Category: Tiger Blue

With just under 10 minutes to play in Friday night’s game between the Tigers and Tennessee Tech at FedExForum, Memphis sophomore Wesley Witherspoon went sprawling out of bounds near midcourt, saved a loose ball by slinging it backward over his head, and slammed into the scorer’s table. The hustle play gained the U of M a possession in a game they were leading at the time . . . by 26 points.

“Our identity is scrap,” said Tiger coach Josh Pastner after the victory, which leaves Memphis with a record of 2-1. “Get after it, stay after it. For us to be able to have a chance, we have to be scrappy.”

Any possibility that the Tigers would suffer a letdown after Tuesday night’s narrow loss to top-ranked Kansas was erased with the sight of Hall of Famer Lute Olson sitting across the court from the Tiger bench. With Pastner’s mentor from his days as a player and assistant coach at Arizona merely 60 feet away, this was a night for the apprentice to show the master that The Right Way was alive and well.

“We weren’t concerned [about a letdown],” said Tiger guard Elliot Williams, who led Memphis with 23 points. “Coach Pastner stressed that that’s what everyone expected, for us to have a letdown. We came out strong defensively. Every game is big for us. It’s not hard to get up for this.” A soaring, two-handed dunk by Williams late in the first half lifted the crowd of 16,707 out of their seats. When he followed on the next possession with a 30-foot lob to Will Coleman for another dunk, the affair was settled.

“Keeping the same intensity was important,” said Coleman, “to show people that the Kansas game wasn’t a fluke. Defense, defense, defense . . . and hustle plays. Every loose ball, we’re sacrificing. Coach preaches that a lot.”

The Tigers found their long-range shooting touch for the first time this season, Willie Kemp draining three treys and Doneal Mack four. (Roburt Sallie continued to slump, missing all three of his long-distance attempts tonight.) Kemp is regaining control of his team’s offensive flow, his six assists and one turnover calling to mind performances from his freshman season of 2006-07.

“In the second half,” added Pastner, “the reason we were able to make shots is that we penetrated, kicked, and made the extra pass. When that happened, we were able to get better looks. The disappointing thing — and we have really good guards — is that we made 14 turnovers. We have to be better than that. But overall toughness, I was proud of our guys.”

The Tigers will host Central Arkansas next Tuesday night at FedExForum.

The Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles don’t exactly roll off the tongue when you consider the Tigers’ historical rivals. But for 30 years (starting with the 1931-32 season and ending in 1960-61), these teams typically played twice each winter. The most significant Tiger win came on March 4, 1952, a victory that earned Memphis the NAIB state championship (and qualified them to play in the NAIB national tournament, where they lost in the second round).

When the annual series was discontinued after the 1960-61 season, each team had won 24 games. Memphis has won the only two meetings since, in January 1993 and in the third round of the 2002 NIT.

• November 20th has been good to the Tigers of late, with wins each of the last three seasons. The U of M beat Oklahoma in 2006 (in Maui), Arkansas State in 2007, and Chattanooga last year (in Puerto Rico).

The first in a series.

Five regulars for the 2009 world champion New York Yankees (counting DH Hideki Matsui) are older than Coach Pastner.

First of all, any honest assessment of last night’s thriller in St. Louis should include the following: Kansas may not be the world-beater so many prognosticators considered them. Xavier Henry is a fine player in an NBA-ready body. But I didn’t see the kind of difference-maker I expected last night. Maybe just an off night.

There are bad losses, good losses now and then, and — most rare — losses on which a season can be built. Taking the top-ranked team in the country to the buzzer before Thanksgiving may be a season-builder.

Three lessons we should take from the Tigers’ narrow loss:

1. This collection of stepchildren won’t be intimidated. The program’s star power took a beating over the offseason (part of that beating was wearing number 1 for Kansas). The team has a coach too young to run for president. “Just wait till next year,” when the country’s top recruiting class arrives.

But the 2009-10 Tigers have a season to play. And try telling seniors Willie Kemp, Doneal Mack, and Pierre Henderson-Niles about the 2010 class. Last night would have been an easy early-season throwaway game. Come out fighting, but then fall back on damage control when things get ugly (like a 10-point Jayhawk lead). Instead, the Tigers came up with big defensive stops, hit clutch shots as the clock wound down, and gave themselves a shot to win at the buzzer. The Tigers will have some duds this year, but they won’t play on a bigger stage until March.

Three inches. That’s an educated guess on how close the Tigers came to knocking off top-ranked Kansas tonight. Had Elliot Williams’ three-point attempt at the buzzer been a bit more shy — by thaaaaat much — Memphis earns its greatest upset in 89 years of basketball. Instead, the Tigers walk off the court in St. Louis disappointed with a 57-55 defeat.

Remarkable first half. Despite converting only two field goals over the last nine minutes of the half and missing 12 of 14 three-point attempts, the U of M was down only six points against the consensus number-one team in the country. (Consider: had the Tigers made merely 25 percent of their three point attempts in the half, the score would have been tied.)

Just as eye-opening was the way seven Memphis players were able to trade punches against a Kansas team that went 10 deep, with two All-Americans (Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins) and a freshman phenom (Xavier Henry) in its starting lineup. A strength to this year’s collection of underdogs may well be its team defense (witness the six Kansas turnovers over the game’s first six minutes). Josh Pastner has an undersized team, but it’s not lacking for quickness or athleticism. Kansas players not named Aldrich made but 13 of 33 shots.

When Coach Pastner calls for our pregame chat, this is what I’ll advise him:

1. Work the Clock.
It’s wisdom as old as Dr. Naismith’s peach baskets. When facing a superior opponent, limit the opponent’s possessions. Well, the shot clock killed Dean Smith’s four-corners for good, but it doesn’t mean this strategy can’t hold, at least to some degree. Seldom in their opener last Friday did the Tigers see 10 seconds left on the shot clock. Playing with a shortened — by two standards — roster that requires “small ball,” the U of M pushed their offense against Jackson State, with everyone from Willie Kemp to Wesley Witherspoon applying pedal to metal.

Won’t work against Kansas. In fact, it will backfire. Holding on to the ball 20 seconds instead of 10, over the course of 40 minutes of play can mean 20 to 30 fewer shots for the Jayhawks. The Tigers would do well tonight to make an extra pass. No way will they enjoy a 48-13 advantage in free-throw attempts as they did against JSU.

Tip-off against the number-one team in the land is 9 pm. Catch it on ESPN if you’re not heading up I-55 to St. Louis.

I’ve tried to remember the last time the Memphis Tiger basketball team had “nothing to lose,” that age-old brand that pronounces a team not just an underdog, but a three-legged, one-eyed underdog with a crooked tail. (I’ve been cranking up the great KISS song — from their first album — to inspire.)

One possibility is the 2005 C-USA Championship game at FedExForum (the Darius Washington game), but with an NCAA tournament berth on the line, there was MUCH to lose that day against the heavily favored Louisville Cardinals.

An unranked Tiger team led by Antonio Burks and Sean Banks faced 6th-ranked Louisville on February 4, 2004 . . . and won. But that was a home game, and the 6th consecutive win for the Tigers in a streak that would reach 11.

The last time the U of M went on the road in what might be called a hopeless situation was March 3, 2002. The Tigers were an underwhelming 22-7, their offense running almost entirely through freshman Dajuan Wagner. They managed to take the 4th-ranked Cincinnati Bearcats to overtime before losing, 80-75. Four weeks later, Memphis won the NIT championship.

Tiger senior guard Doneal Mack is wearing a necklace these days with three rings dangling halfway down his torso. The size of golf balls, each ring represents a Conference USA championship and deep NCAA-tournament run from Mack’s first three seasons as a Tiger. Presuming they don’t strain Mack’s neck, they just may serve as a motivational tool for some of his rookie teammates.

• Doneal Mack

“You gotta let them know, it takes hard work,” he says. “You take that court, put that Memphis jersey on. We went through a lot to get the program where it is. I’m just showing the team and the fans who support us that history’s in the making.”

Mack trails only Rodney Carney and Anthony Rice on the Tigers’ alltime three-point chart. If he stays healthy, Mack should be the only Tiger this season to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career. (He needs 155 entering Tuesday’s game against Kansas.)

When the Tigers hit the floor in St. Louis to take on Bill Self’s Kansas Jayhawks in the Hall of Fame Showcase Tuesday night, it will mark the ninth time Memphis has faced the top-ranked team in the country. The Tigers have yet to pull the upset.

• Kansas coach Bill Self

• January 22, 1953: Seton Hall 103, Memphis 85
• March 26, 1973: UCLA 87, #12 Memphis 66. (NCAA championship)
• March 25, 1983: Houston 70, #17 Memphis 63 (NCAA Sweet 16)
• December 8, 1993: Arkansas 96, Memphis 78
• January 4, 1996: Massachusetts 64, #3 Memphis 61 (Memphis is introduced to John Calipari)
• January 19, 2000: Cincinnati 75, Memphis 55
• November 25, 2005: Duke 70, #11 Memphis 67 (Madison Square Garden, New York)
• March 24, 2007: Ohio State 92, #5 Memphis 76 (NCAA Regional Final)

Will Barton — ranked 11th among the 2010 recruiting class by Rivals.com — is on his way to Memphis. So is native son Joe Jackson (12th). Now we learn Atlanta swingman Jelan Kendrick — ranked 8th, for crying out loud — is committing to the Tiger program.

• Jelan Kendrick

What’s Young Josh putting in his cupcakes? And will there be any playing time for Chris Crawford? Elliot Williams?