RECAP: Memphis defeats LeMoyne-Owen in a mediocre showing

It wasn’t quite as pretty as last Sunday. 

But luckily for Penny Hardaway’s Tigers, it didn’t have to be.

Memphis defeated LeMoyne-Owen 104-63 in its second and final exhibition game before the Tigers’ regular season opener next Monday. The Tigers looked quite lethargic in victory—especially compared to their aforementioned performance against Lane College.

The first half in particular was a tough 20-minute interval for the U of M. During the period, Memphis turned the ball over 7 times, had only one more rebound than the Magicians and took 11 less shots than them. LeMoyne-Owen matched, if not outmatched Memphis’ hustle and energy and trailed by just 15 at the break.

Memphis’ imperfect play continued in the second half, but it still pulled away from the Magicians down the stretch. David Jones surged to match his statline from last Sunday—17 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Jordan Brown a 4-4 second half-start to reach 14 points and 4 rebounds. Jaykwon Walton (13) and Nick Jourdain (12) also reached double-digit points.

Jahvon Quinerly’s debut

The 6-foot-1 point guard didn’t play in the Tigers’ first exhibition and looked quite sluggish in his Memphis debut Thursday night. 

Quinerly finished his outing with just 6 points on 2 of 3 shooting, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. He also turned the ball over a whopping 4 times. 

He’ll certainly look for a bounce-back performance against Jackson State next Monday.

Turnovers piled on

Memphis struggled mightily with ball security against the Magicians, turning the ball over 19 times with 11 of them coming in the second half.

As previously mentioned, Quinerly had 4 turnovers. Jourdain compiled 5. Jonathan Pierre totaled 3. Jayhlon Young, Ashton Hardaway and Brown had 2 each. 

It was a far cry from the miniscule 13 turnovers Memphis had versus Lane last Sunday.

Frontcourt continued its domination

One thing that carried over from the Lane game was how fierce Memphis’ frontcourt played.

Brown was once again the catalyst in the Tigers’ dominance, recording 14 points and 4 rebounds while shooting 5-7 from the field. Jourdain also imposed his will with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists. Dandridge had 11 points and 6 rebounds.