The Memphis Tigers earned their signature victory of the young season by defeating Baylor 78-71 Saturday behind Zach Davis’ career-highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds and Aaron Bradshaw’s 17 points and 7 rebounds.
The Tigers slowed down the high-flying Bears, who came into the game averaging 90.1 points per game, and held them to their lowest point total of the season to get back to .500 after starting the year 1-4.
“As long as we give it our all, we know we’re going to have an opportunity to win,” head coach Penny Hardaway said after the game. “Now that everybody’s buying into that, we look different, we walk different, we talk different, and it’s starting to feel normal again because all 15 guys are starting to buy into that.”
The biggest surprise of the game was the play of Aaron Bradshaw, who was held out of the New Orleans game due to a coach’s decision. Bradshaw, a former 5-star recruit and the most ballyhooed member of the Tigers roster in high school, has been unable to unlock his talent in his two years at Kentucky and Ohio State, and looked like that disappointing player the first seven games at Memphis.
In this game though, he responded by tying his career-high in points that he set two years ago in his second college game against Penn and impacted the game at a level he had yet to this year.
“I trust coach,” Bradshaw said after the game. “He was one of the best. So, just hearing him say that, just hearing him get on me… I need it.”
Despite missing Julius Thedford with a knee injury, Curtis Givens III with a thigh injury and Hasan Abdul-Hakim for personal reasons, some of their best rebounders and ball handlers, the Tigers were able to punish Baylor on the offensive glass and took good care of the ball.
Memphis got 21 points off of 18 offensive rebounds and only turned the ball over nine times. This offset Baylor’s biggest advantage, three point shooting, where the Bears hit 10 of their 28 shots from deep, while Memphis only hit three three-pointers in the game.
“You win a lot of games with nine turnovers and 18 offensive rebounds, and made free throws, 19 for 25, I mean 76%. That’s winning basketball,” Baylor head coach and 2021 NCAA Tournament Champion Scott Drew said after the game.
Apart from the standouts Davis and Bradshaw, Memphis got timely plays and solid performances from many other players.
Freshman Simon Majok continued to show flashes of his potential, particularly with a perfect block of Baylor’s Cameron Carr’s dunk attempt late in the first half. The backcourt of Dug McDaniel and Sincere Parker made big shots and steadied the Tigers down the stretch.
The biggest development for the Tigers though, was their ability to finish. In their two losses in the Bahamas, Memphis was leading by three with 6:54 remaining against Purdue and lost 80-71 and was up 11 points with 7:00 remaining against Wake Forest before losing at the buzzer on a Myles Colvin three-pointer.
Today, Memphis found themselves down 53-45 with 12:42 left in the game, and clawed their way back to a tie game. After five lead changes in 2:30 of game time, Memphis took the lead for good off two Sincere Parker free throws with 5:03 to go, set up by Aaron Bradshaw diving out of bounds for a loose ball.
The Tigers then extended the lead off of seven points from Zach Davis in the final 4:07 of the game, a Parker midrange jumper and a nifty McDaniel layup. Bradshaw then streaked down the court with seconds remaining to put the exclamation mark on the game with a buzzer beating, breakaway dunk.
“We needed this win. We’ve been down, but not out, and the guys have been working so hard,” Hardaway said. “We haven’t won this type of game this year. We’ve lost those games and that confidence is going to go a long ways.”
Memphis will need that confidence, and more, for their next game when they go on the road to renew their historic rivalry with No. 6 Louisville at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 13.
