Guard Lomax sparks Memphis’ rally
While the Memphis basketball team’s newly adopted offensive scheme – dubbed “lion” by coach Penny Hardaway – did not translate into a drastically improved attack Tuesday, the Tigers made it work.
Alex Lomax and Deandre Williams’ second-half performances helped Memphis erase a double-digit deficit with less than 10 minutes to play and leave Fedexforum with a 58-57 victory over South Florida.
Here are five observations from Tuesday’s victory by the Tigers (6-4, 2-1 AAC).
The turning point
Expectations were high for Lomax entering his third season in a Memphis uniform.
But the former East High star hadn’t come close to living up to them through the first nine games. Lomax was averaging less than four points and looked lost and overmatched the majority of his time on the floor.
But Lomax, who sat out last week’s loss to Tulsa, rescued the Tigers when the Bulls were on the verge of putting the game out of reach.
With the Tigers trailing 46-34 with less than 10 minutes left, Lomax picked off an errant pass by David Collins. He made a layup, got fouled and made the free throw to cut the deficit to single digits.
Lomax’s hustle play jump-started Memphis, which completed a 22-6 run that put it up 55-52 with 2:03 left after Lester Quinones sank a layup after another steal by Lomax.
Caleb Murphy makes it difficult
Trailing 25-23 at halftime, USF’S Collins missed a jumper 14 seconds into the second half.
Less than a minute later, after Williams extended the Tigers’ lead to
27-23, Murphy – ball in hand – broke for the goal with a full head of steam. Not even Moussa Cisse’s 6-10 frame and 7-4 wing span could stop him.
Murphy dropped the hammer over Cisse’s outstretched right arm, setting off a raucous reaction from USF’S bench. The dunk sparked a stretch for the Bulls where they went 9-of-13 from the field and built a 46-34 lead.
Murphy finished with a game-high 20 points for USF, which was without star forward Alexis Yetna (lower leg strain).
Lomax vs. Murphy
With the game on the line, USF turned to Murphy.
The Bulls, trailing 58-57 with 13 seconds left, called a timeout. The ball went to Murphy immediately and never left his hands until he attempted a shot.
But with Lomax defending, Murphy’s attempt was off-balance and the shot was blocked by D.J. Jeffries. The ball slowly rolled toward the baseline as the final couple of seconds ticked. Before the ball went out of bounds, the clock expired.
Clutch Quinones
Quinones, a sophomore guard for the Tigers, has come on strong of late.
But he was as clutch Tuesday as he’s been all season. Quinones gave Memphis leads twice inside the final five minutes with his only 3-pointers of the game. The first came with 4:56 to play and put the Tigers up 51-48.
Then, with 1:08 remaining, Quinones dropped in another from the right wing to make it a 58-55 Memphis lead. Quinones, who led the Tigers with 13 points, was 2-for-4 from deep. Landers Nolley II, who had 10 points, also hit a pair of 3-pointers in four attempts. The rest of the team was 0-for-7.
Late pressure from Williams
USF committed 17 turnovers. Nine of them came in the final 10 minutes.
Williams, playing in his third game as a Tiger after sitting out the first seven due to NCAA transfer rules, made the most of his time on the floor late.
The former Evansville standout came up with four of his five steals and one of his two blocks. Memphis turned Williams’ four late steals into six points.