Memphis pulls off thrilling last second victory over UCF

The Memphis Tigers entered this contest winning seven of their last eight games and looking to seek revenge from their double-overtime loss at UCF last month.

1st Half

Kendric Davis scored the first basket of the game to become the American Athletic Conference’s all-time leading scorer. Then, the Tigers’ proceeded to score the first eight points of the game with Kendric Davis scoring six and DeAndre Williams scoring the other two points.

Memphis’ defense was very impressive early on forcing UCF to miss their first 11 shot attempts before making their first basket. The Tigers responded with a 9-0 run to take an early double-digit lead, 19-4, with a little under 11 minutes remaining in the half.

UCF responded by forcing a couple of turnovers that led to a 13-4 run to cut the lead down to single digits at 23-17 and forced DeAndre Williams to the bench with two fouls with eight minutes remaining in the half. Kendric Davis left the game with a right ankle injury with 4:25 remaining in the half as Elijah McCadden hit a three to put the Tigers up 36-27.

Both teams traded baskets to end the half as the Tigers’ nine-point lead remained going into halftime at 44-35. Kendric Davis led the scoring for the Tigers with 10 points before the injury and the Tigers as a team shot 63 percent. Elijah McCadden scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds and Jayden Hardaway scored two big buckets after Davis’ injury to end the half. Taylor Hendricks matched his points and blocks total from the first matchup against the Tigers for UCF with 12 points and two blocks at the half.

2nd Half

Kendric Davis did not return to start the second half but the Tigers extended their lead back out to double-digits with a 6-0 run to lead 50-35 at the 17:49 mark and continued to keep the pace to open the half as Elijah McCadden, Keonte Kennedy and DeAndre Williams covered the scoring and playmaking for the Tigers.

UCF would make another run and cut the lead down to four points at 60-56 behind a balanced scoring effort from Taylor Hendricks, Jaylon Young and Brandon Suggs with 7:22 remaining before missing their next seven shot attempts. Unfortunately, Memphis couldn’t capitalize as they only scored two points while turning the ball over seven times in seven minutes and UCF snapped out of their funk to cut the Tigers’ lead to one at 62-61 with 3:34 remaining.

UCF took their first lead of the game at 63-62 with 3:10 remaining after Taylor Hendricks connected on two free throws after being fouled by Keonte Kennedy. Turnovers and missed free throws continued to haunt the Tigers down the stretch but when they needed it the absolute most, Damaria Franklin forced a steal and made the game-winning layup with seven seconds remaining. The Tigers forced a missed layup on UCF’s final possession to escape with the thrilling victory, 64-63.

Elijah McCadden led the Tigers with 16 points and six rebounds and DeAndre Williams followed with 12 points and six rebounds as the Tigers had to play the whole second half without leading scorer Kendric Davis.

Final Takeaway

Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good, especially around this time of the year. Memphis only scored 20 points the entire 2nd half without Kendric Davis including four points in the game’s final 10 minutes. The Tigers turned the ball over 24 times and it felt like they turned it over on every possession in the final 10 minutes before that last-second basket to win. Kendric Davis left the game in a boot and on crutches so his status is unknown for the next game but the Tigers will need to tighten up their ball control on offense to have any chance at winning going forward.

Next up, Memphis travels to Houston, Texas to take on the conference-leading and 2nd-ranked Houston Cougars on Sunday, February 19th at 2:00 pm CST.