Memphis basketball overcame both a feisty Rice team and a trigger-happy whistle Wednesday night.
The No. 18 Tigers (23-5, 13-2 AAC) defeated the Owls 84-72 inside FedExForum, clinching a season sweep of Rob Lanier’s club in the process. Memphis is now 6-0 in Quad 4 games this year. Next up is a trip to Bartow Arena for a highly-anticipated rematch with UAB on Sunday (3 p.m., ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU).
Penny Hardaway’s team shot 49% overall and 2-for-13 at the 3-point line. It also outrebounded Rice 40-29 while recording 16 offensive boards, 15 assists, 12 forced turnovers, 7 blocks and 7 steals. The game saw two ties, but Memphis never trailed.
The Owls shot 41% on field goals and 5-of-21 from the perimeter. It also notched 11 assists, 10 offensive rebounds, 8 forced turnovers, 3 blocks and 2 steals. Caden Powell (19), Denver Anglin (14), Andrew Akuchie (12) and Kellen Amos (11) scored double-figure points for Rice. Leading scorer Trae Broadnax had just 4 after fouling out in 27 minutes.
Here are some takeaways from Memphis’ second straight win.
Rice overcomes Memphis’ fast start
Memphis was off and running to start the contest.
The Tigers generated a 10-1 run in the first three and a half minutes, and held a 21-9 advantage at the 11:28 mark in the first half. Dain Dainja, who totaled 6 points at Rice earlier this month, scored 7 on 3-of-5 shooting in that stretch. Rice, meanwhile, missed its first five field-goal attempts and shot 33% in the first 10 minutes.
Memphis’ fortune turned sideways, however, once Dainja committed his second foul with 10:18 left in the period, sidelining him until halftime. The Owls trimmed the Tigers down to 2 points with a 9-2 run over the ensuing three minutes. Memphis still took with a 39-32 edge to the break, but Anglin led all scorers with 13 points (3-for-5 from 3-point range) at intermission.
Dink Yates puts on another short, yet stupendous display
The 6-foot-5 walk-on logged 2 points, 2 assists, 2 steals and a block in eight minutes against Florida Atlantic last Sunday, and topped his performance vs. another set of Owls on Wednesday.
Yates provided the Tigers yet another spark in the final six minutes of the first half, compiling 6 points on 2-for-2 shooting. His most impactful sequence came at the 2:54 mark, when he stole the ball from Broadnax and slammed in Dante Harris’ missed layup on the other end.
Yates played just two minutes in the second half.
Memphis pulls away despite unfavorable whistle
Wednesday night’s officiating crew, led by controversial veteran Pat Adams, called 40 combined fouls on both teams. Half of them went against Memphis, including 3 on Dainja and 4 on PJ Haggerty.
Haggerty is among the nation’s best at drawing foul calls, earning 207 free throws this season. But most of the whistles didn’t benefit the Tigers’ leading scorer against Rice, frustrating to him to the point of yelling at an official and suffering a technical foul at the 7:34 mark in the second half.
Rice capitalized on the game’s slower momentum, and used a 6-0 run to tie things up at 70 points apiece with just under four minutes left. That’s about as close the Owls came to victory, though.
Tyrese Hunter laid one in off a Colby Rogers steal with 2:38 on the clock. Haggerty upped the Tigers’ advantage back to 4 points seconds later. Dainja then delivered the death blow—4 points and 3 blocks in less than a minute—to make the score 78-70 with 56 seconds left. Memphis ultimately finished the game with a 14-2 run.
Dainja finished with a career-high 25 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal—his fifth double-double this season. Haggerty tallied 21 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Nick Jourdain had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks—his third double-digit scoring output in five games.