Rivalries make college sports amazing. Memphis vs. Cincinnati is a matchup of rich history, hard-fought battles and strong emotions. With Cincinnati’s move to the Big 12 looming, this could be the last time these storied college basketball programs face off. Along with getting the potentially final say in this rivalry, Memphis’s tournament hopes hang in the balance of this pivotal game.
FIRST HALF
Cincinnati’s Viktor Lahkin torched Memphis in their last meeting, and he got the scoring started for the game with a turnaround hook shot. DeAndre Williams opened the scoreboard for the Tigers with a jumper in the lane. He answered a Bearcat bucket with a tough floater over two defenders. Malcolm Dandridge got in the action with a nice post-move. But Cincinnati hit a three on its next possession to take an early 9-6 lead.
Lots of talk recently has been about the health of Kendric Davis. After missing his first shot of the game, he looked like his usual self with a pull-up jumper to cut the Bearcat lead to one at the under 16-minute timeout.
Though Davis missed his next couple shots, his elite playmaking stayed constant with a sweet assist to a cutting Damaria Franklin to give the Tigers a lead. Malcolm Dandridge hit a couple free-throws after a Cincy bucket to retake the advantage. Then, Alex Lomax happened.
He didn’t listen to Dora the Explorer as Lomax swiped the ball from Cincinnati on back-to-back possessions leading to lay-ups. This gave Memphis it biggest lead of the game at 16-11 at the 15:56 mark in the half.
The Bearcats answered with a corner triple. But the resurgence of Damaria Franklin continued as he countered with a three of his own. Both teams went back and forth as Mika Adams-Woods hit a nice lefty lay-up over two defenders. Davis responded with a pivotal sequence pushing the lead to nine.
Davis’s pull-up game is super tough, and it was on full display again with clean jumper. Then, he showed his impressive defensive instincts intercepting a pass and finishing on the other end with a lay-up. But he wasn’t finished as he showed off his full array of skills grabbing a defensive rebound in traffic and finding Elijah McCadden streaking down the court for a transition bucket.
This sequence lit a fire under Memphis. DeAndre hit another contested floater, this time over former Tiger Landers Nolley II. On Cincinnati’s next possession, Williams anticipated where Nolley wanted to drive and got to the spot first drawing a charge. As Williams beat his chest and screamed, the FedExForum screamed with him.
The Tigers were on a 9-0 run and led 28-16 with 8:00 left in the half.
9-0 became 12-0 after DeAndre continued his heater with a corner three.
Though Cincinnati finally ended the run with a floater in the lane, Williams wasn’t finished as he hit another tough shot. As he went to the bench for a breather, the crowd gave DeAndre a well-deserved ovation. However, Cincinnati went on a 5-0 run immediately after and cut the lead to 10 at the 3:52 mark in the half.
Up to this point, Memphis had only committed one turnover. But the Tigers’ second led to a Bearcat lay-up putting the lead back in single digits. After some questionable shot selection gave Cincinnati some hope to close the half, Memphis hit another gear with stellar defense turning into easy offense. Alex Lomax found Damaria Franklin for an alley-oop finish after Franklin forced the turnover.
Then, Kendric Davis hustled for the loose ball getting the steal before DeAndre Williams completed the fast break.
Cincinnati’s David DeJulius finished an and-one chance to quiet the crowd a bit. But Johnathan Lawson answered with a floater in the lane.
The Tigers finished an impressive first half with a 41-30 lead anchored by their defense. Cincinnati entered this matchup ranked 25th nationally in turnovers per game committing only 10.6. Memphis forced 11 Cincy turnovers in one half. Along with the Tigers’ defense, DeAndre Williams was incredible finishing the half with 15 points, three steals, and four rebounds.
SECOND HALF
Momma, there goes that man again. DeAndre Williams started things off once again with a strong finish over the 6-foot-11 Lahkin. But it was Cincinnati who started the half quick cutting the Memphis lead to eight. The Tigers’ defense never wavered forcing turnovers on the next two Bearcat possessions. Memphis capitalized on one of those turnovers with an Elijah McCadden alley-oop slam.
More good stuff from Elijah as he extended the Memphis lead to 13 with a lefty finish over Nolley II. But Cincy answered with a 6-0 run putting the Bearcats back in the game. A couple Malcolm Dandridge free-throws and another DeAndre Williams finish over Lahkin put the lead back in double digits, 54-43 with 11:37 to play.
The lead kept teetering between eight and 11 points with both teams hitting shots. This game felt like one big run from either team would change everything.
Davis tried to get that run going for Memphis with back-to-back steals followed by a sweet euro-step finish and an alley-oop find to DeAndre Williams for the slam. Whoop That Trick reverberated through the FedEx Forum. The crowd was in a frenzy.
Memphis was taking control, 60-47 with 9:17 left.
But the ex-Tiger, Landers Nolley II hushed his former fans with a thunderous slam over DeAndre Williams. Nolley responded to a Davis and-one with a triple, which was followed by another Cincy three cutting the lead to eight, 63-55 at the under eight-minute timeout.
The Bearcats had a chance to cut the lead to six, and they did. That game-changing run came from Cincinnati as they were in the midst of an 8-0 run. Johnathan Lawson and Kendric Davis put that run to a screeching halt with a reload triple from J-Law and a KD lay-up. The lead was back to 10.
Once again, Cincy hit a triple to keep the Bearcats in it. Credit their defense for not allowing Memphis to run away with the game. But it was Memphis’s defense that was the story of the game so far, which continued with Chandler Lawson drawing a critical charge. On the Tigers’ next possession, Davis went to work drawing a foul and hitting two needed free-throws.
70-61 Memphis with 2:20 to go.
The only thing keeping Cincy in the game was the long ball, and Landers Nolley II hit another triple to cut the lead to six. After Davis couldn’t convert offensively, Cincinnati’s Jeremiah Davenport missed the front end of the one-and-one giving the Tigers a massive break. That missed free-throw led to an Alex Lomax lay-up. Cincy hit a lay-up of its own before Johnathan Lawson turned the ball over. After the Bearcats finished at the rim once again, Davis turned the ball over. Then, DeAndre Williams was called for a foul putting Mika Adams-Woods on the free-throw line
72-68 Memphis. 19 seconds left.
Adams-Woods missed the front end of the one and one. But Memphis failed to secure the rebound as the ball went out of bounds off of the Tigers. Cincinnati ball down four with 17.6 to go.
Adams-Woods inbounded the ball to a cutting David DeJesus. Right as DeJulius went up for the finish, DeAndre Williams met him at the rim with a huge rejection.
Elijah McCadden got the rebound and was fouled. But he also missed the front end of the one-and-one.
Cincinnati raced down the floor and converted a lay-up.
72-70. Memphis ball with six seconds left.
Panic set in as the ball was inbounded to Kendric Davis, he turned into a wall of Cincinnati defenders who stripped the ball away. Thankfully for Memphis, the ball went out of bounds off of the Bearcats.
Memphis got a clean in-bounds pass to Damaria Franklin who was sent to the line for pivotal free throws. Just 10 days removed from his game-winner against UCF, Franklin stepped up once again hitting both shots to put this game on ice. Though Viktor Lahkin hit a desperation three – because of course he did – Kendric Davis put the final touches on the victory with two more free throws.
Memphis prevailed in perhaps the final game against Cincinnati in the FedEx Forum, 76-73.
Quick Takeaways
- That’s Mr. DeAndre Williams to You.
All the negative discourse around DeAndre’s age is pathetic. His journey to get to where he is today has been full of setbacks. For Williams to be where he is now performing at such a high level on a national stage is genuinely incredible. We’ve known how valuable he is to the Tigers for years. But as his time in Memphis reaches an end in the next month or so, we shouldn’t forget this game. DeAndre was spectacular with 21 points, seven rebounds, three blocks and five steals. Regardless of who defended Williams, he put his head down, got to his spot and finished over anyone in his way. Defensively, he was here, there, every-freakin-where. Without a doubt, Memphis wouldn’t have won this game without DeAndre Williams.
2. Defense Into Offense is a Great Thing
Memphis in the half-court wasn’t good. While the Tigers have shown genuine improvement with their half-court offense, Cincinnati got in their face and shut them down in the second half. But Memphis turned defense in the offense when it needed the most. As stated before, Cincinnati entered this game ranked 25th in the country in turnovers per game with just 10.6. The Bearcats almost doubled that with 20 turnovers. Whenever Memphis needed points, the Tigers relied on their defense to force turnovers and create fast-break opportunities helping Memphis to a needed victory.
Up next, Memphis travels to SMU for a bit of a trap game against the Mustangs on Thursday, March 2 at 8pm CST.