why play a small lineup with Conley and Bayless, Tony Allen at the 3 and James Johnson at the 4 against Carlos Boozer and Taj Gibson, even after those two repeatedly score by going inside against your small lineup? Why?
• “Whoop That Trick” will no longer be played at home games at the Forum this season. Officially. It’s been ruled ineligible because the Grizzlies aren’t, well, whooping anybody at home this year. I wish I were making that up, but that nugget comes straight from the Grizzlies Game Ops folks.
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Happy New Year’s Eve!
The Hard Rock Guitar Drop on Beale Street is just one of many New Year’s Eve activities in Memphis.
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Guess Where Susan is Eating: 11
It’s the eleventh edition of Susan Ellis’ weekly contest, “Guess Where I’m Eating.”