Coming off back-to-back road losses at North Texas and SMU, Memphis rallied to a convincing 76-52 win over the Charlotte 49ers on Wednesday in the FedEx Forum.
“If we play at this level we can win out, including the conference championship,” said coach Penny Hardaway, citing a lack of energy as the reason behind the back-to-back away losses.
Senior guard Jahvon Quinerly led the Tigers with 17 points, shooting a clean 50% from the field while also adding 6 assists and 3 steals. Nae'Qwan Tomlin followed close behind, adding 16 points and 7 rebounds.
The first half was close, mostly due to the red-hot start from the 49ers. Charlotte shot 57% from the field in the first half (including 56% from three), trailing only by five at the break.
Memphis started slow, only managing 3 of 11 to fall from three-point range in the first half, The Tiger’s 16 first half points in the paint kept them in it and gave them the confidence needed to run away with the game.
The second half was a completely different story.
The 49ers shot an abysmal 8 of 25 from the field in the second half, including shooting 8% from three (1 of 12).
As a team, Charlotte was held to just 17 second half points. Memphis showed the same defensive prowess that was used in the win against Temple.
Memphis stayed on the attack going into the second half, jumping out to a quick 8-0 run in the first 2 minutes.
The Tigers’ continued to have issues controlling the ball, recording 15 turnovers. However, they forced 12 turnovers themselves and got some key Charlotte players into foul trouble early.
Memphis outrebounded Charlotte 38 to 20, furthermore grabbing 14 offensive boards to Charlotte’s 4.
“We’re not a great offensive rebounding team, we’re not a great defensive rebounding team,” said Hardaway. “We talked about hitting today, not just rebounds but hitting the physicality.”
Memphis resumes action against Florida Atlantic University on Sunday. The game will be on ESPN at 1 P.M. CT.
