Memphis loses to No. 2 Houston despite impressive effort down the stretch

Memphis will officially have its toughest task of the season on Sunday. The Tigers are in Houston to take on the No. 2 ranked Cougars without star guard Kendric Davis after he suffered an injury on Thursday in the win over UCF.

Both Alex Lomax and Malcolm Dandridge are available for Memphis, and it will be interesting to see how much they play and the impact they have.

FIRST HALF

The game started off ugly which benefits Memphis. They can’t afford to let Houston get into a rhythm because they likely won’t be able to score at their typical clip without Davis in the fold.

Throughout the first half, Memphis has played scrappy and limited Houston offensively. Both offenses have been stagnant thus far with neither team gaining much momentum or separation.

With 8:08 left in the first half, though, the Cougars began to take over and went on a 9-0 run. The Tigers only scored eight points over the final nine minutes of the half which allowed Houston to go into the break with an 11-point lead.

Offensively, it has been a struggle to say the least for Memphis. DeAndre Williams is the only player with more than five points, and the Tigers turned the ball over a whopping 14 times.

If they are going to have any chance in this game, then they have to clean up the turnovers and get offense from more than Williams.

SECOND HALF

After the rough close to the first half, Memphis came out looking like an inspired bunch. Three-pointers from Elijah McCadden and Damaria Franklin brought the Cougars lead down to four points with 15:55 left.

Unfortunately, Houston cleaned up its sloppy play relatively quickly. With 11:22 to play, Houston’s lead was back up to 11 after a series of missed threes from Memphis.

Memphis was able to get the lead back down under double digits after a McCadden fast break dunk, but Houston once again had plenty of answers. Within minutes (8:40 left), the Cougars led by 13 points.

At this point, it certainly isn’t looking good for Memphis to win, but they at least have plenty of time to make the game more competitive down the stretch.

After a lot of back and forth play, Memphis once again only trails by single digits (nine points) with 6:06 left. DeAndre Williams and Johnathan Lawson both capitalized on opportunities in the paint. If there’s any hope for Memphis, they have to put the foot on the gas now.

After getting to the line multiple possessions in a row, Memphis has the lead down to six with 4:33 left. On Houston’s next possession, Jamal Shead was able to get an easy layup, but McCadden drew yet another foul with 3:44 on the clock.

McCadden split the free throws, but Damaria Franklin was able to come up with a steal on the ensuing possession. The Tigers cut the lead to five on a DeAndre Williams layup, and Johnathan Lawson had an opportunity to make it a one-possession game but missed a transition layup.

Williams then turned the ball over and committed a foul which allowed Houston to extend the lead to seven. The Tigers played an incredible second half, but the sloppy first half was just too much to overcome against a very good Houston team.

Next up, the Tigers will take on Wichita State on Thursday night.