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Memphis 72, Miami (FL) 68
Welcome to another college basketball season.The problems that so often afflict young hoopsters in hard-nosed hardwood competition are especially prevalent in November, when seasons are new and lessons have yet to sink in.Fortunately for the Memphis Tigers, an old bugaboo didn’t resurface in one of the more significant games of the hour hoops marathon schedule that’s unfolding across the country.
It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t terribly impressive, but Memphis’s scores four-point escape against the Miami Hurricanes definitely carries a lot of value on the 16th day of November. Winning any contest played under unusual circumstances – this tilt had an 11 p.m. local time tip-off at the FedEx Forum in Memphis – should be seen as a decided plus for a program that missed the NCAA Tournament last year. Memphis spentand the early months of digging out of the ditch created by John Calipari’s abrupt departure for the University of western Kentucky. Nowthat Coach Josh Pastner has a second year under his belt in this hoops hotbed, Memphis might actually be able to go places and put on its Dancing shoes come March. This blue-collar survival act against Coach Frank Haith’s Hurricanes will certainly get the men of Memphis a lot closer to their goal.The point has to be underscored in big, bright letters: Style points might count in college football, but they don’t matter at all in basketball. Winning is the important thing, margins be damned. Memphis did not play an attractive game against Miami, but the boys in blue wearing road jerseys in front of a home crowd) gained the result they so profoundly needed.
This was a typical display of overexuberant and wisdom-poor basketball in the first week of the season. Almost everyone on the floor in this game displayed a general lack of shooting touch combined with a fairly low basketball IQ. Threes were hoisted left and right, taken off dribbles or without receiving passes and squaring up to the basket.It’s no wonder that the two teams combined to hit just 7 of 41 3-point shots, under 20 percent all told. Miami went 3-of-19 behind the arc and Memphis posted a 4-of-22 performance from long distance. A total of 58 fouls were called in this game, 29 on both sides, leading to a total of 75 foul shots. Miami missed 11 of its 36 tries from the charity stripe, while Memphis missed only nine of its 39 attempts. In a four-point game, that’s the stat which made the difference. More precisely, Memphis came good at the line in the final few minutes, making six of its last eight free throws to inch ahead of the Hurricanes. Charles Carmouche broke a 66-all tie with two made foul shots at the one-minute mark of regulation. With Miami unable to hit the bad threes it launched on ensuing possessions, the Tigers added to their free-throw tally and walked away in triumph. The Hurricanes were foiled in their attempt to create a March-worthy resume in the middle of a Memphis night.
Memphis 72, Miami (FL) 68
Welcome to another college basketball season. The problems that so often afflict young hoopsters in hard-nosed hardwood competition are especially prevalent in November, when seasons are new and lessons have yet to sink in. Fortunately for the Memphis Tigers, an old bugaboo didn’t resurface in one of the more significant games of the 24-hour hoops marathon that’s unfolding across the country.
It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t terribly impressive, but Memphis’s four-point escape against the Miami Hurricanes definitely carries a lot of value on the 16th day of November. Winning any contest played under unusual circumstances – this tilt had an 11 p.m. local time tip-off at the FedEx Forum in Memphis – should be seen as a decided plus for a program that missed the NCAA Tournament last year. Memphis spent and the early months of 2010 digging out of the ditch created by John Calipari’s abrupt departure for the University of Kentucky. Now that Coach Josh Pastner has a second year under his belt in this hoops hotbed, Memphis might actually be able to go places and put on its Dancing shoes come March. This blue-collar survival act against Coach Frank Haith’s Hurricanes will certainly get the men of Memphis a lot closer to their goal.The point has to be under score in big, bright letters: Style points might count in college football, but they don’t matter at all in basketball. Winning is the important thing, margins be damned. Memphis did not play an attractive game against Miami, but the boys in blue wearing road jerseys in front of a home crowd) gained the results they so profoundly needed.
This was a typical display of overexuberant and wisdom-poor basketball in the first week of the season. Almost everyone on the floor in this game displayed a general lack of shooting touch combined with a fairly low basketball IQ. Threes were hoisted left and right, taken off dribbles or without receiving passes and squaring up to the basket.It’s no wonder that the two teams combined to hit just 7 of 41 3-point shots, under 20 percent all told. Miami went 3-of-19 behind the arc and Memphis posted a 4-of-22 performance from long distance. A total of 58 fouls were called in this game, 29 on both sides, leading to a total of 75 foul shots. Miami missed 11 of its 36 tries from the charity stripe, while Memphis missed only nine of its 39 attempts. In a four-point game, that’s the stat which made the difference. More precisely, Memphis came good at the line in the final few minutes, making six of its last eight free throws to inch ahead of the Hurricanes. Charles Carmouche broke a 66-all tie with two made foul shots at the one-minute mark of regulation. With Miami unable to hit the bad threes it launched on ensuing possessions, the Tigers added to their free-throw tally and walked away in triumph. The Hurricanes were foiled in their attempt to create a March-worthy resume in the middle of a Memphis night.
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The only two players who really impressed in this state contest were Miami’s Durand Scott and Memphis’s Joe Jackson. These backcourt studs displayed the shooting touch that was absent everywhere else on the court. Scott hit 5-of-11 shots in an efficient 20-point performance his teammates couldn’t replicate. Jackson used his dazzling speed to get near the rim and finish plays with a consistency that other Memphis performers failed to match.All in all, both of these teams have a lot of growing up to do. Thankfully for Memphis, old-demon foul shots didn’t lead to a loss, as was the case in the 2008 national championship game against Kansas. It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it sure was important: The renewal of Memphis after a lost 2010 season can finally begin in earnest.
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