RECAP: No. 23 Memphis withstands challenge from Vanderbilt.

It wasn’t easy, but the Tigers still did what they had to and avoided a Quad 4 loss Saturday afternoon.

No. 23 Memphis (10-2) defeated Vanderbilt (4-8) in its penultimate non-conference outing, 77-75. The Tigers now get a week off before returning to FedExForum next Saturday to host Austin Peay. They’ll then begin American Athletic Conference play at Tulsa on Jan. 4.

Memphis shot 38% from the field and 36% from 3-point range. The Tigers also made 74% of their free throws and turned the ball over just nine times. Defensively, they forced 17 Vanderbilt turnovers, including 10 steals, and blocked five shots while scoring 18 points off said turnovers.

Vanderbilt shot 43% from the field and 38% from the perimeter. The Commodores also outrebounded the Tigers 39-36, including 10 offensive rebounds. Jerry Stackhouse’s group led for just over half the 40-minute contest at 20:34, and racked up 12 assists, 7 blocks and 5 steals.

With the win today, the Tigers should anticipate a substantial rise in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll thanks to Tuesday’s blowout of No. 22 Virginia. Vanderbilt becomes the fourth SEC foe Penny Hardaway’s team has beaten this season.

Here are some takeaways from Memphis’ final game before Christmas.

Nae’Qwan Tomlin makes a good first impression.

The Kansas State transfer officially became eligible to play yesterday once KSU processed his graduation.

Tomlin checked in for the first time this season at the 16:27 mark of the first half, and FedExForum gave him a joyous ovation. The cheers got even louder four seconds later when the 6-foot-10 center drilled a 3-pointer off a pretty feed from Jahvon Quinerly. Tomlin scored another bucket and collected 2 rebounds in just five minutes of action in the first half.

Welcome to Ⓜ️emphis @Nae_Ratty!!!! pic.twitter.com/1WVWuSAZm5

— Memphis Basketball (@Memphis_MBB) December 23, 2023

Tomlin played 7 more minutes in the second half, and finished the game with 8 points and 3 rebounds on 2-of-6 shooting.

A sloppy first half

Memphis got shell-shocked in the game’s first 20 minutes.

Vanderbilt came out with more energy and focus than the Tigers, and outplayed them in nearly every facet in the first half. The Commodores shot 14-of-27 from the field and 50% from 3-point range in the period, while Memphis made just nine shots—six of them being 3-pointers.

Memphis also racked up 6 turnovers, were outrebounded 18-16 and shot 79% from the free throw line. But the Tigers had opportunities despite this. Vanderbilt was far from perfect, shooting 40% on its free throw attempts and turning the ball over nine times. The Commodores also allowed 13 bench points and 6 second chance points. Memphis, however, never capitalized nor pulled away in the first half, and trailed Vanderbilt 36-35 at the break.

Quinerly led the Tigers with 10 points and 3 assists, while David Jones had 7 points and 9 rebounds. Ezra Manjon and Tasos Kamateros headlined Vanderbilt with 13 and 11 points respectively, with the 6-foot-8 Kamateros shooting 3-of-4 from 3-point range.

Memphis squeezes out a victory in the second half.

The Tigers looked to have finally figured something out to start the game’s final period. An 11-2 run out of halftime would suggest as such.

But Vanderbilt got back into things with a 6-0 run of its own, and quickly lulled Memphis back to sleep for much of the second half. With the Tigers leading 54-53 with 12:27 left to play, the Commodores eventually went on another 9-0 run to take their largest lead of the afternoon, 62-54 with 8:21 to go.

But FedExForum woke up after the under-8 media timeout, and so did the Tigers. Jones made a free throw to cut the lead to 7. He then made a 3-pointer to cut it to 4. Caleb Mills made two free throws after that, and Jones did the same a possession later. Malcolm Dandridge then completed Memphis’ 12-0 run by hammering in a lob from Mills with 5:07 to go, giving Memphis a 64-62 lead.

Vanderbilt tried its best to take back control after that, but ultimately failed after Memphis finished it off with several trips to the free throw line. Manjon also missed what would’ve been a game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Tigers got the Commodores’ best shot, and still managed to escape FedExForum with their 10th win of the season.

Jones exploded for 21 second half points, finishing the game with 28 points and 9 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field and 4-of-6 from 3-point range. Quinerly finished with 13 points, 4 assists and 2 rebounds on 3-of-7 shooting. Nick Jourdain also chipped in with 9 points and 4 rebounds in only 18 minutes.

Manjon led Vanderbilt with 22 points and 4 assists for the afternoon, and Jason Rivera-Torres—who plays Nick Mendez in the Apple TV Plus series “Swagger”—scored 12 points on 3-of-6 shooting in the second half. Tyrin Lawrence finished with 12 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.