Four players Memphis made in double figures on Thursday evening and the 14th ranked Tigers expanded their American athletic conference led to two matches with an 80-65 victory over South Florida in Tampa.
Dain Dainja scored 20 points for the tigers (21-4, 11-1 AAC), who overcame unusually bad shooting to win their eighth straight game. Memphis made only 40.3 percent of its field target attempts and missed 13 of its 30 free throwing but compensated for it with dominant rebounding and good defense.
The tigers received an advantage of 51-34 on the boards and received 16 offensive returns that led to 16 points and limited the bulls (12-13, 5-7) to 38.3 percent shooting from the field. Memphis also got 18 points from PJ Haggery, 15 from Tyrese Hunter and 10 from Colby Rogers.
Jayden Reid, Kobe Knox and Brandon Stroud each made an 11 point for South Florida, while Jamille Reynolds added 10 points and eight returns before they remained with 4:36 left. Bulls also encountered sales problems and committed 15 which Memphis paid for 20 points.
The tigers led by as many as 24 points during the second half and never looked back.
The story that came into this was Junter’s return, which set Sunday’s victory 90-82 over the temple with a knee injury. But at least early on, he and practically fought everyone else on the floor to take care of the ball. The team combined for a huge 16 turnover in the first 13 minutes.
At the same time, Memphis finally found a little foot offensive and began to pull late in the first half. Hunter sank a 3-pointer on the 2:13 mark to make the lead 35-24 and fuel a 12-0 driving. Even after Jimmie Williams was fouled and tried a 3-pointer and made all three Foul Shots with two seconds left, Tigers took a 42-27 advantage for the break.
-Field level media
