The University of Memphis basketball team has had one crazy season so far. They came in with high expectations of hoping to win their first NCAA championship.
Now, that goal is still intact, but the odds of the achievement has dropped in regards to the talented 7’3 center, James Wiseman, leaving school to go pro. Memphis still has a good team to make a run in March.
The backcourt of Alex Lomax and Damion Baugh provides the heavy perimeter defense, then the outside stroke of Lester Quinones is red hot since his return from his hand injury and then there is the new “go-to guy” in Precious Achiuwa.
Three out of those four names are freshmen.
But this team goes even deeper than those four guys, but who is a key piece that has been silent but arisen in the game against Cincinnati?
Malcolm Dandridge.
Dandridge is a Memphis native, and the new center on this team. He played for Penny Hardaway at East High School and was the first recruit from this historic number one recruiting class to jump on board here at the University of Memphis.
The 4-star prospect came into the season recovering from his knee injury and many people questioned whether he would play or not.
In fact, his first game as a Tiger did not come until the Thanksgiving game against NC State where he only played seven minutes. Couple weeks later James Wiseman broke the college sports world that he would be leaving Memphis to turn pro. The big man position was indeed up for grabs, and the competition was between Dandridge and Isaiah Maurice.
Maurice has been getting the starting nod over Dandridge in a lot of the games this season, but the freshman has emerged and is starting to get more comfortable as the season goes on.
Maurice’s bad play as of late has been a key factor into Dandridge getting more minutes. The lone senior (Maurice) on the team has been averaging just 2.9 rebounds per game and has been shooting the ball at a low rate of 36 percent. Dandridge on the other hand, since his start against South Florida has really emerged and has embraced the center position for the Tigers.
In the game against Cincinnati, Dandridge dropped just three points, but he was active in every other category for Memphis. He grabbed seven rebounds, dished four assists, collected four steals and blocked 3 shots in 27 minutes of action. He was a catalyst late for Memphis when the Bearcats were gaining the lead onto the Tigers.
“Malcom helped a lot today. That is what I am challenging him to do on a game-to-game basis,” Head coach Penny Hardaway said after the game against Cincinnati. “You have to come out and make your presence felt.”
Achiuwa also had kind words for his 6’9 teammate after the game versus the Bearcats.
“Malcom had a really big game today. He was just a big body that we needed today to bang inside,” Achiuwa said. “He helped me out a lot because I didn’t have to do much of the banging. His presence in the paint like blocking shots helped us stay in the game.”
Dandridge is a huge x-factor on this basketball team. He is going to need to be more aggressive going after every rebound and blocking shots in the paint if Memphis wants to make this stretch run to a conference championship and national title.
Hardaway has been waiting on him to emerge and now if he can get more and more chances like he has been as of late, it could be special.
