Rarely does a single game change a college basketball season, much less one played in mid-February. But this may well have happened last Saturday, when the Memphis Tigers upset the 6th-ranked Houston Cougars in Texas. In ending Houston’s 37-game(!) winning streak at the Fertitta Center, Memphis earned its first road win over a top-10 team in 17 years and its second over the country’s 6th-ranked team this season. (Alabama occupied that ranking when the Tigers beat them at FedExForum in December.) For a program that hadn’t beaten a top-10 team since 2014, the 2021-22 campaign has gained a measure of significance, but a return to the NCAA tournament remains the goal. Getting there would end an eight-year drought and change the trajectory of Penny Hardaway’s still-young college coaching career. The Tigers took a significant stride toward a Big Dance ticket by beating Houston.
Three truths we discovered in Saturday’s win:
• The Tigers have a “Big Three.” NBA championships tend to be won by teams with headline trios. Think recently of the Miami Heat (LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh) or the Golden State Warriors (Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson). The Tigers’ victory at Houston established the team’s prime players, once and for all, as Landers Nolley, DeAndre Williams, and Jalen Duren. After missing four recent games with a knee injury, Nolley returned to the starting lineup for the first time since late December and led Memphis with 20 points, hitting four of five three-point attempts. (It’s a good time to remember Nolley was a first-team all-conference selection after the 2020-21 season.) After missing six recent games with a back injury, Williams looked healthy against Houston, scoring 13 points with four assists and three steals. Then there’s Duren, the team’s star freshman and the American Athletic Conference’s top rebounder and shot-blocker. Duren had 14 points and 11 rebounds against the Cougars, his third consecutive double-double.
• For the Tigers’ rotation, tight makes right. Hardaway sent 11 players to the floor in the first half against Houston. (The Cougars led by three points at halftime.) But over the game’s final 20 minutes, he stuck with his starting unit: the big three, plus Alex Lomax and Lester Quinones. Among reserves, only senior Tyler Harris played as many as 11 minutes. Depth is overrated in college basketball. There are four media timeouts every half. Players get “breathers” every time someone takes a free throw. Hardaway has finally landed on the starting five that appears capable of winning big games in March. It’s the players’ responsibility to avoid foul trouble and the coach’s responsibility to play them every minute he can.
• Free throws win games. Memphis fans didn’t need Saturday’s win to learn this lesson. It was delivered like a kick in the crotch near the end of the 2008 NCAA championship. Memphis teams have not been known for hitting free throws consistently, or in big moments. This year’s squad entered the Houston game shooting 66 percent from the foul line . . . 321st in the country. (Houston was 320th.) When Williams was fouled on a heave as the shot-clock expired with 1:35 left in Saturday’s game, the Tigers led by only three points (56-53). Williams made his three free throws, and the Tigers, as a team, connected on 10 more — without a miss — over the game’s final 90 seconds to make the final score (69-59) look like an easy victory. They’re called “free” for a reason.
Much remains to be gained in a season suddenly captivating for longtime Tiger fans. A pair of road games this week — at Cincinnati Tuesday and at SMU Sunday — could go either way, and a pair of losses would toss Memphis back on the infamous “bubble” when it comes to NCAA tournament consideration. But a pair of wins, then strong showings at home to end the regular season could make the AAC tournament not so critical for the Tigers’ chances at an at-large berth. A mercurial team has won five games in a row. And on a special Saturday afternoon in Houston, that team raised its ceiling for achievement considerably.
