RECAP: Memphis survives overtime slugfest at VCU.

The Tigers, as they’ve done a few times this season, made things harder on themselves than they had to Wednesday night.

But Memphis (6-2) still escaped Siegel Center with a 85-80 victory in overtime versus VCU (4-5)—even without starting center Jordan Brown, who missed the trip to Richmond, Va. with an illness. Penny Hardaway’s team now has its second true road win of the season after losing two games in a row to Villanova and Ole Miss.

The Tigers now prepare for their biggest challenge yet at No. 21 Texas A&M Sunday. Memphis will then get home matchups against Clemson (Dec. 16), Virginia (Dec. 19) and Vanderbilt (Dec. 23) to wrap up its non-conference gauntlet.

Memphis finished the game shooting 47% from the field and 38% from beyond the arc. The Tigers also won the rebounding battle 39-37, though they gave up 17 offensive rebounds, and compiled 12 forced turnovers, 10 assists and 7 steals.

VCU, meanwhile, shot a 42% overall clip and 24% from 3-point range. The Rams also forced 18 Memphis turnovers and led the game for 30:16 of the 45-minute contest, largely because of 18 second-chance points and 39 bench points.

Here are some takeaways from Memphis basketball’s bounce-back win.

A rough first half

Memphis looked very sluggish in the game’s first 20 minutes.

The Tigers shot 47.8% from the field, but only 11.8% from the 3-point line. It didn’t matter if it was David Jones, Jaykwon Walton, Jahvon Quinerly or nearly anyone else. If a Memphis Tiger shot a 3-pointer in the first half, it would almost certainly bounce right off the rim. Only Jayden Hardaway and Nick Jourdain connected from deep in the opening period.

Jones, despite shooting just 2-of-7 from the field, led all Memphis scorers with 9 points in the first half. Quinerly finished the half with 4 points and 3 assists, while Caleb Mills also chipped in 7 points.

Memphis played relatively well defensively, as VCU was just 16-of-31 from the field and 3-of-10 from the perimeter. But the Tigers struggled to rebound the ball once again. The Rams won the first half rebounding battle 17-11 and collected 8 offensive rebounds. Four of those came from forward Toibu Lawal, who finished the first half with 10 points and countless putback buckets.

A new-look starting lineup

Hardaway made some odd changes to the starting lineup for Wednesday night’s game.

Quinerly and Jones remained in. But Dandridge started for the unavailable Brown, and Ashton Hardaway and Jourdain replaced Walton and Mills in the starting 5.

So, how did this experiment work out? Not very well, evidently.

VCU started the game on a 16-7 run and Memphis numerous substitutions in the first 10 minutes. The Tigers eventually got back in it once Quinerly, Jones and other settled in, but the new rotations probably hurt Memphis in the early going.

The Tigers will likely revert to status quo against Texas A&M.

Jones returns from ankle injury in the second half.

The game remained extremely tight throughout the second half, with VCU remaining a step ahead for most of the night.

This was the case when Jones stole the ball with 9:55 left in the game. With the Rams leading 55-52, he then tried to cut the lead to a single point by doing what he’s done so many times. He wanted either a tough bucket at the rim or a foul.

Jones got the latter, but with a cost. His ankle twisted the leg of a VCU player whilst he was fouled by Alphonzo Billups. Jones, Memphis’ leading scorer, tumbled to the floor in a lot pain. It looked bad—very bad—for a moment, but he quickly made his way to the Tigers’ bench. And after a quick ankle-taping in the locker room, Jones was back in at the 9:18 mark.

Memphis outlasts VCU in overtime.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair, as was the entire game.

But VCU still maintained a slight advantage after Jones returned from his injury. Memphis struggled to get consistent stops defensively, largely because of its hardships rebounding the ball. The Rams got 8 more offensive boards in the second half, with Lawal nabbing 3 of them. He scored 6 points in the second half, but (luckily for Memphis) fouled out with 19 seconds left in regulation.

The Tigers, however, finally took the a 69-67 lead with 2:21 to go in the second half. Memphis previously hadn’t led since the 18-minute mark in the first half. The Rams still wouldn’t go away, though. Guard Max Shulga nailed a 3-pointer to put VCU back in front. Quinerly responded with a layup, and Lawal then notched his final putback of the game before fouling out seconds later when he tried to stop Dandridge from scoring at the rim.

With VCU up 72-71, Dandridge sunk 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game. Memphis stopped a Zeb Jackson layup on the other end to force overtime.

Memphis finally managed to get the upper hand after Walton opened the 5-minute period with a 3-point shot from the right corner, but the game still came down to a 79-78 Tigers lead with 1:10 left to play. This time, however, Hardaway’s team slammed the door shut on VCU.

Jourdain made a contested layup with 52 seconds on the clock, and then rejected Shulga (VCU’s leading scorer) on the other end. Quinerly rebounded Jourdain’s block and Shulga fouled the Alabama transfer along the baseline. Quinerly made two free throws, as did Jones seconds later to seal the victory.

Jones and Quinerly led the way for Memphis with 23 and 20 points respectively. Jones also got 8 rebounds while Quinerly compiled 6 assists and 4 rebounds of his own. Mills finished with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists while shooting 4-for-6 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range.