Memphis improved to 3-1 in conference play and bounced back to .500 on the season with a win over Temple Wednesday night. Despite a late comeback by the Owls, the Tigers were able to force a missed shot during the final seconds of the game to secure a 55-53 win.
Penny Hardaway made another starting lineup change ahead of Wednesday’s game and decided to start Dug McDaniel, Curtis Givens, Quante Berry, Hasan Abdul Hakim and Aaron Bradshaw. Berry, who hasn’t started a game since Dec. 6 against Baylor, made his second start of the year against his former team and finished with five points, two rebounds, a block and a steal.
Nearly eight minutes into the game, Bradshaw went down with an injury and had to be helped off the court. He returned to the bench on crutches and a walking boot, and after the game, Hardaway said that there was no structural damage.
After a 21-point game against FAU, Bradshaw had four points and three rebounds in 10 minutes of action.
As a team, the Tigers shot 33.9 percent from the field, 25 percent from deep and 60 percent from the free-throw line, and they finished the game with 10 steals. They were out-rebounded 41-to-35, but they finished the game with only 11 turnovers.
On the other side, the Owls shot 34 percent from the field, 10.5 percent from deep and 78.9 percent from the free-throw line. Temple, who entered the game averaging 8.8 turnovers per game, turned the ball over 14 times, and Memphis scored 16 points off turnovers.
Injuries continue to hurt the Tigers
Entering the game, Julius Thedford and Thierno Sylla were both listed as out on the conference’s player availability report, and nearly 12 minutes into the game, Bradshaw joined the two with an injury.
All three players have started games this year, and it’s unclear when any of them will return to action. The biggest concern is that the Tigers could be without two bigs moving forward.
While Sylla wasn’t logging a ton of minutes, Memphis will be down to Simon Majok, William Whorton and Tariq Ingraham as the available centers that have played somewhat significant minutes this year if the two injured players miss time. Out of those three players, Majok leads the group with 13.7 minutes per game.
Thedford has shown that he can bring a lot of energy to the court and affect the game in multiple ways.
It’ll be interesting to see if any of those three are able to go on Sunday against UTSA.
Memphis holds off late Temple comeback
Memphis led the game by 13 points with 12:25 left in the game and still had a 10-point lead with 8:32 left in the game. After that basket, Temple rattled off an 8-0 run to cut the lead to two points.
The Tigers only made two field goals in the final eight minutes of the game and finished the game 2-for-12 from the field in that time span. While it looked like Memphis was going to have an all-time collapse, it was able to make a pair of shots late and came up with a defensive stop in the closing seconds to secure the win.
For most of the season, the conversation has centered around the Tigers’ lack of success down the stretch, and while it was ugly, Hardaway’s team was able to do just enough to avoid a loss.
Sincere Parker produces a spark off the bench
Sincere Parker has shown that he can be a nice option off the bench for Hardaway’s team, and he had another impressive performance in that role against Temple. The senior finished with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in 22 minutes, and he finished with a team-leading plus-13 plus-minus rating.
Parker went 4-for-10 from the field and 1-for-3 from deep, but he made up for it in other categories and made a handful of hustle plays throughout the game. Parker was second in scoring, rebounding and assists, and he made the game-clinching shot with 1:13 remaining.
Some have called for Parker to be in the starting lineup, but it seems like Hardaway likes the role that Parker plays as a spark plug off the bench.