by Don Mooney 3-16-2025
Tigers bench erupts as senior center Moussa Cisse slams door on Tulane 78-77. photo by Don Mooney
FORT WORTH, Texas – A fierce contest last evening. Laced with fouls and replays it was apparent something important was at state. Eventually top-seeded Memphis men’s basketball team scraped out a victory over the Green Wave of Tulane Saturday afternoon 78-77 to advance to the American Athletic Conference Championship finals for the third time in four years.
Led by forward Dain Dainja‘s game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds, the Tigers pulled out the win after PJ Haggerty sank eight of his 14 made free throws in the final 40 seconds of the game.
Memphis will now play for the AAC Tournament crown Sunday afternoon against No. 3 seed UAB. The Tigers have won 15 of their last 16 games and have their most wins in a season since going 31-5 in their final Conference USA season (2012-13) before moving to the AAC.
Tiger faithful roar with excitement as their team prepares for AAC title this afternoon. photo by Don Mooney
“First and foremost for me, to God be the glory,” Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway said. “Thank God for the opportunity to get this W. That is 28 wins, which is really amazing. Tulane did a phenomenal job today. They had a great game plan going and took us to the wire.
“To my guys, I’m super proud of them because we hit adversity today and we withstood the storm and got a great victory. Dain, unbelievable job all day. What a phenomenal game from him.” Along with Dainja’s performance, Haggerty added in 18 points and nine boards while Moussa Cisse came off the bench for a 10-point, 11-rebound performance.
Tigers center Dain Dainja was swarmed most of the night still managed a double-double. photo by Don Mooney
Coming off a slow start in the beginning, Memphis (28-5) was able to pull away with a 39-32 lead going into the half after PJ Carter nailed his first of three buckets from long range. The Tigers lead lasted less than two minutes into the second half as Tulane strung together a 7-0 run out of the break to tie things up at 39-39.
Memphis seemingly started to pull away a few minutes later with an 8-0 of its own behind a tip-in and an alley oop from Cisse sandwiched around a pull-up 3-pointer from Carter that gave the Tigers a 53-46 advantage. From that point on after a Tulane layup with 12:45 to play, the game saw six lead changes and five ties while neither team had more than a two-possession lead.
After Haggerty’s go-ahead free throws that put Memphis in front 72-71 with 40 seconds remaining, Tulane’s Rowan Brumbaugh had a layup pinned against the backboard by Cisse. The refs initially ruled it was interference and counted the basket, but changed the call after a review.
The Green Wave retained possession with 26 seconds on the clock, but Haggerty then poked the ball away from Brumbaugh, diving over him to grab the rock and call timeout. Haggerty made six free throws after that.
Tiger fans are faithful and travel well. photo by Don Mooney
Brumbaugh, who led Tulane with 22 points, closed the game with a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Memphis a 78-77 victory. Kam Williams added 16 points and eight boards for the Green Wave, while Asher Woods contributed 15 points, six rebounds and five dimes. The Tigers struggled shooting the ball for most of the afternoon, connecting on 38.5 percent (25-65) overall from the floor. They also went just 5-of-23 from long distance (21.7%) and 23-of-38 at the free throw line (60.5%).