The Memphis Tigers men's basketball team got their best win of the season on Saturday when they defeated the Baylor Bears 78-71 — a necessary start to a crucial stretch of games to finish non-conference play.
After starting 1-4, the worst start since the 1996-97 season, the Tigers are winners of three straight and have clawed their way back to 4-4 heading into two potentially season-defining games at No. 6 Louisville and against No. 17 Vanderbilt at home.
“We haven’t won this type of game this year,” head coach Penny Hardaway said after the 78-71 victory over Baylor on Saturday. “We’ve lost those games and that confidence is going to go a long ways before you go on the road to play a rivalry.”
As it stands today, Memphis is winless in Quadrant 1 and 2 games, which are the wins that stand out on your resume for the NCAA Tournament. With the limited opportunities that will be available to them in American Conference play, if Memphis wants an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, they will need to win one of their next two games, both of which are clear Quadrant 1 opportunities.
No. 6 Louisville will be a renewal of a historic rivalry in front of a sure-to-be raucous road crowd for the Tigers at the KFC Yum Center against an incredibly talented team that owns convincing wins against No. 18 Kentucky and No. 22 Indiana.
No. 17 Vanderbilt at home will be a challenge as well, as the Commodores are one of eight remaining unbeatens in the nation, winners of the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament and have won every game except one they have played this year by double-digits.
The Commodores may even be underrated by the AP Poll. In the computers, they rate as the consensus best team in the SEC and are ranked No. 6 in the NET rankings, No. 7 in Torvik and No. 8 at KenPom.
What gives the Memphis Tigers hope is the emergence of two players, Zach Davis and Aaron Bradshaw, who were expected to be heavily relied upon in the preseason but struggled early in the year. Both had career-highs against Baylor, Davis with 23 points and 13 rebounds and Bradshaw with 17 points, and believe that the Tigers have turned a corner.
“With (Bradshaw) playing the way he played, I played the way I played, the team played the way we play… we’re very hard to beat,” Zach Davis said after the Baylor game. “We’re definitely a top 25 team and we showed it versus previous teams.”
The Tigers will get their next chance to prove that they are playing like a top 25 team at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 13 when they tip off against No. 6 Louisville.
