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USF 75, Tigers 73

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The Tigers’ climb toward an NCAA tournament berth grew considerably steeper Saturday afternoon with a loss to the USF Bulls at FedExForum. Down a pair of forwards for most of the game (one for the entire game), Memphis surrendered 41 rebounds (15 at the offensive end) while pulling down only 29, a factor significant enough for USF to earn its third straight win and improve to 11-12 for the season (4-6 in the American Athletic Conference). The loss ends a three-game winning streak for the Tigers and drops them to 17-6 (6-4).

Larry Kuzniewski

Boogie Ellis

“You gotta tip your hat to South Florida,” said Tiger coach Penny Hardaway. “They came into our building and got a tough win. I had an eerie feeling before the game. They were just hungry to do whatever it takes. We got into foul trouble in the first half, and that started our downfall. We never got into a rhythm. Guys not being able to play aggressively. A total embarrassment today.”

The Tigers erased a nine-point deficit over a two-minute span late in the game, with a pair of three pointers by Alex Lomax and a four-point play by Boogie Ellis. But Bulls forward David Collins made a layup in traffic then followed with a short bank shot to give USF a four-point advantage (72-68) with less than 30 seconds left on the clock. Xavier Castaneda made three free throws inside the game’s final ten seconds to secure the upset. Collins and Laquincy Rideau each scored a game-high 21 points for the Bulls.

“It’s Memphis and they’re a national brand,” said Bulls coach Brian Gregory. “Our kids are competitive. We’ve lost some of these games, not being able to finish. But I think we’ve learned from that.”

“That’s a team that makes tough shots at the right time,” said Lomax. “They don’t have a good record, but that’s a good team.”

Tiger forward Precious Achiuwa scored six points in the game’s first three minutes only to sit for the final 12 minutes of the first half with two fouls. With freshman center Malcolm Dandridge sidelined by what a team official described as a minor knee injury, Hardaway found himself going “small ball” early. The Tigers scrapped their way to a 34-31 halftime lead courtesy of a Tyler Harris three-pointer just before the break.

Achiuwa struggled to make an impact in the second half (missing all four of his shots from the field), then missed the game’s final few minutes after a hard fall under the USF basket. Likewise, Lance Thomas had to leave the game with an injury. (Hardaway was unable to provide updates on either player during his postgame press conference.)

“Our Achilles heel is one-on-one defense,” acknowledged Hardaway. “At the end of the game, we weren’t able to get any stops. They got two one-on-one buckets. That’s where you have to grow.”

Harris led Memphis in the scoring column with 17 points (he hit five of seven shots from three-point range). Lomax scored 14 off the bench and Ellis hit five of seven shots for 14 points himself.

“Everything happens for a reason,” said Hardaway. “I don’t know why these injuries are happening now, or why we’re losing games we’re not supposed to lose. I’m always going to have faith; I’ll never let that waiver. But for Precious and Lance to both get hurt . . . that took our size away.”

The Tigers must now play four of their next six games on the road with virtually no margin for error. What kind of message will Hardaway send his young — and yes, injured — team? “Stay positive and stay together,” he emphasized. “We’re going to keep fighting. That’s what our culture is. We’re a family. That’s all we can do. Right now, it’s tough. But it’s not impossible.”

The Tigers travel to Cincinnati for their next game Thursday night and will face UConn on the road next Sunday. They return to FedExForum to host East Carolina on February 19th.

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Tigers 79, Temple 65

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

“Push-ups.”

Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

Memphis forward Precious Achiuwa had a succinct answer when asked Wednesday night what factor helped the Tigers reduce their turnovers in a win over Temple. For the 16th time in 22 games this season, Memphis accumulated more turnovers (16) than assists (15), but the miscues were down significantly from the 24 Saturday afternoon against Connecticut. With solid shooting both from long range (42 percent) and from the free-throw line (79 percent), the Tigers enjoyed their largest margin of victory since December 28th to improve to 17-5. Now midway through their American Athletic Conference schedule, the Tigers are 6-3 in league play.

“That’s a good win for us, against a veteran team in our league,” said Tiger coach Penny Hardaway after his team’s third straight victory. “It’s not always pretty but the boys found ways to get spurts. We finally put a team away. It wasn’t as desperate as it’s been [recently].”

Hardaway called the game the most balanced his team has played against an AAC foe this season. Achiuwa notched his 12th double-double of the season (13 points, 10 rebounds), but the finalist for the Julius Erving Award played a supplementary role, with Lester Quinones hitting four three-pointers on his way to 21 points, Boogie Ellis making all eight of his free throws on his way to 18 points, and Malcolm Dandridge scoring nine points and grabbing six rebounds in 16 minutes off the bench.

“Before the game, [Hardaway] told me to shoot every time I’m open. When they moved to a zone, it kind of helped. He wanted to come out and dominate tonight. He really wanted to put them away.”

In addition to the push-up penalties, Quinones noted a collective effort at making the smart pass over the fancy pass to reduce turnovers. “We did a good job at staying calm,” he said, “and relaxing. If they double-team, find the open man. None of those over-the-top passes.”

Larry Kuzniewski

Penny Hardaway

The Tigers led by eight points (33-25) at halftime and stretched the lead to double figures before the midway point of the second half on a Dandridge field goal in traffic. An Achiuwa dunk extended the margin to 15 points (58-43) with just over eight minutes to play and Temple never managed to threaten.

Quinton Rose and Nate Pierre-Louis led the Owls with 13 points each. Temple fell to 11-11 (3-7) with the loss.

“They’re respecting the conference more now,” noted Hardaway. “These kids had no respect for the conference; I could just tell. The league is making them respect. They’re buying in more, because they thought it was going to be really easy. It’s been much harder than they thought [it would be]. Every game is a tournament game for us now. You gotta protect home court. You can’t be giving any more games away. They understand. They know these are resume games coming up.”

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Tigers 70, Connecticut 63

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

A season of adversity for the Tigers took another twist, quite literally, Thursday when starting forward D.J. Jeffries — the team’s second-leading scorer — partially tore a ligament in his left knee, sidelining him for at least a month. When Jayden Hardaway started in Jeffries’s place Saturday afternoon against UConn, you got the sense coach Penny Hardaway was doing the closest thing he could to taking the floor himself.
Larry Kuzniewski

Lester Quinones

The younger Hardaway only played seven minutes, and didn’t take a shot, but the Tigers won a sloppy affair, hitting 10 straight free throws in the game’s final two minutes to pull away for a victory despite committing 24 turnovers. The Huskies attempted 20 more shots from the field than did the Tigers (65-45), but committed 20 turnovers of their own. Perhaps the home court — “an incredibly tough place to play” as described by UConn coach Danny Hurley — was enough to make the difference as the Tigers improved to 16-5 for the season and 5-3 in he American Athletic Conference.

“We can still compete,” emphasized sophomore guard Alex Lomax, who scored 13 points and hit six of those late free throws. “We’re missing some key pieces, but Coach did a great job of putting this team together. If we stay locked in, we can do anything.”

“Crazy game,” said an exasperated Hardaway after the game. “Glad to get a win. These turnovers are really disappointing. You gotta keep motivating. The boys are rallying together. The mindset right now is every game is a big game. It’s getting close to seeding for the NCAA [tournament]. You gotta win out, do everything possible to get a win.”

The game featured 14 lead changes, the final one coming on a Lester Quinones three-pointer from the right corner with 2:30 left to play that put Memphis up 59-56. Having missed five games earlier this season with a broken hand, Quinones led Memphis with 36 minutes of action and scored 14 points. He acknowledged the loss of Jeffries as a setback, but didn’t consider it a deathblow for his team’s season.

“He’s a huge part of this puzzle, this team,” said Quinones of Jeffries. “When I was out, the team came together. It’s another way for us to come together.”

Lance Thomas started his second-straight game and scored 14 points while blocking five shots on the defensive end. Precious Achiuwa scored 16 points and pulled down eight rebounds, but was also responsible for a third of the Tigers’ turnovers (8). The sloppy play was offset by the Tigers making 21 of 27 from the foul line and seven of 14 shots from three-point range.

“We’ve been through everything you can go through,” noted Hardaway. “We’re fighting. These guys are scrapping. I’m proud of the effort.” The coach explained how energy needs to be turned up at times and harnessed at others, that tempo is a must for this team . . . until slower play is necessary to protect possessions. The Tigers’ chemistry is volatile at best, with 10 regular-season games left to play.

“If you’re at a major Division-I program right now and you don’t understand the magnitude of what’s going on, then this level’s too high,” said Hardaway. “They came to a major D-I program to take it over the hump. The pressure’s not on them; it’s on the coaches. They’re young. It’s our job to get them prepared, to get them ready.”

The Tigers return to FedExForum Wednesday when they host Temple. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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Tigers 59, UCF 57

Lance Thomas became a Memphis Tiger Wednesday night in Orlando.

After sitting out the 2018-19 season following his transfer from Louisville, the sophomore forward spent 19 games trying to find traction with a role in coach Penny Hardaway’s rotation. Inserted into the starting lineup for the first time in over two months, Thomas scored a career-high 20 points and connected on two critical three-pointers in the game’s final three minutes to help Memphis beat the Knights and end a two-game losing streak. (Thomas’s previous scoring high: 11 points.)

With the win, the Tigers improved to 15-5 on the season and 4-3 in the American Athletic Conference. UCF fell to 11-9 (2-6).

Boogie Ellis returned to the starting lineup after coming off the bench for four games and contributed 13 points for Memphis. Freshman forward Precious Achiuwa missed his first four shots but finished the game with his 11th double-double of the season (18 points and 13 rebounds).

The Tigers were again prone to turnovers, yielding the ball on 17 possessions. But they shot 44 percent from the field and out-rebounded UCF, 38-27. The Tigers only got six points from reserves in the victory. Sophomores Alex Lomax and Tyler Harris saw limited minutes and did not score.

Memphis hosts its next three games over the first eight days in February, starting Saturday when Connecticut (11-9) visits FedExForum. Tip-off is scheduled for noon.

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SMU 74, #20 Tigers 70

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

The Tigers played 40 minutes of basketball in recovery mode Saturday afternoon at FedExForum. Three days after one of the ugliest losses in program history — a 40-point dismantling at Tulsa — the Tigers led SMU for 36:12 of those 40 minutes . . . and lost.

Mustang guard Isiaha Mike connected on two key field goals (one a three-pointer) during a 15-0 scoring run over the game’s final six minutes to steal the victory for SMU. The Tigers failed to score a point after a D.J. Jeffries dunk gave them a 70-59 lead with 6:01 to play. Turnovers on three consecutive possessions contributed to the collapse, and a three-point attempt to tie the game by Precious Achiuwa — following a steal with 11 seconds left — didn’t reach the rim. The Tigers fell to 14-5 with the loss and are now break-even (3-3) in American Athletic Conference play. SMU improved to 15-4 (5-2).
Larry Kuzniewski

Boogie Ellis

“In the last seven minutes,” said Tiger coach Penny Hardaway, “we went from a team that was not turning the ball over and playing pretty good defense to a team that started turning the ball over and playing poor defense. Simple switches . . . we aren’t communicating, and gave up threes. It’s a tough game we should have won here at home. You cannot lose conference games at home. Especially when you have a 12-point lead with seven minutes to go.”

Memphis played a focused, efficient first half, piling up 12 assists (on 15 field goals) and only committing two turnovers to take a 41-32 lead at the break. But the Mustangs came back — twice — in the second half, pulling within point, falling behind again by 12, then finishing on that 15-point surge.

“They made shots,” emphasized Hardaway. “Give them credit. The game’s never over until the zeroes go up. We usually handle our business with the lead. These last two games have been gut-wrenching. We’re not gonna cave in. We’re gonna keep working. Hopefully these are lessons learned, and guys will understand. You never know when your turnover might lose the game.”

Boogie Ellis provided a spark off the bench, playing his best game in two months. The freshman from San Diego scored 14 points and hit three of his four attempts from long range, one of them a bank shot from almost 30 feet as the shot-clock expired to give the Tigers a 10-point cushion with just under eight minutes to play. But the Mustangs hit 62 percent of their shots in the second half (15 for 24) after being held to 32 percent (10 for 31) in the first.

“We’re a young team,” said Ellis. “I feel like we’ll be okay, trusting each other and playing for each other. Coach [Hardways] says it all the time, these are self-inflicted wounds. If we focus on the little things, I feel like we’ll be okay.”

Kendric Davis led SMU with 20 points. Emmanuel Bandoumel added 14 and Mike 13. Jeffries paced the Tigers with 18 points (6 for 11 from the field) and Achiuwa added 15 (7 for 10). The Tigers had the edge in points from the paint (30-24), points off turnovers (20-10), and points from the bench (23-13), but sill dropped their fourth game in the last six played.

When asked about his team’s back-to-back struggles, Hardaway said, “I expected it, but it still hurts. I’m such a competitor. These last two games have been the worst.” As for solutions, Hardaway emphasized the need to get to the foul line to end a scoring drought, and to communicate, all the time, every game. “Stay in the moment and value every possession.”

The Tigers travel to UCF for their next game Wednesday night. They’ll then play three straight home games (against UConn, Temple, and USF). A team originally considered among the top 15 in the country must likely win each of its next four just to regain footing in the pecking order for an NCAA tournament bid. “There’s a lot of basketball to play,” noted Hardaway. Recovery mode continues.

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Tulsa 80, #20 Tigers 40

For late January, this was a marquee matchup. One team atop the American Athletic Conference standings (Tulsa) hosting the AAC’s top-ranked team (Memphis). But you can’t judge a game by the marquee.

The Tigers missed all 10 of their three-point attempts in the first half, trailed 40-17 at the break, and never closed within 20 points in the second half. The win is Tulsa’s fourth straight and improves the Golden Hurricane to 13-6 for the season (and 5-1 in the AAC). Memphis falls to 14-4 (3-2). The Tigers have now lost five straight at Tulsa, last winning as visitors in the series on March 3, 2012.

Jeriah Horne led Tulsa with 21 points. Precious Achiuwa scored 10 to pace the Tigers but fell short of his seventh-straight double-double (only five rebounds). The loss is, far and away, the Tigers’ worst (as measured by scoring margin) under coach Penny Hardaway.

The Tigers return to play Saturday afternoon when they host SMU at FedExForum. Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m.

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#22 Tigers 60, Cincinnati 49

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

In the Penny Hardaway Story, Bearcats are villains. This goes all the way back to the winter of 1992 when, in a span of a little over two months, Cincinnati beat the Memphis State Tigers — and their star sophomore guard, Penny Hardaway — four times, including the Midwest Regional final of the NCAA tournament. Hardaway’s last home game as a Tiger came in the Great Midwest Conference tournament on March 13, 1993. The Tigers lost to Cincinnati in the Pyramid. “They’ve always been the team that comes in and punches first,” said Hardaway after Thursday night’s nationally televised game between the Tigers and Bearcats at FedExForum.
Larry Kuzniewski

Malcolm Dandridge

The villains went down this time. With Hardaway now coaching his 22nd-ranked Tigers, Memphis ended a six-game losing streak to Cincinnati by pulling away in the game’s final minutes following a technical foul charged to Bearcat coach John Brannen. (Brannen disputed an offensive foul called on his star guard, Jarron Cumberland. He disputed vigorously, like a good villain.) Four free throws by Lester Quinones and field goals by Alex Lomax, D.J. Jeffries, and Malcolm Dandridge yielded a 10-0 run that secured a second-straight win for Memphis, now 14-3 and 3-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Bearcats — winners of the AAC tournament last March at FedExForum — fell to 10-7 (3-2).

Making just his second start, freshman center Dandridge scored only three points but otherwise stuffed the stat sheet with seven rebounds, four assists, four steals, and three blocks in 27 minutes on the floor. Hardaway’s former high school player (at East) established some college credentials, and against a formidable foe. “Malcolm helped a lot today,” said Hardaway. “That’s what I’m challenging him to do on a game-to-game basis. You have to come out and make your presence felt, offensively and defensively. A lot of people don’t know what he does out there. He’s kind of quick, knows how to make decisions. He looked really good.”

The Tigers outplayed Cincinnati in a choppy first half and took an 11-point lead (31-20) to the break. But after falling behind by 15 (35-20), the Bearcats surged, outscoring the Tigers 18-2 over a seven-minute stretch to take a 38-37 lead on a Cumberland three-pointer. The Tigers responded, though, with a 10-0 run keyed by a pair of Jeffries three-pointers and a thunderous dunk by Precious Achiuwa, who contributed his 10th double-double of the season (12 points and 11 rebounds) and sixth in a row.
Larry Kuzniewski

Penny Hardaway

“We’ve played in enough games where teams try to beat us up,” said Hardaway. “With Cincinnati, that’s their whole deal. We had to protect home court, and keep punching. We withstood that run. I’m proud of our team, not letting their physicality push us back. We kept moving forward.”

“Malcolm had a really big game today,” added Achiuwa. “We needed his inside presence, a big body to bang [opponents]. He helped me a lot; I really didn’t have to do a lot of banging. Blocking shots, changing shots, he allowed us to stay in the game.”

Jeffries led the Tigers with 18 points and Quinones added 13 (making all three of his three-point attempts). For the fourth straight game, Memphis accumulated more turnovers (17) than assists (14), but held the Bearcats to 30-percent shooting. Cumberland led Cincinnati with 19 points.

“We’ve been in a ton of battles,” acknowledged Hardaway, “more than I’d want. When you’ve been down and come back and won, you don’t have that quit. You’ll never quit. That’s what this team shows. They keep fighting. If we get down, we know we’re not out.”

Spoken like a man who’d just vanquished a villain.

The Tigers’ next game is on January 22nd at Tulsa. They host SMU on Saturday, January 25th.

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#21 Tigers 68, USF 64

There are must-win games, now and then, over the course of a college basketball season. Less celebrated are the “must-not-lose” games. Memphis face one of these Sunday afternoon at South Florida and, thanks to a second-half comeback that erased a 14-point deficit, secured the victory and ended a two-game losing streak.


Precious Achiuwa took a pass from Alex Lomax on a pick-and-roll and dunked the ball from the left side to a break a 61-61 tie with 1:51 left to play in the game. Neither team would make another field goal, but the Tigers hit five of eight shots from the free-throw line to clinch the win and improve to 13-3 for the season (2-1 in the American Athletic Conference). Achiuwa notched his fifth straight double-double (and ninth for the season) with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Tyler Harris came off the bench and scored 17 points.

The Tigers trailed by eight points (37-29) at halftime and 14 (51-37) with just over 13 minutes left in the contest. But the Bulls went ice-cold from the field for the balance of the game, allowing Memphis to survive a game in which it compiled more turnovers (22) than assists (16).

David Collins led the Bulls (8-9, 1-3) with 24 points, but had a late shot blocked by Achiuwa with the Tigers clinging to a four-point lead.

Tiger coach Penny Hardaway changed sixty percent of his starting lineup, replacing Damion Baugh, Boogie Ellis, and Isaiah Maurice with Lomax, Malcolm Dandridge, and Lester Quinones. Quinones scored 13 points in 22 minutes of action.

The Tigers return to play Thursday night when they face Cincinnati (10-6) at FedExForum. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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#23 Wichita State 76, #21 Tigers 67

Bye-bye, Top 25.

Five days after a loss to Georgia that dropped them 12 spots in the Top 25 (from 9th to 21st), the Tigers were declawed at Wichita State, surely toppling out of the rankings for the near future. Memphis has lost consecutive games for the first time this season, now 12-3 overall and 1-1 in the American Athletic Conference. The Shockers improve to 14-1 (2-0).

The U of M shot miserably in the first half (1 for 13 from three-point range), but closed a 13-point deficit to six (37-31) by halftime. Wichita State opened the second half with a 9-3 run and extended the lead to 17 points midway through the period. A Tyler Harris trey and Precious Achiuwa layup keyed a 13-4 Memphis run that reduced the Shocker lead to six points (66-60) with just over three minutes to play. But a pair of turnovers by Alex Lomax interrupted the comeback. The Tigers and Shockers have now split four games since Wichita State joined the AAC before the 2017-18 season.

Precious Achiuwa posted his eighth double-double of the season with 22 points and 12 rebounds. Harris scored a season-high 17 points off the bench, but no other Tiger scored as many as 10. D.J. Jeffries returned to the starting lineup after missing the Georgia game due to illness. He scored only three points in 28 minutes of action.

Jamarius Burton led the Shockers with 16 points.

The Tigers made only four of 21 shots from three-point range and had almost twice as many turnovers (18) as assists (10).

Memphis returns to action Sunday with a game at USF (8-8). Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Tigers return to FedExForum on January 16th when Cincinnati comes to town.

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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.