Hustle Report: Three-Game Winning Streak Heading into the final Homestand

The Memphis Hustle returned to action this week after a one-week hiatus to begin an 8-game in 13-day stretch to end the regular season including 6 of those 8 games on the road. The first two games were up north at the Wisconsin Herd (G League Affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks) on Monday night and the Windy City Bulls (G League Affiliate of the Chicago Bulls) on Wednesday night. Both games resulted in victories for the Hustle as they increased their record to 20-6 and are in sole possession of 2nd place in the Western Conference, one game behind the 1st place Stockton Kings (G League Affiliate of the Sacramento Kings) who have played two more games than the Hustle.

Monday, March 13th: Memphis Hustle 126, Wisconsin Herd 108

The Memphis Hustle didn’t show any signs of rust after their week off against the Wisconsin Herd as they jumped out to an early double-digit lead and never looked back as they defeated the Herd by 18 points. The Hustle made 7 three-pointers in the first quarter and Matthew Hurt scored 13 points to help the Hustle start the game on a 24-11 run and ended the 1st quarter leading 37-23.

The Hustle followed up that impressive first-quarter performance with 7 more three-pointers made and scoring 40 points in the second quarter as three players went into the half with double-digit scoring outputs in Matthew Hurt, Jacob Gilyard, and Dakota Mathias. The Hustle led by as many as 27 points en route to a 77-56 halftime lead.

The Herd couldn’t cut the Hustle’s lead closer than 16 points the rest of the game as the Hustle led by as many as 33 points in the 2nd half before winning 126-108. Matthew Hurt led the Hustle in scoring again with 28 points after a career-high 30-point performance in his previous game last Monday. Jacob Gilyard tied his career-high with 20 points as he notched his 2nd consecutive double-double with 10 assists. Dakota Mathias scored 20 points as well as he and Gilyard combined to hit 10 of the Hustle’s 19 made threes in the game. As a team, the Hustle dished out a season-high 40 assists in a dominating performance.

Wednesday, March 15th: Memphis Hustle 116, Windy City Bulls 112

Coming off their impressive performance against the Herd Monday night, the Hustle began the game Wednesday night against the Windy City Bulls in a similar fashion starting the game leading 10-2 and making 5 three-pointers in the first quarter as they led 35-26 to end the first. Again, Matthew Hurt led the Hustle scoring in double-digits with 10 points in the first quarter.

The second quarter went similarly to the first as the Hustle made 5 more three-pointers including a buzzer-beating three to end the half by Dakota Mathias to put the Hustle up 68-56 at the half. Dakota Mathias led the Hustle with 15 points at the half including breaking the franchise record for most threes made in a season with 137 on that buzzer-beating triple.

The Hustle would continue their run in the third quarter leading by as many as 22 points en route to a 95-75 lead at the end of the third quarter. However, the Windy City Bulls had a run left in them as they went on an 18-0 run to cut the Hustle’s lead from 20 points down to 2 points at 101-99 with 5 minutes remaining in the game. The Hustle responded with a 12-1 run to extend their lead back to double-digits at 113-100 before the Windy City Bulls made a too-little-too-late run to extend the Hustle’s win streak to 3 games with a 116-112 victory.

Dakota Mathias led the Memphis Hustle with 25 points including 5 made threes as he extended the franchise record to 139 made threes in a season. Matthew Hurt followed with 20 points as he extended his 20-plus point game streak to 3 games and Adonis Arms scored 15 points as 5 players scored in double figures for the Memphis Hustle. After dishing out 40 assists as a team in their previous game, the Hustle dished out 30 assists on their 38 made baskets and their defense limited the Bulls to 16% shooting from three.

Next Up:

The Memphis Hustle return home for their final two home games of the season as they will play a back-to-back against the Rio Grande Valley Vipers Friday, March 17th, and Saturday, March 18th.