by Don Mooney. 3-15-24
7-footer Ballard made the going tough for Memphis all night in the paint. photo by Don Mooney
FORT WORTH – No. 12 seed Wichita State snapped a nine-game losing streak vs. fifth-seeded Memphis, eliminating the Tigers in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Championship, 71-65, Thursday afternoon at Dickies Arena.
Wichita State (15-18) advances to Friday’s quarterfinals and will face fourth-seeded UAB at 2 p.m. on ESPN2. Memphis’ loss means there will be a new champion crowned and the Tigers will not repeat as the tournament champs. This will be Wichita State’s fifth American Championship quarterfinal appearance in seven years.
photo by Don Mooney
The Shockers had been 1-10 in their last 11 games vs. Memphis. In the game at Memphis back in February, Wichita State also led by 14, eventually falling on a last second shot by David Jones. This game was trending that direction again after Wichita State led by as many as 14 in the second half only to see the Tigers claw back to take the lead.
photo by Don Mooney
Memphis hit four-straight shots and used a 9-0 scoring run midway through the first half, highlighted by a poster slam from Tomlin, that put the Tigers in front 18-14. The game see-sawed back-and-forth over the next few minutes, until Wichita State went into the break with a 35-33 lead behind 54-percent shooting from the field.
The Shockers had Memphis on its heels to start the second half as they came out and scored the first nine points to take a 44-33 advantage less than four minutes in. The Tigers didn’t have an answer for Wichita State on the defensive end, allowing the Shockers to hit 12-of-20 shots over a 14-minute span to build their largest lead of the game at 55-41.
Memphis tried to mount a comeback with nine-consecutive points, during which Jordan Brown scored six, to cut it to 55-50. After a pair of Wichita State free throws, the Tigers roared back with another run, this time an 8-0 spurt from Jones to give Memphis its first lead, 58-57, since the 5:37 mark of the first half. Less than 30 seconds later, Wichita State scored the next seven points to regain the lead for good and Memphis could never get any closer than four points the rest of the way.
A stepback triple from Rogers with 2:26 to go made it a four-point game, silencing the Memphis faithful. An offensive rebound putback from DeGray then pushed it to 64-58 with 1:33 left. Back-to-back Beverly layups after Memphis scores kept it a six-point game with 43 seconds on the clock. Two Cortes free throws iced the game in the final seconds after a Memphis three brought it back to four.
NEXT:
Friday, March 15
Game 7 – No. 8 East Carolina vs. No. 1 South Florida – 1 p.m. ET/Noon CT | ESPN2
Stats | ESPN2 | South Florida Notes
Game 8 – No. 12 Wichita State vs. No. 4 UAB – 3 p.m. ET/2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Stats | ESPN2 | UAB Notes
Game 9 – No. 7 North Texas vs. No. 2 Florida Atlantic – 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Stats | ESPNU | Florida Atlantic Notes
Game 10 – No. 11 Temple vs. No. 3 Charlotte – 9 p.m. ET/8 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Stats | ESPNU | Charlotte Notes