Tulane University
Memphis
Green Wave Drop Hard Fought Battle with Memphis, 77-64
Feb 17, 2010 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 17, 2010
NEW ORLEANS - Kendall Timmons poured in a career-high 23 points as the Tulane men's basketball team dropped a hard fought battle with Memphis, 77-64, on Wednesday night in Fogelman Arena.
The Green Wave (7-18, 2-10 C-USA) stayed closed to Memphis (19-7, 9-2 C-USA) the entire game and held the lead for close to eight minutes in the first half. The Tigers only really pulled away from Tulane in the final minutes of the contest.
"I am proud of our basketball team," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "We continue to play hard and we continue to be aggressive, but Memphis is a very good team. They are very talented and their talent outweighed our effort tonight."
Memphis built as much as a nine point lead in the first 20 minutes, 24-15, with 8:39 left in the half, but Tulane chipped away and cut that lead down to two, 28-26, on a lay-up by Eric Vianney with 4:56 left. The Tigers closed the half by scoring 10 of the last 14 points to hold a 38-31 lead at the break.
The Tigers then built a double digit lead midway through the second half and led 57-44 with 12:44 remaining before Tulane fought back with an 11-2 run to cut the deficit to four, 59-55, capped by a free throw by Vianney with 7:18 remaining. Memphis answered the Green Wave closing effort with a 14-5 run of its own to take the largest lead, 73-58, with 2:08 left. Memphis converted seven of 10 free throws in the final minutes of the game to secure the win.
Timmons was one of three Green Wave players to reach double figures in scoring and was joined by Asim McQueen's 14 and Kevin Sims 12. McQueen led Tulane's rebounding efforts with nine boards and Timmons posted seven as the Green Wave outrebounded Memphis 32-27, including 11 offensive rebounds that we turned into 15 second chance points.
"Kendall Timmons is doing an outstanding job of being one of the better players in the conference now," Dickerson added. "We just have to get whole as a team. We don't have our offensive flow like we need this time of year. In a normal situation we are a better offensive team this time of year, but not having Kevin (Sims) 100 percent and not having Kris Richard the last three games have really hurt us. Normally in the last five minutes of the game we have those guys scoring."
Richard, Tulane's leading scorer, did play one minute in the game and dished out one assist.
Memphis had five players score in double figures with Roburt Sallie leading the way with 17 off the bench. Wesley Witherspoon added 16 points and nine rebounds, Will Coleman had 13 points, Elliot Mack posted 12 and Doneal Mack scored 10.
Tulane shot 43.6 percent from the floor in the game and dished out 15 assists, while Memphis shot a season-high 56.8 percent from the floor and collected 21 assists.
The Green Wave complete a two-game home stand by hosting Marshall on Saturday at 7 p.m. CST in Fogelman Arena. That game will be broadcast live on Cox Sports Television and follows a Tulane women's game against UAB that begins at 4 p.m. CST.
GAME NOTES
- Tulane's starting lineup of Kevin Sims, Aaron Holmes, Eric Vianney, Kendall Timmons and Asim McQueen is the 11th different lineup the Green Wave has started this season.
- Kendall Timmons scored in double figures for the ninth time this season and the 11th game of his career with his 23 points today. It also marks his fifth straight double figure scoring game.
- Timmons' 23 points is his career high. He surpassed his previous high of 18 points scored against George Mason on Nov. 22, 2008.
- Kevin Sims scored in double figures for the 12th time this season and the 75th game of his career with his 12 points today.
- Asim McQueen scored in double figures for the eighth time this season and the 21st game of his career with his 14 points today.
- Kris Richard returned to the game with 16:28 left in the second half, his first action since injuring his ankle in the second half against SMU on Feb. 6 a span of two plus games.
- With his three assists in tonight's game, Kevin Sims moved into third-place on Tulane's career assist list all by himself. He entered the game tied for third with Pointer Williams with 392 and ended the game with 395.
