Freshmen Achiuwa, Jeffries lift Memphis over Ole Miss
NO. 16 MEMPHIS 87, OLE MISS 86
MEMPHIS — The 16thranked Memphis Tigers already knew they would have to play a long stretch without James Wiseman, their top freshman.
Then another freshman, Lester Quinones, went to the locker room with an undisclosed injury after playing less than nine minutes against Mississippi.
Good thing Coach Penny Hardaway has more than a handful of very talented freshmen.
Precious Achiuwa, a 6-9 freshman, scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while D.J. Jeffries, a 6-7 freshman, added 23, including a dunk with a second left as Memphis held off the Rebels, 87-86, on Saturday for its third consecutive victory without Wiseman.
“To have a 16-point lead on a really well-coached team that has veteran guards and veteran players, I mean that’s amazing for us,” Hardaway said. “We will grow from this. We cannot go backward from this point forward with our energy and our understanding of what we’re trying to do. But it’s huge for us not to have Lester and James in there and be able to do that.”
Blake Hinson beat the buzzer with a three-pointer for the final margin after Ole Miss (4-1) had trailed by as much as 16 in the second half.
“At the end, couldn’t make a play when we needed to,” Ole Miss Coach Kermit Davis said. “But good college game in November.”
Memphis (5-1) snapped a three-game streak by Ole Miss in this series.
Hardaway has the youngest team in the country, according to KenPom.com. He still has the No. 1 recruiting class even with Wiseman sitting out an NCAA-mandated 12-game suspension for what college sports’ governing body ruled were impermissible benefits from 2017 when the Memphis coach was overseeing a local high school team.
Achiuwa also was a fivestar recruit like Wiseman. He helped Memphis score the final seven points to take 45-38 halftime lead. Then the 6-foot-9 forward scored the first seven for Memphis in the second half, then the Tigers pushed their lead to 54-43 on a dunk by Jeffries with 15:57 to go.
The Tigers led 64-48 on a putback by Achiuwa with 11:19 left.
“The rest of the team just has to step up and make up for James not being here and not being able to play,” Achiuwa said.
Ole Miss responded with a 17-6 run to turn a runaway into a thrilling finish. With 5 seconds left and Memphis up 85-82, Breein Tyree thought he’d gotten a shot off when fouled by Tyler Harris. Officials sent Tyree to the line for two free throws instead of three. Tyree split the free throws before Jeffries’ dunk.
“It was kind of a bang-bang play,” Davis said.
Davis has three starters back for Ole Miss from his NCAA Tournament team last season. Tyree led Ole Miss with 24 points. KJ Buffen had a team-high 13 before fouling out with 10:10 left, and Hinson had 15.
Harris had 15 and Alex Lomax 14 for Memphis.
NO. 7 VIRGINIA 58, MASSACHUSETTS 46
UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Braxton Key scored 16 points and No. 7 Virginia used its stifling defense to hand Massachusetts its first loss of the season in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off Tournament.
Kihei Clark added 14 points and Jay Huff chipped in with 10 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers (5-0), who limited the Minutemen to just 15 baskets and 30% shooting.
Carl Pierre had 14 points and T.J. Weeks added 12 for Massachusetts (5-1).
Virginia led by five points at the half and by three points after a short jumper from Pierre to open the second half.
But the Cavaliers held UMass to four points over the next 14 minutes. A dunk by Mamadi Diakite on a lob from Clark highlighted the run that put Virginia in control at 49-33.
NO. 8 GONZAGA 77,
CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD 49
SPOKANE, Wash. — Filip Petrusev scored 15 points, Killian Tillie added 13, and No. 8 Gonzaga pounded Cal State Bakersfield.
Drew Timme had 11 and Admon Gilder and Joel Ayayi each added 10 for Gonzaga (6-0), which has won 26 consecutive regular season games, longest streak in the nation.
Justin Elder-Davis scored 11 points for Cal State Bakersfield (2-4), which has never beaten a ranked opponent. The Roadrunners were undone by 40% shooting and 27 turnovers.
Gonzaga shot 44.9%, but made 25 of 39 free throws and committed 10 turnovers.
The Roadrunners scored the first basket of the game. Gonzaga replied by scoring the next 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers from Tillie.
Gonzaga led 21-10 midway through the first, by which time the Roadrunners had already committed 10 turnovers.
NO. 13 SETON HALL 87, FLORIDA A&M 51
NEWARK, N.J. — Myles Powell scored 23 points and Jared Rhoden had 10 points and 12 rebounds to lead No. 13 Seton Hall to a romp over winless Florida A&M.
Florida A&M (0-5) would jump out 2-0 on a jumper by D.J. Jones, but that would be the Rattlers’ only lead. Seton Hall (4-1) led by 18 before taking a 3624 halftime lead.
Rod Melton Jr. led Florida A&M with 12 points while M.J. Randolph had 11 points and nine rebounds. Quincy McKnight had 14 points and five assists for Seton Hall.
NO. 21 VCU 78, FLORIDA GULF COAST 48
RICHMOND, Va. — Marcus Evans scored 16 first-half points and No. 21 VCU bookended the first half with big runs in a victory over Florida Gulf Coast.
Evans’ total in the opening 20 minutes matched what FGCU managed as a team as VCU (5-0) rolled to a 43-16 lead. The Rams scored 16 of the first 18 points and, already leading 26-16, closed the half by holding the Eagles scoreless for nearly 16 minutes and running off 17 more in succession.
Caleb Catto scored 14 points for the Eagles (1-5). They committed 27 turnovers that VCU turned into 37 points.
The Rams took their largest lead at 63-28 with just over 12 minutes to play before FGCU made it respectable with a 17-3 run over the next seven minutes.
Marcus Santos-Silva added nine points and 11 rebounds and De’Riante Jenkins scored 11 points for VCU. The Rams had just eight turnovers.