Tigers survive Boise State to reach NIT semifinals
Lester Quinones secured a loose-ball rebound and scored a pair of secondchance points with 32 seconds left in the game to give Memphis basketball a lead it would not give up.
The Tigers (18-8) defeated Boise State, 59-56, Thursday at UNT Coliseum in Denton, Texas, to advance to the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament.
Quinones was one of three Memphis players to score in double figures. D.J. Jeffries and Boogie Ellis put up 11 apiece, and Quinones contributed 10.
"We've gone through every scenario that you can go through this year as a team, from South Dakota until now," coach Penny Hardaway said. "And I am proud that they've progressed in the right direction. We've learned how to win. Like, we got down two points with under two minutes and we went on a 7-0 run. That's just growth in the team."
Memphis will take on Colorado State at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
Pain at the line?
Free throws have been anything but free for Memphis this season.
The Tigers came into Thursday's game shooting 56% from the line in their eight losses.
The trouble with free throws resurfaced against Boise State, as Memphis made 6 of 15 attempts. Moussa Cisse struggled, going 0-for-5 and stretching his string of consecutive missed free throws to eight, dating back to last week's game against Dayton.
"We haven't had a game like this in a really long time," Hardaway said. "5 for 20 from three, 6 for 15 from the line. That's just ugly all the way around. It was just one of those nights."
While Memphis struggled overall,
Deandre Williams drained a pair of free throws with 13.2 seconds on the clock to give the Tigers a 58-55 lead.
"What's so crazy, if I want anybody on the line, I want Deandre on the line," Hardaway said.
Shutting Alston down
Derrick Alston Jr., a fifth-year senior, came into Thursday's game averaging more than 17 points a game.
Alston has also been riding a hot streak, scoring in double figures in seven of his last eight games, including a four-game stretch with 23 points or more. He had scored 20 or more points 13 times this season.
But the Tigers made the final game of Alston's collegiate career a relatively forgettable one. The 6-foot-9 guard, primarily matched up with Quinones, was held to 11 points on just 3-of-9 shooting from the field.
Climbing out of an early hole
Boise State struck first and struck often.
For the second straight game, the Broncos bucked out of the gate, establishing a 12-3 lead before the game was five minutes old. In their opening-round NIT win over SMU, Boise State jumped out to a 30-9 lead before hanging on to win 85-84.
But Memphis didn't need long to respond. Starting with a Damion Baugh field goal, which snapped a 9-0 Boise State run, the Tigers outscored the Broncos 16-5 over the next 4:35 to take a 19-17 lead. During that span, Memphis forced three turnovers, held Boise State to 2-for-7 from the field, and outrebounded the Broncos, 5-1.
Boogie to the rescue
When the Tigers' momentum slowed, Ellis showed up.
The sophomore didn't score during his team's 16-5 run but was a steadying force. Ellis, whose 3-pointer opened the scoring for Memphis, gave the Tigers six more points in the first half. He hit a pair of baskets in the post and sank a midrange jumper to give the Tigers a 29-24 lead with less than five minutes to play in the first half.
His production helped Memphis take a 31-26 lead into the break.
Not Landers’ best start
Less than a week after one of his better performances of the season, redshirt sophomore Landers Nolley II had trouble capitalizing on it.
In the Tigers' opening-round win over Dayton, Nolley led the way with 21 points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and only one turnover. The assist total tied his season-high, and it was just the sixth game (out of 25) he has finished with one or fewer turnovers.
In the first half against Boise State, Nolley could not get going. He missed four of his first five attempts and committed three turnovers in his first 10 minutes on the floor. The Virginia Tech transfer closed the first half with a short jumper that sent him to the locker room with six points and two rebounds.
Nolley finished the game with eight points and five boards.