Houston uses buzzer-beater to escape Memphis with win
Memphis and Houston, the rematch, had it all.
The No. 1 college basketball team in the country. The 2nd-place team in the American Athletic Conference. The legendary CBS broadcast team of Jim Nantz and Bill Raftery. A raucous, sellout crowd inside Fedexforum that included a handful of representatives from Barstool Sports on hand to help Tiger Nation root for an upset.
The only thing the rematch didn’t have was a Memphis win. Houston’s Jamal Shead made a layup with 1:13 left in the game to break a tie game. The Tigers’ defense forced an ensuing turnover (Houston’s 14th of the game) with 28 seconds left and Kendric Davis made a layup to tie things up again. But Shead created enough space to knock down a jumper as time expired to give Houston a 67-65 win.
The officials huddled around the replay monitor to make sure Shead got the shot off before the buzzer and confirmed he did.
Davis led all scorers with 26 points. Chandler Lawson contributed 10 for the Tigers. Deandre Williams had eight points and six assists, and Malcolm Dandridge scored nine for Memphis.
Shead put up 16 for Houston (29-2, 17-1 AAC), as did Tramon Mark. Marcus Sasser, the preseason AAC Player of the Year, managed 13 points.
Hardaway addressed the fans before leaving the floor.
“I want to thank you guys for a great season,” he said. “Our season is not over. We believe in ourselves. We’re gonna keep fighting for our city.”
Memphis (23-8, 13-5) is now 0-11 alltime against top-ranked teams. The Tigers will play next at 6 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth. The opponent has not yet been determined.
A pivotal momentum swing
The Tigers were on a roll.
Staring up at a 28-18 deficit, they had withstood an early Houston scoring barrage and a healthy dose of the Cougars’ patented suffocating defense. They had found their footing, most notably by taking advantage of the visitors’ aggressiveness on both ends of the floor.
During a 2:24 stretch, Memphis got to the free throw line often – converting 7 out of 8 attempts – and seized on four Houston turnovers to make it a 33-29 game with 4:52 left in the first half.
Then, the Cougars snatched momentum back on one possession. The Tigers missed three straight shots around the basket (two by Davis, one by Williams) and Houston was up and running. Emmanuel Sharp and Tramon Mark sandwiched made 3-pointers around a missed 3-point try from Davis to stretch the Cougars’ lead back to 10 points.
Houston went into the half up 41-32.
Houston’s plan
It was simple, really. On offense, concentrate primarily on the 3-point line. On defense, make life very difficult for everyone – especially Davis and Williams.
For the most part, both strategies worked like a charm. Eight of the Cougars’ first 12 field goal attempts were from deep. They only made three during that stretch but finished the first half with seven.
Defensively, Houston repeatedly trapped Davis almost every time he touched the ball beyond the perimeter
and applied its brand of physicality to Williams whenever he received an entry pass. As a result, Davis and Williams
were just 4-for-13 from the field in the first half.