‘Fighter’s mentality’ at Tigers’ practice

Intensity needed reboot

It wasn’t basketball after University of Memphis juniors Tarik Black and Geron Johnson fell together to the court Thursday at the Finch Center, both with their arms wrapped tightly around the ball.

It was more like UFCstyle ground fighting.

With coach Josh Pastner seeking to correct what he felt was a lack of energy and intensity on the part of his players in the first half of their 64- 62 loss at

Xavier on Tuesday, his whistle remained on his chest as Black and Johnson rolled over each other and wrestled for the ball with their teammates surrounding them.

Neither of them would give it up, and the wrestling continued for another 10 to 15 seconds before the two were separated and helped each other up.

“We just needed a fighter’s mentality-type of practice. We needed that one today,” said Pastner, whose No. 19-ranked Tigers allowed Xavier to land all the big punches in a first half in which the Musketeers scored seven of their first 16 points on second chances.

Memphis (24-4, 13-0 in Conference USA), which returns to league play at noon Saturday at Central Florida (19-9, 8-5) in Orlando, scored 42 secondhalf points in rallying back from a 13-point deficit to take a three-point lead late against Xavier.

That should have been enough points to extend the Tigers’ 18-game winning streak. But a lethargic first-half effort, particularly on the glass, produced a season-low 20 points, with Xavier grabbing nearly as many offensive rebounds (11) as the Tigers had total rebounds (14) before intermission.

While Memphis is still out-rebounding opponents by five per game — its highest mark in four seasons under Pastner — defensive rebounding remains an area of concern with the Tigers having given up a combined 32 offensive rebounds in their last two games.

Though Black grabbed five of his team-high nine rebounds in the second half Tuesday, Memphis hasn’t gotten enough rebounding production of late from its big men.

Freshman forward Shaq Goodwin had just two rebounds against Xavier and has grabbed five or fewer rebounds in 12 of the past 14 contests. Black, meanwhile, had three or fewer rebounds in nine of the last 13 games, and sophomore forward Adonis Thomas, though he had been more productive on the glass recently, was a non-factor on the boards against Xavier with two.

So Pastner had the entire team scrapping for rebounds and loose balls in an intense practice Thursday. The players, who ended their pre-practice huddle with a chant of “Together,” appeared to respond to his demands for more energy, though that will be better determined by how they play Saturday at Central Florida.

In the meantime, junior guard Antonio Barton, who’s missed the last three weeks with a fractured foot, appears to be nearing a return. Barton, originally expected to miss four to six weeks after injuring the foot in Memphis’ 8976 win at Southern Miss on Feb. 9, did individual shooting drills in practice Thursday, including layups in which he was able to jump and land comfortably on the foot.

Pastner has said there’s a good probability Barton, who was averaging 6.2 points in nearly 19 minutes per game, will be back for the C-USA tournament, which begins in two weeks in Tulsa, Okla.