Memphis basketball rises in AP Top 25 after win at UAB

Memphis basketball is in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 for the 10th consecutive week, just one short of the 2019-20 team’s mark of 11.

The Tigers (24-5, 14-2 AAC) are up to No. 16 in Monday’s poll after their first Quad 2 win in nearly two months at UAB. They were No. 18 a week ago.

PJ Haggerty and Dain Dainja unsurprisingly led the charge inside Bartow Arena on Sunday. Dainja kept Memphis afloat through a rough first half that saw it allow 7 points off 9 turnovers and trail 42-36 at the break. The 6-foot-9 center had already secured his third straight double-double by halftime—10 points and 11 rebounds in 19 minutes. He missed much of the second half with 4 personal fouls, but still finished with 16 points, 17 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal.

Haggerty (21.4 points per game, No. 6 in Division I) pushed Memphis away from UAB despite a 9-point deficit with 12 minutes to play. The 6-foot-3 guard scored 13 points in the following six minutes to flip that to a 73-69 Tigers lead. He totaled a game-high 25 points (17 in the second half), 4 assists, 2 rebounds and a steal on 9-for-16 shooting as Memphis led by as many as 12 points with 40 seconds to go.

Penny Hardaway’s club maintained first place in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) with the 88-81 final, putting it in prime position to win its first regular-season title since joining the league in 2013-14. The Tigers have a two-game lead over third-place UAB and a one-game edge over second-place North Texas with two regular-season contests left. They also begin AAC Tournament play on March 14, having already clinched a double-bye to the quarterfinals.

“Today put me in the mindset of, ‘OK, it’s March,’” Hardaway told reporters Sunday. “This was a March Madness, NCAA [Tournament-like] game.”

Advanced metrics remain unimpressed with the Tigers, who picked up their 11th overall win in Quads 1 and 2 (fifth in Quad 2) against Andy Kennedy’s Blazers. They moved up one spot from No. 46 to 45 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), stayed even at No. 48 in KenPom and actually dropped one spot from No. 55 to 56 in Bart Torvik.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently forecast Memphis as a No. 6 and 7 seed respectively for the NCAA Tournament, which begins later this month. YAGO Brackets—the Bracket Matrix’s No. 1 forecast in the last five years—still has Memphis as an 8-seed, though that projection happened before the Tigers defeated UAB. Bart Torvik still predicts that Memphis will receive a No. 8 seed too.

Most other human polls gave Memphis a boost with its third straight win. CBS Sports personality and Grind City Media host Gary Parrish kept the Tigers at No. 24 in his Top 25 and 1. But Jon Rothstein, also of CBS Sports, lifted them to No. 20 in his top 45. NCAA correspondent Andy Katz jumped them to No. 15 in his Power 37.

Memphis visits UTSA on Tuesday (6 p.m., ESPN+).