NEW ORLEANS — Memphis basketball took it down to the wire again.
And, again, the Tigers lost.
No. 12 Memphis (15-4, 4-2 AAC) led by as many as seven points, but Tulane (12-6, 3-3) prevailed 81-79 on Sunday. The Tigers, after winning 10 in a row, also lost Thursday against South Florida at FedExForum. It is the third time in a row Memphis has lost at Devlin Fieldhouse at Fogelman Arena.
The Tigers had a chance late to win the game or send it into overtime. With Tulane up 81-79 and 14.0 seconds on the clock, David Jones got off two 3-point attempts. The first missed the mark, but the ball got tipped back to Jones. He tried to hit the game-winner as time expired, but it was blocked by Jaylen Forbes.
“That’s what I designed,” said coach Penny Hardaway. “I had (Jahvon Quinerly) with the ball on the wing. (We cleared) Nae’Qwan Tomlin out, and if (Quinerly) didn’t like David, he had the whole entire side. He gave it to David, David got a good look at it. He just didn’t make it.”
Jones finished with 32 points to lead Memphis, while Sion James paced the Green Wave with 22 points.
James had one of the biggest baskets of the game for Tulane, a wide-open 3-pointer from the corner that gave the home team a lead with 2:22 remaining that swung all the momentum toward the Green Wave.
“David thought that (Jaylen) Forbes was gonna throw the ball to (Kevin) Cross (on the in-bounds play),” Hardaway said. “Because that’s what he’s been doing. (But) he pump-faked it to Cross and David went for the steal.”
Here are five takeaways from Sunday’s game.
Turnovers a problem
Memphis had been better at taking care of the ball in recent weeks, committing 13 or fewer in each of the past three games.
But that trend did not carry over against Tulane. The Tigers finished with 14 turnovers, the most since it coughed up 21 against Tulsa.
Point guard Jahvon Quinerly struggled mightily, tallying six turnovers by himself.
Malcolm Dandridge: Sultan of swat?
Malcolm Dandridge played inspired basketball against the Green Wave.
In the first game since center Jordan Brown rejoined the team (following an 11-game absence), Dandridge gave the smaller Tulane lineup fits on both ends of the floor.
The fifth-year senior tied a season-high with 13 points and blocked a career-high eight shots. The school record for most blocks in a single game is nine (David Vaughn). Only Vaughn and Keith Lee have recorded more than eight blocks in a game for the Tigers.
“I feel like they missed about two of my blocks,” Dandridge said. “I have to remember and remind myself, because I tend to get caught up in winning and the game as well, you know, it’s just a blessing to be out here. I’ve had surgeries. I’ve been through some things that I shouldn’t even be able to do what I do on the court.”
Brown did not play against Tulane.
“(Brown’s return) just came about with the guys getting with him, talking and working things out – getting him back in the fold,” Hardaway said. “He wanted to get some reps in, 5-on-5 before he played in a game. I respected that.”
Defense adjusts, slows Tulane down, then crumbles late
The Tigers’ predilection for giving up straight-line drives and over-helping unnecessarily has perhaps been their most obvious weakness this season.
It seemed those woes would continue Sunday. Tulane − the best offense the AAC has to offer so far, had its way with Memphis early − hitting six of its first 12 field goal attempts, including all three of its 3-point tries during that stretch.
Then, things changed. Over the final 12 minutes of the first half, the Green Wave made on three shots from the field on 18 attempts. That total included a 1-of-8 effort beyond the arc over the last 16:10 of the first half.
The second half was a much different story, when Tulane gashed Memphis for 47 points on 51.7% shooting.
Free throw discrepancy shows up early
So, how did Tulane stay in it? Free throws.
The team with the third-best free throw rate in the country was 12 for 15 in the first half. Meanwhile, the Tigers made only two trips to the line, sinking just one of its four attempts.
In the first half, Memphis was whistled for 11 personal fouls, while Tulane had eight.
Jaykwon Walton gets hurt
Jaykwon Walton quickly shook off his shaky outing against South Florida (two points on 1-of-6 shooting) with a hot start versus Tulane.
Walton buried three 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the game, picking up where he left off in Wichita when he connected on a season-high six 3-pointers He scored 11 points in 17 minutes. But, as the team went to locker room, Walton appeared to be in pain and favoring his right side.
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He did not play the rest of the game.
“Didn’t see Jaykwon Walton get injured,” said Hardaway. “He was having a great game like he was having at Wichita. Don’t know what happened still. I guess I won’t know until I watch film. (He) said something about his ribs.”
Missing the entire game for the Tigers was Jonathan Pierre, who did not make the trip due to an illness. Nicholas Jourdain has also been sick this week. Jourdain did not practice Saturday and played fewer minutes than usual.
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