Hustle Stomp Wolves for Second Straight Win.

The Memphis Hustle are STILL undefeated in the new year, as they have struck gold and started a winning streak by beating the Iowa Wolves twice in the first three days of 2024. Like Monday’s matchup, the Hustle are continuing to play the best basketball we’ve seen them play this season. The team looks responsible, mature, and, most importantly, cohesive. Whether it be from experience or the impact of Jake LaRavia and Jacob Gilyard, who are supplying valuable minutes after extensive stays with the Grizzlies at the league level, the team looks as good as we have seen them the entire season.

The Iowa Wolves are the only team the Hustle have squared off against this calendar year, and so far, it’s the only team that can’t beat them. I am unsure if the Hustle are playing amazing basketball overnight or if the Wolves from Iowa are just as bad as their 0-4 record. Hustle starters tonight ALL finished with positive (+/-) efficiency on the evening, and they looked damn good as a unit. I have grown fond of Gilyard and Preston starting side-by-side in the lineup after some initial uncertainty about it. It creates amazing space on the floor and leaves you with two players specializing in facilitation, making it easy for guys to get into a rhythm on the floor. Gil and Preston combined for a total of 16 dishes (eight apiece) on three combined turnovers and left their guys in spaces with great looks.

Matthew Hurt brought the pain (I can’t get over saying that, sorry not sorry) with a very dominant 29 points and nine rebounds; Jake LaRavia put up 27 points; Jacob Gilyard put up 19 points and eight assists to go along with three steals; G.G. Jackson filled the stat sheet with ten points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks, and a steal; and Jason Preston was on a triple-double watch with 12 rebounds, eight rebounds, and seven assists.

I believe this may have been one of G.G.’s best games as a pro so far. His shooting numbers were off tonight, and instead of continuing to force the offense, he adapted his game to all other sides of the floor. He hustled for boards, set his teammates up for assists, hustled for blocks and steals, and displayed a lot of grit and maturity. A big question mark so far has been, “How does G.G. impact games besides scoring, and when he isn’t scoring, what can he do,” and he did a great job of answering that tonight. It makes me very happy to see him using his body and size to impact all sides of the game, and while high-scoring outputs are nice, box scores like these stick out a lot. At 19 and 6’9, the sky really is the limit for him.

Memphis started this game very strong and started to taper off in the second quarter, leading to a tight race into the second half and ultimately into the fourth quarter, where they ended up falling down by six with a little over five minutes left. It has been very familiar territory for Memphis this year to fall behind in the fourth after a strong start, but unlike many other games, the Hustle locked in and overcame late deficits for victories in the past two matchups versus this Wolves team. This is a very impressive feat for a team that has displayed weakness in that particular area throughout the season. The team’s maturity to lock in together late for the W is a very positive sign that I hope the team continues to replicate moving forward.

The Hustle will be back in action on Friday in Edinburg, TX, to take on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers as a part of a back-to-back. They will also take on the Vipers on Saturday, capping off a road trip before returning home on Tuesday. The tip will be live at 7:30 p.m. and will be streamable for free at https://gleague.nba.com/. Make sure to tune in and cheer on the guys as they look to extend their winning streak into the new year.