The Memphis men's basketball team opened their season with a 76-70 win over San Francisco on Saturday behind 17 points on 6/8 shooting from Quante Berry and 15 points and six rebounds from Sincere Parker.
The Tigers led by as many as 23 points in the second half but had to escape with a win after San Francisco pulled within four points with 2:33 remaining in the game.
“The one thing I was most proud of, and I was proud of a lot, was they stayed together and encouraged each other for the entire game,” head coach Penny Hardaway said after the game. “I never felt like we were in jeopardy of losing. I knew we were going to make some mistakes. But by them staying together, I felt like everything was going to work itself out.”
After two poor showings in exhibition games, including a 100-71 drubbing against Auburn, the mood coming out of the preseason was dour. On Wednesday, Hardaway said that his talented players were not playing hard and that a players only meeting had happened.
Today though, a team that looked disjointed in the exhibitions, looked much more cohesive and like a singular unit.
“A team that didn’t win either exhibition, got blown out both exhibitions, could have been down, could have been out,” Hardaway said. “We rallied together this week, and they came out and went 1-0.”
“The guys, we are close. Off the court, we hang out every day, like we’re close,” said Temple transfer Quante Berry about fixing the struggles. “So it didn’t take much.”
The Tigers were led by their defense today, racking up 16 steals against the Dons, led by Dug McDaniel’s five steals and Zachary Davis’ four steals. They built their 23 point lead by forcing nine turnovers in a 10 minute stretch of the end of the first half and start of the second half, and holding San Francisco to 26.7% from the field in the first half.
Memphis also won the rebounding battle 41-34, a winning effort that was spearheaded by the guard position, a point of emphasis for Hardaway coming out of the exhibitions. 6-foot-4 guard and Memphis native Julius Thedford tallied nine rebounds and McNeese State transfer guard Sincere Parker grabbed six rebounds to lead the Tigers on the glass.
Thedford, and in particular his energy, was a bright spot in his debut in front of the fanbase he dreamed of playing for as a kid.
“(Thedford) is the guy that brings the energy and gets the fire started for the guards,” Hardaway said about Thedford after the game. “He’s just tough, relentless, and doesn’t need the ball to be effective, but he’s going to go out there and do all the big things that you need to happen.”
Despite building a large lead, the Tigers needed to make big plays late to seal the game after San Francisco went on an 18-3 run to pull the game within single digits for the final 10 minutes.
Every time the Dons went on a run and the Tigers needed a bucket though, Quante Berry was there.
With 12:25 to go, he stopped a San Francisco 10-0 run with a three. With 9:42 to go, he ended the 18-3 run with consecutive made shots, a three and a mid-range jumper. Finally, when San Francisco pulled within four with 2:33 to go, Berry hit another three with 2:21 remaining to put the Tigers out of reach for good.
“I thank my teammates for doing a good job finding me in the spot, so I just got to give credit to them,” Berry said after the game.
The Tigers will return to play at Ole Miss for their first road game of the season at 8 p.m. on Nov. 11.
