The Memphis Tigers tipped off their semifinal American Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament game against a Tulane Green Wave team that swept the season series against Memphis and was coming off a 6-point victory over the Wichita State Shockers in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament on Friday night. The Tigers decided to go back to a normal starting five with Chandler Lawson moving to back to Center. He was joined by DeAndre Williams in the frontcourt with Kendric Davis, Elijah McCadden, and Jayden Hardaway in the backcourt.
1st Half
The Tigers’ defense forced Tulane into 4 early turnovers but allowed Tulane to hit 4 of their first 6 shots to fall into an early deficit of 10-5. DeAndre Williams and Kendric Davis continued their scoring run as they scored the Tigers’ first 5 points before a Chandler Lawson-made layup cut the Tigers’ early deficit to 10-7 with 15:11 remaining in the half.
Elijah McCadden got in the scoring column after the first media timeout scoring 5 of the Tigers’ next 7 points to extend their run to a 9-0 run to take a 14-10 lead before Tulane’s Kevin Cross made a step-back jumper to cut the Tigers lead to 2 points with 11:18 remaining. Memphis forced Tulane into missing 7 straight shots before that last made basket as both teams struggled shooting at the beginning of the game.
Memphis returned from the timeout with a 10-0 run spearheaded by DeAndre William’s energy including an alley-oop pass from Kendric Davis to Williams to extend the Tigers’ lead to 10 points at 22-12. The Tigers’ defense continued their impressive performance forcing 8 consecutive missed shot attempts and 7 total turnovers with 7:39 remaining.
The Tigers continued their dominance ending the half on a 37-7 run to a lead by 25 points with a 42-17 halftime lead including a buzzer-beating three by Chandler Lawson to close out the 1st half. Memphis only shot 38% but they connected on 6 threes and made 10 out of 11 free throws while forcing Tulane into 11 turnovers and 19% shooting. DeAndre Williams led the Tigers with 13 points and 7 rebounds in a more balanced scoring effort with three other starters scoring at least 6 points.
2nd Half
Tulane began the 2nd half scoring more points in the first four and a half minutes (12) than they did in the final 15 minutes of the first half (7) and continued that run to cut the lead down to 18 points at 52-34. Memphis responded with a 7-2 run to extend the lead back out to 23 points at 59-36 with 11:58 remaining in the game.
Memphis continued their dominance as they extended their lead to as many as 42 points on to a 94-54 victory to advance to the AAC championship game. DeAndre Williams led the Tigers with 27 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals. Kendric Davis followed with 20 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. DeAndre Williams and Kendric Davis had combined to outscore Tulane 47-45 when they exited the game for the final time at the 4:57 mark.
Memphis came out with revenge on its mind after losing two close battles to Tulane during the regular season. After an early 5-point deficit, Memphis utilized their defensive pressure to arguably their most dominating performance of the season, holding Tulane to 26% shooting from the field and 18% shooting from three. Now, a 3rd matchup with No. 1 ranked Houston awaits the Tigers in the AAC championship game tomorrow as Memphis looks to win its first-ever AAC championship.