MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -After losing the national championship game and then three starters to the NBA, the Memphis Tigers got defensive. Really defensive.
As a result, the third-ranked Tigers enter the NCAA tournament with the nation’s stingiest defense when measured by field goal percentage. The No. 2 seed in the West Regional opens play Thursday against Cal State Northridge (17-13) in Kansas City, Mo.
“This year’s team was not supposed to be as good defensively as even last year’s team, and all of a sudden about a month ago people were telling me this team is better defensively,” Memphis coach John Calipari said Monday in a conference call. “I’m saying, ‘You’re out of your mind. We lost the No. 1 pick in the draft, lost a first-team All-American and lost Joey Dorsey who might as well have been Lawrence Taylor.”
closer and agreed.
“We’re really good. We’re not as rough and tumble as we were,” he said. “But we’re longer.” Yes, Memphis lost Derrick Rose, All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts and Dorsey. But this roster is taller overall. There’s 6-foot-9 Robert Dozier and 6-6 Antonio Anderson – the player Calipari sticks on the best scorer on the other team. Shawn Taggart at 6-10 is 4 inches taller than Dorsey, while Calipari says Doneal Mack’s better defensively than Douglas-Roberts.
And 6-6 freshman point guard Evans has a 7-2 armspan that allows him to block shots and steal balls.
The coach who doesn’t like zone defense even has added that to his arsenal even though he uses it rarely. He sticks 6-8 freshman Wesley Witherspoon at top, his Tigers spread out their arms and look like a foosball table crammed between the 3-point arc and the end line.
The first time he used that in the Conference USA tournament title game, Tulsa wound up with a shot clock violation and couldn’t get a shot off. Calipari said his Tigers take great pride in their defense.
“So, now all of the sudden, our defensive numbers are better than what they were a year ago, which is pretty incredible stuff,” Calipari said.
eb. 7 at Gonzaga, Memphis held teams to a scoring average of 49.4 points per game.
Then the program that has dominated Conference USA with 61 consecutive wins cranked it up a notch in the latest tournament.
The Tigers held their three C-USA opponents to 29.6 percent shooting from the floor, shattered the tournament record for scoring defense by allowing only 43 points in three wins and finished off Tulsa 64-39 for the title – holding the Golden Hurricane scoreless for 6 1/2 minutes in the second half.
“We aren’t as offensively gifted as we were last year, so we just have to do the little extra things,” Dozier said.
And C-USA coaches are quick to point out the Tigers smother everybody.
“It’s what they did to Gonzaga at Gonzaga,” Tulane coach Doug Wojcik said. “They extend everything. They’re very difficult to score on, and we weren’t able to throw it into the post to get anything.”
Houston coach Tom Penders watched Memphis score 27 straight points in the semifinals while shutting down his Cougars in a 74-49 win. He reminded reporters how the Tigers rolled through the NCAA tournament last year.
Memphis held Michigan State to 74, Texas to 67 and UCLA to 63 in reaching the championship game for the first time since 1973.
ch tells us if we’re going to win games it comes with defense first, and that’s how we like to play. We strive off shutting guys down and not letting guys dunk the ball and get easy layups. When we do that, it just makes everything much easier.”
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