It wasn’t pretty for either team, but the 14th-ranked Tennessee Vols came to Memphis and beat the hometown Tigers, 66-59, Thursday.
After four minutes of play, neither team had scored. That’s how hard points were to come by early in this game. The Tigers broke to an early lead, 13-7, but the Vols had too much inside game for Memphis, and went on 9-0 run to take a 16-13 lead. The Tigers never led again.
Wayne Chism made a buzzer-beating jumper at halftime to give the Vols a 7 point lead. The second half was a game of droughts. Memphis went nearly six minutes without a point, allowing Tennessee to build a 42-29 lead. Memphis then switched to a zone defense and held Tennessee scoreless for six-and-a-half minutes. The Tigers closed the gap to four or five points several times, but could never climb all the way back.
Tennessee out-rebounded Memphis 42-26 and shot 12 more free throws. For a more extensive recap and game stats, check out SI.com.
