Month: January 2020

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Grizzlies Beat Suns: Win Second in a Row on the Road

Memphis went 2–0 on a road back-to-back as they held off the Phoenix Suns 121-114 on Sunday night. The Grizzlies shot 54.2 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from beyond the arc. Memphis also recorded a new single-season franchise record with 30 or more assists for the 14th time this season. The Grizzlies entered the night ranked second in the NBA in assists per game, behind only the Suns. Memphis won the assist battle against Phoenix 31-25. 

Jonas Valanciunas

Jonas Valanciunas was the high scorer for Memphis with 30 points, including 14 in the first quarter, when he finished with 5-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from three-point range. “I’m just trying to get some open buckets,” the seven-year center said about his big game. “We’re trying to execute, get some open shots. Spacing is a big key for me so yeah, I was just trying to find my role.”

Valanciunas added eight rebounds and four assists (12-16 FG, 3-4 3P). It was his seventh career 30-point game and his second this season. 

Dillon Brooks scored 19 points to go with four rebounds and two assists on the night. Brooks went 5 of 11 from the 3-point line.

The Grizzlies shot 18-of-42 from three-point range, matching the 18 they made against the LA Clippers in a win on Saturday afternoon. It was the first time the Grizzlies have made at least 18 three-pointers in back-to-back games in franchise history.

Jaren Jackson Jr. added 15 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. Ja Morant finished with 13 points and seven assists. The Grizzlies bench was led by Brandon Clarke and Solomon Hill, who both tallied 10 points. The Grizzlies’ reserves outscored the Suns second unit 41-25.

Phoenix was led by Devin Booker, who knocked down 40 points and added six assists and two rebounds. Booker became the first player in Suns history to post 30-or-more points in four consecutive games. Kelly Oubre Jr. notched a double-double for Phoenix with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and two assists. Deandre Ayton also recorded a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. 

Memphis is now 15–22 for the season and a half game back on the San Antonio Spurs for the eight spot in the Western Conference. Don’t look now, but the Grizzlies may very well be playing for playoff contention if they can keep putting things together. 

Quotes from Taylor Jenkins
“Proud of the guys  —  tough start to the road trip, but to come away with back to back wins against good teams,” said the first year coach. “I’m impressed with our guys, really proud of the defensive activity, that’s the reason why we’re able to build these 20-point leads.” 

Jenkins went on to say, “We’ve got to find ways to get better. Credit to our guys, it got a little scary there in the end, in the fourth, but we just find a way to execute against their pressure, come up with some big stops down the stretch. The unselfishness, which is what I keep continuing to talk about, 31 assists.” 

“Obviously, guys are shooting the ball great but when the ball is moving around and we’re backing up our defensive activity with this great offensive play, it’s awesome,” Jenkins continued. “I told the guys we’ve just got to find ways to get better, especially when we build those leads, we know teams are going to give a great charge. Credit the Suns, they kept fighting. They’re a heck of a team, but I’m proud of our guys coming away with a big road win.”

Who got next
The Grizzlies will return home for a six-game home stand, on Tuesday January 7th to face the Minnesota Timberwolves inside FedExForum. Tip-Off at 7pm CST. 

Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Tiger Blue: Midseason “Madness”

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

In two seasons as a college basketball player, the longest winning streak Penny Hardaway enjoyed was six games (in 1993, a season he earned first-team All-America recognition). Merely 14 games into his second season as a college basketball coach, Hardaway has overseen a ten-game winning streak, his pack of freshmen (and three key veterans) having climbed into the nation’s Top 10. Beyond the James Wiseman saga, what will we remember about the Tigers’ season to date? And what does it suggest for this team’s fate come March?
Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

• “Chemistry is everything with a young team.” Hardaway spoke these words after the Tigers beat Tulane on December 30th for their 10th straight win (and first in American Athletic Conference play). Memphis opened the game poorly, falling behind 13-4 to a team charged to play in FedExForum (particularly former Tiger K.J. Lawson). But by halftime the Tigers led by 10 points. They withstood a late threat by the visitors, Tyler Harris and Alex Lomax — gasp, sophomores! — coming up big in the waning minutes. Five Tigers scored at least a dozen points and the team dished out 24 assists. Funny, but when a group of basketball players don’t care who scores, the team tends to score a lot. Despite playing their first season together, the 2019-20 Tigers seem to enjoy the shared mission. This will be important when roadblocks appear.

• A veteran bench goes a long way.
By “veteran,” I mean the lone senior (Isaiah Maurice) and those two sophomores in Hardaway’s rotation. Maurice started against the Green Wave, but played only six minutes. (Lester Quinones came off the bench and played 27 minutes.) Four of the Tiger starters were on the minus side of the plus-minus metric (scoring differential when a player is on the floor), while Harris (plus-19) and Lomax (plus-27) were the difference-makers in the victory. Lomax in particular has become Hardaway’s stabilizer, contributing on the offensive end (eight assists against Tulane) and defensively when things get frenzied. Whether Quinones continues to come off the bench or (more likely) Maurice fills a reserve role, the Tigers’ depth is, as Hardaway puts it, making it “hard to guard us.” It’s hard to envision one slumping shooter damaging the Tigers’ chances on game night. (Now a quartet of slumping shooters is a different story, one that cost Memphis a win last Saturday against Georgia.)

• Mr. D.J.
The Tigers are 10-1 without Wiseman, and 0-1 without D.J. Jeffries. The small forward has been the team’s most consistent stat-sheet-stuffer, but missed the Georgia game with flu-like symptoms. Let’s ease out on that limb and say the Tigers can’t afford a long-term loss of their starting small forward. Jeffries has scored at least 10 points in 11 of his 13 games. His season-highs include nine rebounds, eight assists, four blocks, and three steals. He’s shooting 56 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range. The Olive Branch native somehow arrived in the shadow of Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa, but he’s vying for MVP honors for this year’s team and is critical to hopes of another lengthy winning streak.

• Traveling band.
The Tigers have only two more home games in January, with four on the road, starting Thursday night at Wichita State (the only other AAC team currently in the AP rankings). Road trips are often where a team’s kinks can be addressed, shortcomings either minimized or erased. Fewer family and friends in the stands means focus on the mission at hand, for now the program’s first regular-season AAC championship.

“I’m gonna dig in deeper,” said Hardaway after the Georgia loss. “We’re not gonna go crazy, but we’ll be better prepared for [the Wichita State] game.”

The second-year coach continues to emphasize ball-sharing, the unselfish play so evident in that win over Tulane. When cracks appear in that team-first approach, the Tigers suffer.

“We take the man-to-man challenge,” noted Hardaway, “instead of getting a teammate involved.”

Look for more than 10 assists (the Tigers’ total against Georgia) in games to come.


• POY watch.
No Tiger has yet won the AAC’s Player of the Year award, so it will be interesting to follow candidates with this year’s team, particularly Achiuwa. Currently the league’s leading rebounder (10.2 per game), Achiuwa kept Memphis in the Georgia game with 20 points and 15 rebounds, his seventh double-double of the season. His 14.6 points per game are seventh in the league and he passes every eye test, often looking like the first-round NBA draft pick he’s projected to be. Does he want to make his lone college season unforgettable? We’ll see in conference play.
Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

Georgia 65, #9 Tigers 62

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The Memphis Tigers have learned to play without departed star James Wiseman. Saturday afternoon at FedExForum, they learned just before tip-off that they’d need to play without D.J. Jeffries . . . for at least 40 minutes. With their second-leading scorer on the bench with flu symptoms, the Tigers fell to Georgia, ending a 10-game winning streak and ceding the stage — for at least one day — to a star freshman in another uniform, Georgia’s Anthony Edwards. The player right behind (or just ahead of) Wiseman in most rankings of the 2019 recruiting class, Edwards missed 13 of his 17 shots from the field (guarded primarily by Lester Quinones and Alex Lomax), but hit a pair of key three-pointers in the second half to help the Bulldogs erase an eight-point deficit and earn their first win over a Top-10 opponent since 2011.
Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

“Tough game today,” said Memphis coach Penny Hardaway after his team’s first loss since November 12th. “We had a couple of chances to knock them out, and didn’t do it. When you let a team hang around, this is what can happen. We have to regroup.”

The game featured 20 lead changes and 10 ties (including a 37-37 score at halftime). The Tigers led, 61-59, courtesy of a Precious Achiuwa three-pointer with 4:30 left to play in the game, but didn’t connect on another field-goal attempt. Bulldog forward Rayshaun Hammonds followed Achiuwa’s shot with a trey of his own to regain the lead for Georgia, one it wouldn’t relinquish. Sahvir Wheeler hit a jumper from the free-throw line that extended the lead to three points (64-61) with a minute to play. Down two (64-62), Quinones had a clean look from beyond the three-point line in the right corner, but missed with 11 seconds left on the clock.

“It’s just experience,”  said Lomax. “We’re kinda young, haven’t been in this situation. We can learn from it, and know what to do next time. For me personally, I gotta find a way to get the ball to Precious, get him going.”

“It’s following the game plan,” emphasized Achiuwa. “Not seven out of ten times, but every single time. The last four minutes, we kind of lost focus. I think this is a good learning experience. You gotta move on.”

Minus Jeffries (averaging 12.0 points and 4.7 rebounds per game), the Tigers needed a “next-man-up” performance and didn’t get it. Quinones started in place of Jeffries but made only three of nine shots (one for five from three-point range). Boogie Ellis and Damion Baugh combined to miss 12 of their 17 shots, and Tyler Harris missed all four of his attempts from long range. Holding to form was Achiuwa, who led the team with 20 points and 15 rebounds. Lomax added 11 points, four assists, and five steals (two late in the game, guarding Edwards).

Hammonds led Georgia (10-3) with 15 points and Edwards scored 13 in the first contest between these programs since December 1996, when Larry Finch coached Memphis and Tubby Smith the Bulldogs. It’s the first loss this season at FedExForum for the Tigers (now 9-1 at home).

Hardaway acknowledged Jeffries’s absence was a factor, but wasn’t ready to make it the explanation for the loss. “Players get sick, and it changes a lot for us,” he said. “Everybody knew that, and we had to adjust. I did a poor job of playing five or six players a lot of minutes. Precious got tired. Damion got tired. We gotta regroup. You gotta trust the rotation, but it just didn’t look good to me [today] with certain guys out there on the floor. We had energy. We just didn’t execute properly. It was uncertainty, and not making the right plays.”

Having completed their non-conference schedule, the Tigers (12-2) hit the road for their next two games, first at Wichita State on Thursday. The Shockers (11-1) are currently ranked 24th in the AP poll.

Categories
Music Record Reviews

MonoNeon’s Straight Up Funky Take On Re-inventing Yourself

As the great Mose Allison once said, “all good music has two aspects: it has to stimulate and it has to reassure.” It’s something that Memphis bass phenom MonoNeon can understand well, and much of his work has made its mark in the stimulation department. Doggedly committed to both earthy funk and out-there sonic explorations, he’s built his body of work on the idea of straddling both.

As he once told the Memphis Flyer, “I started getting into John Cage when I got to Berklee [College of Music]. And other avant garde stuff like Iannis Xenakis, Easley Blackwood, Jr., Julián Carillo. Morton Feldman. Milton Babbit. Stockhausen. All that stuff, that I don’t understand, but I love it.”

Certainly that openness to the avant garde has been clear in his solo albums, all available on Bandcamp. Now, however, MonoNeon has dialed back the weird just a hair, creating what may be his most focused and flowing work yet. Just dropping this week, Toxic Wasteland 2 The Hills is a perfect music for either partying or contemplating your heartache to. The choice is yours. 

The album begins with what seems to be a general anthropological observation. “The humans are twitching/Looking for a fixing/Lost looking for their soul.” But as the song progresses, it becomes clear that the theme of the album is more personal. These are the ruminations of someone trying to get past a failed relationship.

In this context, “the hills” are a place of solace, of regrouping and examining one’s needs and habits, as spelled out in the title track:

The hills is where we go
Find who we are again
Nothing to lose
No distractions to ease the suffering
Surviving with our conversations with God
We were both in a toxic wasteland
Where do we go from here
To the hills

The sound of the album is a seamless mesh of influences ranging from George Clinton to Prince (who MonoNeon played with on several occassions). Classic 80s funk sounds abound, all played with aplomb by MonoNeon himself, right down to those thick, punchy synth blasts. The bass parts are, of course, precisely executed and often head-spinning. But some of the more outlandish shows of virtuosity from previous albums are now reined in, with the auteur playing more to the service of the songs.

While you won’t hear much Stockhausen here, there is an openness to otherworldly textures and harmonies that keeps the music stimulating, to say the least. The end result echoes the edgy work of that other great (unsung) Memphis bassist, Busta Jones, who added some uncanny, slightly off-kilter yet funky bottom end to recordings by Talking Heads, Brian Eno, Robert Fripp and others, starting in the 1980s. That era’s heyday of subtle weirdness mixed with danceable accessibility  — both stimulating and reassuring — is flowering again with this album.

Along the way, MonoNeon works with some hot collaborators, notably She’Chinah, Lawrencia (aka FatSnacka), drummer Sam Porter (aka RetroPMas) and producer IMAKEMADBEATS adding beats, and producer Sean Wright.

It’s the perfect note to kick off the new Roaring ’20s: shake off the angst and heartache with some deep groove time, but keep your head curious while you do it. 

Categories
News News Blog

Memphis Pets of the Week (12/31/19-1/6/20)

Each week, the Flyer will feature adoptable dogs and cats from Memphis Animal Services. All photos are credited to Memphis Pets Alive. More pictures and more information can be found on the Memphis Pets Alive Facebook page.

Categories
Music Music Features

A Dozen Delights: 12 Great Memphis Albums from 2019

Aquarian Blood — A Love that Leads to War (Goner) Written and sung by the couple J.B. and Laurel Horrell, whose dark observations and wry commentary are surrounded with acoustic ostinatos, subtle keyboard textures, and inventive bass counterpoints. The proceedings have the sound of the most quietly atmospheric home demos ever made.

DJ Paul — Power, Pleasure & Painful Things (Scale-A-Ton Entertainment) A highly autobiographical album, interspersed with spoken segments in which Paul recalls pivotal moments in his Memphis youth. A wide-ranging musicality and inventive, turn-on-a-dime production.

The Dopolarians — Garden Party (Mahakala Music) A labor of love between two erstwhile Memphians, Chad Fowler and Chris Parker, and a trio of genre-defying pioneers, saxophonist Kidd Jordan, the late drummer Alvin Fielder, and bassist William Parker, with singer Kelley Hurt added as well. Fielder had nurtured the avant garde scene in Chicago since 1965. This captures the spirit of free jazz from that era, combining unhinged inventiveness with an earthy, accessible lyricism.

Willie Farmer — The Man from the Hill (Big Legal Mess) True garage blues: It’s not frenetic, but you feel in your bones the scene of Farmer’s auto repair shop in Duck Hill, Mississippi. And Farmer’s playing also conveys both a rough-hewn strength and a deep sensitivity.

Booker T. Jones — Note by Note (Edith Street) “It’s a musical reproduction of my life,” as Jones told the Flyer, revisiting many classic songs associated with career milestones. The first song he played at Stax, “‘Cause I Love You,” a minor hit for Rufus and Carla Thomas, is sung in part by Stax Music Academy graduate Evvie McKinney. The new version of “Stardust” here is heart-wrenching.

John Medeski, Pat Sansone, Robby Grant, Jonathan Kirkscey — Mellotron Variations (Spaceflight) These semi-improvised pieces were captured live in the Crosstown Concourse atrium in 2018, and that setting gives an unpredictable spark to what is, in the seven Mellotrons played here, magic in a bottle: real tape loops triggered by keyboards. North Mississippi Allstars — Up and Rolling (New West) Decades of playing have not dulled the piquant performances of Luther and Cody Dickinson; here, a cast of cameos by the likes of Mavis Staples, Jason Isbell, and Duane Betts only highlights the mature focus of their playing. Songs draw on sources as diverse as boogie shuffles and drum-and-fife-corps hypnotics. The playing is consumate but not sterile: With its supple grooves and understated blues riffs, it may be their finest work yet.

Jack Oblivian & the Dream Killers — Lost Weekend (Black & Wyatt) Guitar tones somewhere between molten lead and liquid gold, with echoes of classic rock, soul, rock ballads, and, yes, punk. Jack Oblivian’s pithy, tightly woven lyrics never fail to connect, yielding sharp observations at every turn. There is an acute sense of loss to these tunes.

Joe Restivo 4 — Where’s Joe? (Blue Barrel) With an authentic old-school jazz feel, the swinging rhythm section and the big tenor saxophone sound are a perfect complement to Restivo’s pure, lyrical-yet-bluesy guitar tones. They bounce between the extremes of the originals, like “Starlight Motel,” offering melting guitar/saxophone harmonies; and covers like Bill Jennings’ “633 Knock!” that showcase Joe’s soulful soloing.

Bobby Rush — Sitting on Top of the Blues (Deep Rush/Thirty Tigers) A consistently funky, soulful, boogie record, with the punch and panache of timeless Stax tracks, full of clean lines punctuated by the occasional horn stabs. It’s all guitar, drums, bass, organ or piano, and harp.

Toy Trucks — Rockets Bells and Poetry (Black & Wyatt) Combining a chugging rock energy with a healthy dose of concise ’60s pop songwriting, Jeremy Scott and company channel a balance of pop wistfulness and pounding rock delinquency. An unflinching chord-savvy craftsmanship informs compositions brought to life in lively, garage-y ways.

Unapologetic — Stuntarious IV (Unapologetic) The ever-evolving collective is full of sonic surprises, as is their wont. The doom-laden atmosphere of “Memphis” gives way to a delivery by Preauxx, A Weirdo From Memphis, and others more full of wit and loopiness than the expected menace. Silky harmonies by Cameron Bethany and She’Chinah on “Move” are a stark contrast of honeyed voices. And “Mane Street” is a retro-friendly anthem.

Categories
Beyond the Arc Sports

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month

CREDIT: Image from Twitter

Memphis guard Ja Morant was named the Kia NBA Western Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in December. Morant is the first player in franchise history to be honored with back-to-back Rookie of the Month awards. The South Carolina native previously was honored for October and November, making December a trifecta. 

According to the Grizzlies, “The second overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Morant led all qualifying rookies in December in scoring average (15.5 points) and assists per game (6.5) and posted shooting percentages of 48.5 percent from the field, 37.5 percent from three-point range and 83.7 percent from the free-throw line. Memphis posted a 7–4 record in Morant’s 11 December appearances (all starts).”

We all remember when he posterized Aron Bynes and nearly ended Kevin Love’s professional playing career by jumping over his head. Check out these:

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month (6)

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month (7)

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month (5)


 More December highlights:

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month (8)

Here’s what Morant and Coach Jenkins had to say about this back to back honor:

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month (4)

The Murray State alum leads all rookies in scoring and assists per game this season, with 17.4 points and 6.5 assists. Morant also ranked 10th in All-Star voting among Western Conference guards in fan voting returns in the NBA All-Star Voting presented by Google. 

Morant’s playing style has attracted national attention from sportswriters and casual fans. To my knowledge, I don’t believe a Grizzlie player has garnered this type of attention nationally. Morant already has name recognition. When he makes a ridiculous pass, break ankles, make defenders look lost, almost dunks and posterizes opponents, he trends on social media. 

Here’s what Pete Pranica, Grizzlies play-by-play announcer had to say about the first-year guard on Twitter: 

Morant Does It Again! December Rookie of the Month (2)

Morant is a special talent and almost everyone knows it. The future looks bright for Morant, and for the Grizzlies. 

Categories
News News Blog

Commercial Appeal Suspends Comments, For Now

CREDIT: Justin Fox Burks

Justin Fox Burks

Comments on Commercial Appeal stories have been suspended “for now” in an experiment spread across 23 news organizations in the USA Today network, the paper announced Thursday.

“The comment sections on commercialappeal.com have often been a toxic space meant instead [for] the thoughtful exchange of ideas,” said Dann Miller, the CA’s senior consumer experience director, in an afternoon post. “That must change.”

Miller said the paper is looking for better ways to “have meaningful discussion around our content.” To do this, USA Today has teamed with the University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Media Engagement. This team also includes Coral, a company with a comments platform that allows for identifying journalists in the conversation, muting “annoying voices,” and more.
[pullquote-1] The move follows similar shutterings of comments sections by national media brands like NPR, CNN, ESPN, and more. Vice shut down its comments section in December 2016. When it did, Jonathan Smith, then editor in chief of vice.com, said the section was “prone to anarchy.”

“Too often they devolve into racist, misogynistic maelstroms where the loudest, most offensive, and stupidest opinions get pushed to the top and the more reasoned responses drowned out in the noise,” Smith wrote.

But the CA’s Miller offered up other channels for comment.  

“Our goal isn’t to permanently end comments, nor is it to discourage feedback,” Miller said. “We still want to hear from you and we’ll continue to welcome comments on our Facebook page and through letters to the editor, which can be emailed to: letters@commercialappeal.com.”

Comments can now also be sent to comments@commercialappeal.com.

Categories
Food & Drink Hungry Memphis

Trolley Stop Market to Close

Jill Forrester, owner of Trolley Stop Market, announced yesterday via Facebook that the restaurant will close on January 10th.

Forrester said, in part, of the closing:
“Keith and I need a lifestyle change. Owning a restaurant in Memphis and farming produce in Arkansas is chaotic, and at times, extremely stressful. We’re eager to focus solely on our farming operation in Arkansas, and most importantly, spend much more time with our 8-year-old son.”

Forrester added that they’re assisting the “faithful team of employees” in the search for their “next work home.”

Read the full announcement below:

Categories
From My Seat Sports

Frank’s Faves (Part II)

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The five most memorable sporting events I attended in 2019.

5) Tigers 47, Tulane 17 (October 19) — Some stars are born, some are raised, and some actually explode into the limelight. Kenneth Gainwell — merely a redshirt freshman — imposed himself on a helpless Green Wave defense in this battle of AAC West rivals (both 5-1 entering the contest). Gainwell became the first FBS player in 22 years to rush for 100 yards (104) and catch passes for 200 (203) in the same game. (He’s the first Tiger to top 100 in both categories.) It was the fifth straight game for the aptly named Gainwell with 100 yards rushing. With a nod to Gainwell (and zero turnovers), Tiger coach Mike Norvell acknowledged his team’s offensive performance as being close to perfect for one night.
Larry Kuzniewski

Brady White

4) Redbirds 14, Iowa 2 (August 18) — Just like J.D. Drew (in 1998) and Oscar Taveras (in 2013), Dylan Carlson arrived in Memphis as a can’t-miss slugger, bound soon for the St. Louis Cardinals’ outfield. I caught my first glimpse of the then 20-year-old prospect in a Sunday matinee at AutoZone Park. And he lived up to the hype, homering in the first inning and adding a triple in a blowout win over the first-place Iowa Cubs. Another prize outfielder in the Cardinal system — Harrison Bader — homered twice, suggesting a return to the groove that landed Bader the everyday centerfield job in St. Louis in 2018. The Redbirds completed a four-game sweep of the Cubs.

3) Tigers 102, Tulane 76 (February 20) — It’s hard to score 40 points (a point per minute) in a college basketball game. In almost a century of Tiger basketball entering the 2018-19 season, only seven players had achieved the feat, and none twice. Senior guard Jeremiah Martin pulled it off twice in the month of February. Less than three weeks after scoring 41 (in a single half) at USF, Martin dropped 43 on an overmatched Green Wave team at FedExForum. A player who averaged but 2.7 points as a freshman scored the most points by a Tiger since Larry Finch established the program record with 48 on January 20, 1973. (Martin’s 43 are the fourth-most in Tiger history.) Oh, and the pride of Mitchell High School also became just the 10th Tiger to dish out 400 career assists.

2) Tigers 54, SMU 48 (November 2) — ESPN’s College GameDay made Memphis the center of the college football universe for the first time, but that was merely a breakfast-and-beer party on Beale Street. The game that followed was, simply put, the biggest victory in Tiger football history. In front of a sellout crowd (59,506) at the Liberty Bowl and a prime-time national audience via ABC, the 24th-ranked Tigers upset the 15th-ranked SMU Mustangs to seize first place in the AAC’s West Division. Senior wideout Antonio Gibson scored touchdowns on a 50-yard pass reception, a 97-yard kickoff return (to open the second half), and a 78-yard run on his way to setting a new Memphis record with 386 all-purpose yards. This was as good as it’s ever been for Tiger football, and the entire country knew it.

1) AAC Championship: Tigers 29, Cincinnati 24 (December 7) — This was the third “biggest football game in Memphis history” in five weeks at the Liberty Bowl. And in what proved to be Mike Norvell’s final game in an extraordinary four-year stretch as Memphis coach, the Tigers won in scintillating fashion. They fell behind four times. And they came back to take the lead four times, ultimately on a six-yard screen pass from Brady White to the game’s MVP, Antonio Gibson. The 2019 Tigers were a team that wouldn’t be denied. For their efforts, this lone victory checked off three “never before” boxes in the Tiger record book: 12 wins, a championship-game victory, and a berth in the prestigious Cotton Bowl.