A positive review of Monday night’s basketball game at FedExForum would begin with a description of stifling defense on the part of the home team, tight enough to hold the visiting Mavericks of UT-Arlington to 33-percent shooting and a dreadful 18-percent (5 for 28) from three-point range. Furthermore, the Tigers aggressively attacked the rim, getting to the line 44 times, a staggering 25 more than their opponent.
But then it all goes south.
Larry Kuzniewski
Ricky Tarrant Jr.
The U of M hoisted 54 shots Monday night . . . and made 16. The Tigers took 21 shots from three-point range . . . and made four. And all those shots from the charity stripe? They included 16 misses (some the front end of one-and-ones). If a leading question entering this season was, Can Memphis shoot the ball at all?, tonight’s is not the game Josh Pastner wants to cull an answer.
“We’ve cost ourselves two games now with our free-throw shooting,” acknowledged Pastner. “And we’re just not making any threes. We’ve spent as much time as we’ve ever spent . . . making 250 in a day [at practice]. But it doesn’t count when we make it in practice. Ricky [Tarrant] makes them in practice. Dedric [Lawson] makes them in practice. This is not a good loss. We just have to get better. A lot of season left; it’s a long journey.”
The U of M couldn’t make a bucket by accident in the first half (7 for 28), and fell behind by 10 at halftime (31-21). The Tigers missed 14 of their first 15 shots and 18 of their first 22. But a 15-0 run midway through the second half erased that deficit and gave the Tigers a 47-42 lead near the 10-minute mark. Memphis made six consecutive free throws and Avery Woodson drained a three-pointer (one of three he made) to fuel the surge.
UTA answered with a 13-8 run of its own capped by a layup from Nathan Hawkins that tied the game at 55 with 4:05 to play. Kevin Hervey got free inside, then followed with a dunk off a Tiger turnover to give the Mavericks the final separation they needed, a 66-61 lead with 19 seconds left. Tarrant finally hit a trey near the buzzer, a cruel tease after he’d missed his first six attempts from long range.
Larry Kuzniewski
Josh Pastner
“We got off to a slow start, which never helps us,” said senior forward Shaq Goodwin, who pulled down 19 rebounds but missed eight of nine shots from the field. “When shots aren’t falling, we have to rebound and play defense,” said Tarrant, who led Memphis with 21 points and made all 10 of his free throws. “It’s a learning experience for us.”
Facing a team that upset Ohio State last Friday, Pastner squeezed his bench, playing only six players as much as ten minutes. (Freshman K.J. Lawson did not play in the second half after complaining of soreness in one of his Achilles heels.) Dedric Lawson looked like a freshman for the first time this season, missing six of 10 field-goal attempts and turning the ball over six times.
Hervey led UTA with 22 points (and 11 rebounds) while Jalen Jones added 15.
“For us to win, we’re going to need Dedric to play well,” said Pastner. “He’s going to get better each time he plays. We’re going to need Ricky to play at a high level and Shaq to play at a high level. Those three guys are going to have to score for us.
Now 2-2, the Tigers travel to Miami to face Ohio State Friday night. You can count on this: Memphis players will watch film of the Buckeyes’ loss to UTA. Much of it will look familiar.
