Davis’ injury complicates Memphis’ NCAA hopes
Penny Hardaway stared into the cameras late Thursday night inside Fedexforum, still bemused at how he survived just about the craziest ending to a college basketball game you’ll ever see.
“Man, I don’t even know where to start,” Hardaway said. “So much happened.”
A star was hurt, and the game nearly slipped away. A season almost shifted, and the path to Selection Sunday suddenly became more complicated.
But of all the incredibly unlikely things that happened while Memphis basketball pulled off the bewildering, beautiful mess that became its 64-63 win over UCF, it’s best to begin with what it looked like at the very end.
When the refs could have called a foul, and probably should have.
That’s what Damaria Franklin was trying to do in those closing seconds, when UCF’S Darius Johnson had the ball nursing a one-point lead. That’s what Penny Hardaway was screaming for the Tigers to do, over the din of an unusually loud student section, “and the team acted as if they didn’t hear me.”
That’s the only way this plays out the way it did.
That’s how Franklin, the transfer who got his eligibility late and had yet to really find his footing at Memphis, wound up frantically knocking the ball free. That’s why redshirt freshman Johnathan Lawson, unable to completely corral the loose ball himself, punched it back toward Franklin streaking down court. That’s when Franklin contorted his body just enough to complete a lefthanded layup, avoiding the outstretched arms of UCF’S Taylor Hendricks, the 6-foot-9 projected firstround draft pick whom 20 NBA scouts came to see.
“Biggest steal of the year, and the biggest finish of the year,” Hardaway said, and it somehow felt like that was underselling the peril these Tigers had somehow escaped.
Franklin’s game winner wasn’t simply the final shot. It was the only shot attempt Memphis got off over the final 5:21 of regulation. Elijah Mccadden scored on a layup to put the Tigers up 58-45 in the second half, and the whole operation just went off the rails from there.
During the 22 possessions leading into Franklin’s heroics, Memphis went 2-of-10 from the field and had 11 turnovers. Super senior Deandre Williams, such a force in recent weeks, had three of his game-high eight turnovers in the final four minutes and twice missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw situation. The Tigers had only six points in 12 minutes to close the game.
It was that dire as Kendric Davis sat on the bench wearing a walking boot. He had hurt his right ankle in the first half, right after setting the American Athletic Conference career scoring record, and right after the Tigers came bursting out to a 19-4 lead. They lost their point guard (and their other point guard, Alex Lomax, still isn’t back from his groin injury), and they lost all semblance of cohesion on offense. Nineteen of their 24 turnovers occurred once Davis left the game.
“It was just uncomfortable for everybody,” said Mccadden, and everybody seemed to understand the stakes moving forward.
Hardaway didn’t rule Davis out of Sunday’s showdown at No. 2 Houston, hopeful that the aggravation of this ankle injury isn’t as bad as it looked when Davis had to be helped to the locker room.
But there’s a caveat that should be emphasized the next few days, as Memphis ponders its new circumstances surrounding this push for the NCAA tournament.
It was far more important for the Tigers to beat UCF this week than it is for them to upset Houston this weekend. Just as it will be more important that they win at Wichita State next week, and against Cincinnati and SMU after that. Losing to Houston does no damage to their resume. Losing to anyone else in the AAC does.
So here’s one vote for holding Davis out of this initial Houston game, even if he says he can play. Here’s one vote for trying to get him as healthy as possible for the games Memphis can’t afford to lose. If Thursday proved anything, it’s that these Tigers’ resiliency can only take them so far without him.
His absence puts pressure on Mccadden to be a primary ball handler. It puts pressure on Lomax to return. It puts pressure on Williams to do even more than he has the past month. It puts pressure on the Tigers’ defense, a weakness this season that turned into a saving grace as Memphis stumbled and bumbled its way to the finish line Thursday.
UCF went just 2-of-13 from the field in the final nine minutes, and the last miss was as crucial for Memphis as its last make.
There were, after all, still seven seconds left when Franklin scored and UCF’S Johnson had the ball once more in the open floor. Only Williams stood between him and the basket. So the 26year-old who couldn’t stay out of foul trouble earlier this season, who couldn’t come through once Davis went out, walled off Johnson perfectly and forced an awkward layup that bounced off the rim twice.
The ball eventually wound up in Franklin’s hands, and he tossed it high into the air as the buzzer sounded.
“You can’t script it any better,” Hardaway said, forgetting for a moment that the very end of this wild scene featured Davis, wearing a walking boot and on crutches, heading back to the locker room and the convoluted immediate future that now awaits this Memphis team.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto