Things got a little testy between the Memphis Tigers and
UAB Blazers on January 17th at FedExForum. Words and gestures (if not punches)
were exchanged, and a total of four technical fouls were called before halftime.
Shortly after the Tigers’ 81-68 victory, Memphis coach John Calipari reflected
on the extracurricular tension, and provided his own definition of toughness.
“Instead of a chest bump,” suggested the coach, “instead of talking, how about
diving on the floor for a loose ball? How about stepping in and taking a charge?
Be tough. Go in traffic, and bring down a rebound. You don’t have to talk and
bump. We have guys that, if a fight broke out, they would have run for
doors.”
Another measure of toughness, Calipari would certainly
agree, is entering a hostile building to face a Top 20 team on national
television . . . and not blinking. Saturday night, two time zones away, the
14th-ranked Tigers manhandled the 18th-ranked Bulldogs of Gonzaga, 68-50, in a
game that was actually not as close as the final score. (Gonzaga’s two best
players — Jeremy Pargo and Matt Bouldin — were firmly on the bench when their
team made a 13-0 run in the second half.)
Playing with a bench thinned by the dismissal of Matt
Simpkins, the Tigers relied on offense from Tyreke Evans (a game-high 22 points)
and defense from Antonio Anderson (who held Bouldin to six points) to extend the
U of M’s winning streak to 14 games and end Gonzaga’s at nine. When Robert
Dozier drew an offensive foul shortly after making two free throws to give the
Tigers a 35-20 lead late in the first half, you could all but hear a shout from
the visitors bench in Spokane Arena: “THAT is tough!”
The 2008-09 Tigers are not going to escape the shadow of
their predecessors. The memories of last season’s 38-win ride to within seconds
of a national championship run too deeply in a region devoted to a basketball
team that spoils its legion of fans with seemingly annual 10-game winning
streaks (some 20) and deep runs into the NCAA tournament. But this year’s Tigers
have set the table to, at the least, continue the memory-making well into March.
And it has a lot to do with the team’s toughness.
ESPN Gameday doesn’t steer its cameras away from the ACC or
Big East to your average barn for Saturday night basketball. Spokane Arena was
packed for the interregional showdown between teams outside the “BCS” family of
media favorites. (Why are the initials for college football’s Bowl Championship
Series used in describing the relative strength of conferences during basketball
season?) But for a Tiger team with the likes of Anderson and Robert Dozier —
seniors who have played in no fewer than 14 NCAA tournament games — an arena’s
atmosphere doesn’t so much shape the way a game is played. It’s merely extra
color. That’s toughness.
The Tigers (20-3) are now in a position where if they win
the games they should — and they’ll be favored in all eight of their remaining
regular-season games –they should enter the NCAA tournament with a seed no lower
than three. Wednesday night at FedExForum they’ll face perhaps their toughest
test, when Tulsa comes to town. A buzzer-beating length-of-the-court drive and
layup by Anderson saved Memphis from losing to the Golden Hurricane on January
13th in Tulsa. In the rematch, the Tigers will aim to extend their current
50-game winning streak in Conference USA play.
For the first time in its long history, the Tiger program
has reeled off nine consecutive 20-win seasons. And a fourth straight 30-win
campaign remains within reach. But there won’t be many 18-point margins between
now and the Final Four in early April. An injury (or foul trouble) that puts
Evans on the bench emasculates this team’s offense. A thin bench will rely on a
pair of rookies — Roburt Sallie and, once he returns from knee surgery, Wesley
Witherspoon — if it’s to make a difference in the home stretch. The most
consistent quality Calipari’s ninth Memphis squad brings to the floor is the
same quality that gives it a chance for another scintillating postseason run.
It’s toughness.