It’s not always as impressive as its fans — or probably its players and coaches — would prefer, but No. 19 Memphis continues to win even when it doesn’t play its best.
After muddling through a first half in which it led by only three points in a 68-56 American Athletic Conference win at Tulane on Thursday night, the Tigers will try for a more consistent performance Sunday afternoon when they journey to Houston for a conference date with struggling Rice.
“As long as you win those games, I’m not going to look at everything as a negative,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said.
The Tigers (17-4, 7-1), who have won four games in a row and eight of their past nine, are tied with North Texas atop the AAC despite some mediocre outings.
While they defended well at Tulane, limiting the Green Wave to 36.2 percent shooting from the field and 4 of 24 from the 3-point line, Memphis shot only 44.8 percent from the floor and couldn’t exhale until a Colby Rogers 3-pointer with 2:07 left gave them a 64-54 lead.
Rogers gave Memphis fans some hope that he might be emerging from a shooting slump. He hit four 3-pointers and scored all 14 of his points in the second half at Tulane, boosting his scoring average to 11.4 points per game.
Last season, he averaged a career-high 16.5 points while playing for Wichita State.
Rogers and Dain Dainja each picked up slack Thursday for PJ Haggerty, who endured a rare off-night with just eight points on 3-of-11 shooting from the field.
Haggerty still enters Sunday’s game averaging a team-high 21.4 points a game, which ranks fifth in Division I.
And Hardaway said he appreciates his team’s ability to pull together for a win when its top players struggle.
“Winning tough games shows you who you’re really working with,” Hardaway said.
While the Tigers aim to maintain their position atop the league, Rice (11-10, 2-6) is searching for consistency and a result that might turn its season around. The Owls most recently played Tuesday night, losing 69-64 at South Florida for their sixth straight setback.
Rice defended and rebounded well enough to win but couldn’t reward itself offensively. It held the Bulls to 40 percent shooting from the floor and earned a 41-37 rebounding advantage but made only 22 of 55 field-goal tries and committed 19 turnovers.
Inaccurate shooting and a lack of scoring punch have hurt the Owls this season. They average just 70 point a game, 280th in Division I, and rank 317th in field-goal percentage at 41.7.
The Owls also are 256th in 3-point percentage at 32.4 and 285th in free-throw percentage at 68.3.
But Rice is closer than one might think to owning a winning conference record. Four of their most recent losses have been by a combined 16 points, including one-possession defeats to Temple and Florida Atlantic.
“The conference is a different landscape, and we’re adapting to it,” Owls coach Rob Lanier said. “But that’s our learning curve right now. Now we’ve got to play better.”
USC Upstate transfer Trae Broadnax is the team’s leading scorer at an average of 12.8 points a game and is coming off a 12-point, five-assist showing at South Florida.
–Field Level Media
