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Memphis rolls past Arkansas State 83-54 in socially-distanced home opener

The Memphis Tigers returned to a socially distanced FedExForum Wednesday night for their home opener against Arkansas State. Coming off a disappointing showing in the Crossover Classic last week, which included a 70-59 head scratcher loss to Virginia Commonwealth in the tournament’s third-place game, they were chomping at the bit for another opportunity to take the floor and get back in the win column.  

Memphis quickly went to its press defense and flustered the opponent early, turning the visitors over eleven times and limiting them to just 27% shooting in the first half. Despite struggling from three, the Tigers still dominated on the glass and took a 48-26 lead into intermission.  

In the second, the visitors flirted with getting back into the game numerous times, but the Memphis defense proved ultimately to be too tough. For the night, they held Arkansas State to just 38% shooting from the floor, won the rebounding margin 49-32 and forced 18 turnovers. Landers Nolley paced the scoring effort with a team-high 23 points off the bench, Lester Quinones and Moussa Cisse each tallied a double-double and Memphis rolled to an 83-54 victory over Arkansas State to improve to 2-2.  

“Very pleased with the ball movement,” coach Penny Hardaway said. “It’s something that we had been doing in practice for three months, and then all of a sudden, we get to South Dakota and we stop passing the ball.” 

A key development of the night was the new-look starting lineup. After seeing his guards struggle with poor shot selection and turnovers in South Dakota, Hardaway shook things up Wednesday night, shuffling Damion Baugh and Boogie Ellis into the starting group in place of Alex Lomax and Landers Nolley.  

The lineup was nothing major,” Nolley said. “Next man up. We support the next man just like we would want them to support us. We weren’t doing our job, so the next man stepped up and we got the win.” 

Next up for Memphis is another home clash with Central Arkansas. Tip against the Bears is set for Friday at 7 p.m.  


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