FORT WORTH, Texas — The Tigers’ season is over.
Memphis (22-10, 11-7 AAC) was upset by Wichita State 71-65 in its American Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament opener inside Dickies Arena. Its NCAA Tournament hopes are now over, and it might not even qualify for the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) after its egregious performance against the Shockers.
Penny Hardaway’s team shot just 36% from the field and 28% from 3-point range. It also compiled 14 assists, 12 forced turnovers, 12 offensive rebounds, 9 steals and 3 blocks. David Jones finished the game with 24 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 4 steals. Nae’Qwan Tomlin 18 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks. No other Tiger scored more than 8 points.
Wichita State (15-18, 5-13 AAC) shot 47% from the field and 30% from 3-point range. It also outrebounded Memphis 42-37 while racking up 19 assists, 10 blocks, 9 offensive boards, 8 forced turnovers and 6 steals. The Shockers led the contest for 27 minutes and 16 seconds.
Hardaway announced that the Tigers won’t accept an NIT or CBI invitation following Thursday’s game. His club started this season 15-2 and ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25, but has now gone just 7-8 in its last 15 games.
Here are some takeaways from Memphis’ devastating loss.
Sloppy defense keeps Wichita State in striking distance.
The Shockers were ranked No. 202 in adjusted offensive efficiency heading into Thursday’s game, according to KenPom. But that evidently didn’t matter.
Memphis couldn’t buy a stop in the first half against Mills’ group, which shot 53.6% from the field during the period. Dalen Ridgnal led the Shockers with 8 points on 2-for-3 perimeter shooting. Bijan Cortes, Harlond Beverly and Colby Rogers each scored at least 5 points before halftime, which helped Wichita gain a 35-33 advantage at intermission.
Jones led all scorers at the break with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting, but the rest of the team shot just 34.6% from the field.
Memphis starts the second half ice cold.
The Tigers were all out of sorts to begin the final period.
They missed their first eight 3-point attempts of the half, and didn’t score until the 15:54 mark. Mills’ Shockers took advantage, and used a 14-5 run in seven minutes to take a 51-38 lead with 12:42 to go. Wichita State later extended that advantage to 55-41 with 10:06 left to play.
The Tigers erased a 14-point deficit, but it wasn’t enough.
Memphis used a 15-point comeback to beat the Shockers last month inside FedExForum, and history had to repeat itself for the Tigers to keep their season alive.
Jordan Brown, of all people, served as their spark-plug on Thursday. He cut Wichita’s lead to 10 with two baskets in less than a minute. Tomlin then shortened that deficit to seven with a 3-pointer with 8:53 to go. Jones later finished off a 18-2 run with two free throws to give Memphis a 58-57 lead with 3:30 on the clock.
But just as it looked like the Tigers would escape Dickies Arena with victory, Mills’ team re-turned the tide. Quincy Ballard slammed in an alley-oop to move the Shockers back in front, and Rogers drilled a deep 3-pointer over two Memphis defenders to make the score 62-58 with 2:26 to play.
Wichita State stretched the lead back to seven by the time the 17-second mark came around, which essentially slammed the nail into Memphis’ coffin. Beverly led the Shockers with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Rogers (13) and Cortes (11) also scored in double figures.