by Don Mooney
FORT WORTH, Texas —The chant “whoop that trick” coined after the classic movie shot in Memphis Hustle And Flow, rang throughout Dickies Arena Saturday evening as Memphis men’s basketball team locked down Tulane by 40 pts, 94-54. Penny Hardaway had been asking his team to lock in for the full 40 minutes all year. Saturday night, they did just that and showcased to the nation what is possible when they do.
It is the second-largest margin of victory in postseason play for the Tigers in program history (Mar. 7, 1986 vs South Carolina, W 100-59).
Memphis (25-8) will now play for the AAC Tournament crown Sunday afternoon against top-seeded Houston. The Tigers won five of their last six games and now have their most wins in a season since going 31-5 a decade ago in their final Conference USA season before moving to the AAC in 2013-14.
The Tigers saw contributions from their entire roster, but for the second-straight night, DeAndre Williams was an unstoppable force. The fifth-year forward posted another double-double with a game-high 27 points, 11 rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block. Kendric Davis added 20 points, five rebounds and six assists.
Elijah McCadden scored eight points, grabbed six rebounds and dished three assists. Jayden Hardaway finished with eight points and four rebounds in 17 minutes. Damaria Franklin had eight points and seven boards in 18 minutes off the bench, while Chandler Lawson contributed eight points and Malcolm Dandridge six.
Tulane opened the game hitting four of its first six shots, building a 10-5 advantage over the Tigers. From that point on, though, it was all Big Memphis. Chandler Lawson and McCadden scored the next seven points and the Tigers defense locked in.
They held the Green Wave to only two made field goals over the final 16 minutes (2-for-25) and roared into the locker room with a 42-17 lead after Chandler Lawson sank a three-pointer at the buzzer.
The Tigers nailed six triples in the first half and locked Tulane down to just 19.4-percent from the field (6-31). Williams led the way with 13 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
All-AAC first team selections Jalen Cook and Jaylen Forbes got Tulane back to within 18 after combining for 12 quick points, but the Tigers started dialing up the long ball and outscored the Green Wave 42-20 the rest of the way.
Memphis hit 19 of its 21 free throws (.904), drained a season-high 13 threes, outrebounded Tulane 51-41 and outscored the Green Wave 24-5 off the bench.
Tulane (20-11) was led by Jalen Cook’s 15 points. Memphis limited the Green Wave to their season low in points scored (54) and field goal percentage (.258) and held them to their second-lowest mark from three-point range (.185).
The Tigers shot 44.9 percent from the field (31-69), 43.3 percent from long distance (13-30) and 90.5 percent from the free throw line. Their 94 points scored, 51 rebounds and nine blocked shots were the highest-totals allowed this season by the Tulane defense.