Memphis Tigers Basketball, NCAA Basketball NEWS
Tigers Pound Fairfield In Season Opener
Published by MoonDog on November 16, 2008
Freshman Tyreke Evans scored 19 points and No. 12 Memphis overcame an early deficit to defeat Fairfield 90-63 in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-off Tournament on Saturday night at Memphis.
Tyreke Evans Led Memphis with 19 Points
Evans paced five Tigers in double figures in the win over the gritty Stags. Shawn Taggart had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Doneal Mack also scored 14. Antonio Anderson added 12 points, and Robert Dozier finished with 10.
“Tyreke did some good stuff when he drove the ball,” Memphis coach John Calipari said. “He got to the foul line. He’s strong and limber and he moves. He did some good stuff, but he’s got a long way to go.”
“I felt comfortable out there. My shot was not falling because I’ve been a little sick and my ankle’s not right,” Evans said. “[Calipari] told me to do the best to try and drive the ball.”
Warren Edney had 24 points for Fairfield (0-1), while Jonathan Han added 18 points and Greg Nero chipped in 10 points.
With the win, Calipari tied former Tigers head coach Larry Finch with 220 wins, the most for a coach in school history. Finch, who played for the Tigers in the early 1970s, coached Memphis from 1986-1997.
“There’s nobody ever going to replace Larry Finch in this town. Certainly not me,” Calipari said of the milestone.
Wesley Witherspoon added 12 Points for Memphis
“What Larry’s done in this town, what he’s done for this university, what he’s done for basketball in the city in general will never be matched. It doesn’t matter that someone comes along and wins more games than he won.”
Memphis (1-0) had trouble with Fairfield’s zone, settling for outside shots. Calipari screamed at his team to drive the ball to the basket and started working the ball inside to Taggart.
Fairfield took an early 16-7 lead with 14:26 left, but Memphis closed the first half with a 29-9 run and led 45-30 at halftime.
Fairfield head coach Ed Cooley said the Stags lost a lot of momentum when forward Anthony Johnson picked up his second foul midway through the first half.
“When he came out of the game, I thought the game changed a bit,” Cooley said.
The Stags shot 50 percent from the field, including 8-of-18 from 3-point range, but had 26 turnovers, 12 by Han. Cooley said the turnovers were the difference.
“The fact that we shot 50 percent against a defensive team like that is really a credit to our players,” Cooley said. “We just turned the ball over. End of discussion. If you turn the ball over like that, in this part of town, you might as well go home.”
Memphis opened the second half with an 8-2 run that pushed the Tigers lead to 53-32 with 17:15 left in the game. Memphis shot nearly 52 percent from the field and controlled the boards, outrebounding the Stags 32-20.
Another statistic that jumped out was Memphis’ free throw shooting. Last season the Tigers lost the national championship game to Kansas because of their inability to make free throws.
But against Fairfield, Memphis hit 24-of-30 from the charity stripe for 80 percent.
Even with the 27-point win, Calipari wasn’t pleased with the Tigers lack of defensive effort against the Stags. He noted some ball-handling struggles from Evans and fellow freshman Wesley Witherspoon, and a lack of hustle at times.
“We’re going to be OK,” Calipari said. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve got to get better defensively. You have to.”
Up next for Memphis are the Massachusetts Minutemen, formerly coached by Calipari. UMass is 1-1, losing Saturday night to Southern Illinois in the Coaches versus Cancer Classic. Tip-off for Tuesday’s game has been set for 11:00 p.m. Central.
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