With three of the five ACC basketball games scheduled to be played on Wednesday canceled or postponed, fans were hoping to see some fireworks in the games that were played. Both games were great to watch, but by far the most notable was Tulane toppling Memphis. Tulane came into the game just 3-6 and given virtually no chance in the AAC. The Memphis basketball team, on the other hand, was coming off of a 14-point win over #6 Alabama. Due to COVID cancellations, the game against Tulane was their first since December 14th.
With the win, Tulane starts off conference play with a bang while Memphis will again be searching for answers. Although they were shorthanded without Emoni Bates and Jalen Duren, they were still the far superior team on paper. As has been the theme so far this season, however, Memphis couldn’t put a team performance together when needed.
While the loss can also be attributed to the long period of time between games, you’d expect teams as talented as Memphis to still find a way to win. Whether we like it or not, this season will be full of postponements and cancellations. If Memphis basketball can’t adapt, they don’t stand much of a chance to win the AAC with this type of play.
Tulane Staves Off Memphis Basketball
Tulane on Fire
To put it bluntly, Tulane doesn’t have much-staying power in the AAC. They have an okay offense but a subpar defense. One of the few ways that they can win in the AAC is if they simply can’t miss. Against Memphis, Tulane rode that perfect storm to victory.
Tulane shot 55% from the field and over 45% from deep. Their defense wasn’t good and their rebounding was horrendous. When you make more than half of your shots, however, that tends not to matter as much. Tulane came into this game knowing they’d have to make their opportunities count. They don’t have the size or physicality to measure up with Memphis. As a result, they needed to shoot at a high clip to even contend. On nights like Wednesday night, when that does happen, Tulane can beat anyone.
The biggest reason that Tulane won was that Memphis couldn’t key in on one guy. Four Tulane players scored in double digits. While Jalen Cook did lead the way with 25 points, the others shot efficiently enough to pose a problem for Memphis. In normal games where Tulane shoots poorly, Memphis could just double Cook. With the supporting cast also scoring in bunches, however, there was little hope for the Tigers.
Memphis Loses Turnover Battle
When a team wins the battle rebounding and at the free throw line, they rarely lose. Memphis shot 25 free throws to Tulane’s 11 and made 21 to Tulane’s nine. The Tigers also out-rebounded Tulane by a margin of 40 to 20. So, how did a Memphis team with 17 offensive rebounds lose? It all comes back to taking care of the ball.
Memphis was playing a red-hot Tulane team on Wednesday. When a team just won’t cool down, it’s important to get the most of every possession. In a one-point loss, losing the turnover battle by six is a backbreaker.
It isn’t fair to act like Memphis shot themselves in the foot. Sometimes the shots are just falling for a team and there isn’t much you can do about it. In those games, however, taking care of the ball is absolutely paramount. At the end of the day, Memphis again struggled to do that and it burned them against Tulane. While you wouldn’t expect a result like this to happen much more, Memphis will have to take better care of the ball or risk the same fate.
