The Tigers earned their second straight blowout victory Sunday afternoon at Greenville, North Carolina, easily handling an East Carolina team playing its first game in two weeks. Memphis hit 11 of 25 three-pointers, with seven players draining at least one trey, and had the game in hand (49-18) by halftime. The Tigers improve to 8-5 with the win (4-2 in the American Athletic Conference), while ECU drops to 7-4 (1-4).
ECU Athletics / Houston McCullough
Moussa Cisse
The Pirates were without coach Joe Dooley and suited up only eight scholarship players, the result of Covid testing within the program.
Freshman center Moussa Cisse led the Tigers with 14 points and nine rebounds in only 24 minutes of playing time. Four players off the Memphis bench scored at least eight points: D.J. Jeffries (8), Malcolm Dandridge (8), Damion Baugh (8), and Boogie Ellis (11). DeAndre Williams scored 11 points, pulled down seven rebounds, and handed out four assists.
Memphis held its opponent under 60 points for the fifth straight game. The Pirates shot 30 percent from the field and missed 18 of their 22 attempts from three-point range.
The Tigers will next face SMU . . . twice. The Tigers and Mustangs (8-2) meet Tuesday night at FedExForum, then will conduct a rematch Thursday night in Dallas. The first contest was rescheduled from January 14th after positive Covid tests in the SMU program.
