Behind 20 points from Wesley Witherspoon and a pair of late three-pointers from freshman Chris Crawford, the Tigers beat LSU at BancorpSouth Arena in Tupelo to improve their record to 4-0. Memphis now has two victories over teams from a power-six conference after earning only one such win the entire 2009-10 season.
Sunday’s game was the second straight in which Witherspoon paced Memphis in scoring. The junior forward hit six of seven free throws and has now converted 29 of 32 from the charity stripe over the last three games. Crawford and fellow freshman Joe Jackson joined Witherspoon among double-figure scorers, with 12 points each.
LSU led at halftime, 34-33, thanks largely to the play of reserves Eddie Ludwig and Garrett Green. The two forwards each scored eight points before the break, but none over the game’s last 20 minutes.
Memphis held its SEC foes to 35-percent shooting, while hitting 47 percent.
LSU had its last lead (57-56) with just under five minutes to play. But Crawford drained a trey from the left corner and Witherspoon drove for a dunk after an in-bounds play to give the U of M a 62-57 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
The 19th ranked Tigers — those from Memphis — will return to FedExForum Tuesday night to face Tennessee-Martin. The game will be the U of M’s fifth in 12 days before a seven-day break around the Thanksgiving holiday.
