Wichita State fell 85-74 to Memphis, Thursday night at FedExForum in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
Markis McDuffie scored 19 points, Samajae Haynes-Jones 15 and Dexter Dennis 12 for Wichita State, which shot 44 percent and gave up 20 points off turnovers.
The Shockers trailed by six when the Tigers used a 15-5 run to build a 16-point lead with six minutes remaining. Wichita State didn't get closer than eight after that.
The Tigers never trailed again after a 13-0 run gave them a nine-point lead with 4:20 left in the first half that ended with Memphis up 12 after a dunk by Antwann Jones.
Kyvon Davenport paced Memphis with 25 points in 26 minutes off the bench and gave Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway his first American Athletic Conference victory
Wichita State (7-6, 0-1 American) dropped consecutive games for the first time this season.
Shockers’ 33 three-point attempts was tied for the fourth-highest single-game total in school history. Haynes-Jones’ 12 attempts also tied for the third-most by a Shocker individual. WSU made 10 three-pointers but shot just 30.3 percent from deep.
Memphis tied the all-time series at 11-11. The teams have split their two meetings in the American Era and will play again Feb. 23 in Wichita. The Shockers return home Sunday afternoon to face Temple at Charles Koch Arena.





