by Don Mooney. 12-31-2023
Memphis, TN—The Tigers close out non-conference schedule with an 11-2 record, their most wins before the American Athletic Conference season since 2019 with victory over cross-state Austin Peay 81-70 Saturday night at FedEx Forum.
Austin Peay (7-8) and No. 18 Memphis’ (11-2) inner-state clash featured eight lead changes and four instances in which the game came to a stalemate. Memphis struggled to put the Governors (7-8) away after going up by eight points with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. Austin Peay rallied back to tie the game before Jaykwon Walton sunk a triple in the final seconds to send the Tigers to the locker room with a 37-34 advantage.
The Tigers parlayed a 12-2 run midway through the second period into their largest lead of the night, 69-53, behind five-straight points from Jones. The Governors, once again, charged back and got within six points before Memphis put the game away at the free throw line.
The Govs shot 14-of-34 (41.2 percent) from the floor in the first half, while limiting the Tigers to an 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) mark. The Tigers held the lead due largely in part to their mark from the charity stripe, converting on 13-of-15 attempts. Austin Peay split its first two shots from the floor out of the half, with Jones connecting on the latter to cut the Govs’ deficit to two at 41-39 at the 18:27 mark and retook the lead at 44-43 following the under-16 media timeout off another Haney three-pointer. The two Volunteer State foes exchanged scores over the next three minutes until the Tigers went on a 7-1 run, with five of those points coming via the charity stripe, and took a 56-49 lead heading to the midway point of the final period.
Memphis shot 41.0 percent as a team (25-61), but struggled from long distance, hitting just 4-of-18 attempts (22.2%). Senior forward David Jones led for Tigers in double figures with 19 points and five rebounds. Tomlin finished with a monster 15-point, 15-rebound double-double in just 24 minutes off the bench to go along with three blocks. Nichols Jourdain added 12 points and Jahvon Quinerly chipped in 11 points with four assists.
Memphis gears up for AAC action as the Tigers head to Tulsa on January 4 for a 7 p.m. tilt against the Golden Hurricane. They will then return home to host SMU (Jan. 7) and UTSA (Jan. 10).