This might truly be one of the best Memphis Tigers teams since the John Calipari era. After three straight wins over ranked opponents, the now ranked #23 Memphis Tigers have stacked up wins in an early non-conference season that has the potential for a Top-5 or better seed in the NCAA Tournament.
The key will be avoiding the bad losses now for Memphis. That process starts Saturday against a struggling Vanderbilt team at FedExForum at 3:00 p.m. on CBS.
But on Tuesday night it was all Memphis Tigers. Final: #23 Memphis 77 #22 Virginia 54
Virginia coach Tony Bennett was likely impressed because Memphis was able to take the Cavaliers out of their slow-tempo comfort zone. Memphis was able to force 18 turnovers by Virginia including 5 turnovers by Virginia's senior guard Reece Beekman. Beekman was Virginia's leading scorer with 13 points on the night.
But it was Memphis' shooting that really struck a chord with Virginia's Bennett. After the game he told reporters, "I knew they'd shoot it. I was hoping our (Virginia) defense would be much better. But they're very dangerous when they're knocking down 3s."
To the point Bennett was making about shooting, Memphis guard (and a player getting major national acclaim) David Jones poured in 26 points on 8 of 15 field goal attempts including making 2 of 3 shots from the 3-point arc while making 8 of 8 attempts from the free throw line.
Next game: Vanderbilt (4-7) vs. #23 Memphis (9-2) at 3:00 p.m. on CBS
Full analysis on Wednesday and all week long on 92.9 FM ESPN
