Surely it can't get worse than losing to Tulane, Murray State, and Ole Miss right? Final: East Carolina 72 Memphis 71
East Carolina, a heavy underdog Saturday vs. Memphis, outscored Memphis 42-27 in the second half to drop the Memphis Tigers to 3-3 in the American Athletic Conference.
East Carolina fans stormed the court after Memphis Tigers guard 5'9" Tyler Harris got caught guarding East Carolina forward/guard 6'6" Brandon Suggs. Suggs caught and popped the jumper off a high in-bounds bounce pass for the game winner as time expired.
The game was in the bag, essentially, with just over 2-minutes remaining.
Five Tigers contributed with double-figure scoring. Jalen Duren led all Memphis scorers with 15 points. Both Brandon Suggs and Vance Jackson scored 17 points for the East Carolina Pirates.
Memphis' next game is Thursday (1/20) against a solid SMU Mustangs team (13-4). SMU will travel to Memphis in a game that will air on ESPN2 at 6:00 p.m. Full coverage all week, beginning Monday at 9:00 a.m., here on Memphis' Sports Station, 92.9 FM ESPN.
From the University of Memphis (GAME NOTES):
January 15, 2022
East Carolina Hits Buzzer Beater to Top Memphis, 72-71
GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina’s Brandon Suggs hit a buzzer beater, and the Pirates topped short-handed Memphis Saturday afternoon in Greenville, N.C., 72-71.
The Tigers (9-7, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) were playing with six scholarship players due to injuries. East Carolina (11-5, 2-2 AAC) led for only 53 seconds of the game.
Memphis was led in scoring by Jalen Duren with 15. Emoni Bates and Tyler Harris each added 13, Josh Minott had 12 and Lester Quinones finished with 10.
Memphis used an 11-0 run to open up a 19-8 lead, while forcing East Carolina into seven-straight misses, which set the tone for the remainder of the first half. The Tigers led by as many as 19 points when Bates hit his third of three-straight triples, and the Pirates did not get within single digits for the remainder of the half.
The Tigers made five of their seven 3-point tries in the first half (.714) and shot 57.6 percent from the field overall (19-33). Memphis also had 24 points in the paint in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half got dicey late, with the Pirates going on a 10-0 run to tie the game at 70 with under a minute left. Lester Quinones drove to the basket on the next possession and was fouled, and he split the pair of free throws to put Memphis ahead, 71-70, with 14 seconds left.
East Carolina took it down and tried a layup, which was swatted out of bounds by Earl Timberlake. With one second on the clock, the Pirates inbounded to Suggs, who banked it in for the victory.
East Carolina is now 10-0 at home this season.
Suggs and Vance Jackson led the Pirates with 17 points apiece.
POSTGAME NOTES
Memphis used the starting lineup of Earl Timberlake, Lester Quinones, Emoni Bates, Josh Minott and Jalen Duren for the first time this season.The Tigers have now used 12 different starting lineups in 16 games this year and in each of the last nine games.Eleven different players have started a game this season.This is the first time Memphis has started three true freshman this year (Bates, Duren, Minott).Memphis still leads the all-time series between the two schools, 23-5.The win is East Carolina’s first in the last seven meetings, since an 88-85 overtime win in Greenville on Feb. 3, 2018.Memphis shot 50.0 percent in the game but lost, snapping a 38-game winning streak when hitting the 50.0-percent mark from the field.The last time Memphis lost while shooting 50.0 percent or better from the floor was Feb. 23, 2017 at Cincinnati (.544, 31-57).Jalen Duren led the Tigers in scoring for the second time this season.The 15 points and nine rebounds are his most in a game since having 22 and 19 against Western Kentucky on Nov. 19.Emoni Bates hit three 3-pointers en route to 13 points.The triples are his most in a game since knocking down three against Saint Louis on Nov 16.Tyler Harris has made multiple 3-pointers in four-straight games, going 13-for-22 during the span (.591).He has tied Jeremy Hunt (2002-07) for fifth all-time in Tiger history with 167 triples.Harris also dished out seven assists, setting a new career high.Josh Minott finished with 12 points, four rebounds, four assists, three blocked shots and two steals in 18 minutes.The freshman has scored in double figures in three of the last five games.His three blocked shots are a season high.Earl Timberlake matched a season and career high with eight rebounds.He grabbed eight rebounds three other times, most recently against Tulsa on Jan. 4.Freshman Tadarius Jacobs, playing in his first game since Nov. 16 against Saint Louis and entering the game with four minutes of action on the season, scored his first-career points with a driving layup in the first half.He finished with seven minutes of play.