Memphis upsets No. 11 Auburn in Hoopsgiving men's basketball showcase
👀 Here are the remaining undefeated teams in DI men’s college basketball
Auburn was joined by Houston and Missouri as the teams that lost on Saturday and are thus no longer undefeated. Here are the remaining unbeaten teams:
- Virginia
- UConn
- Mississippi State
- New Mexico
- Utah State
- Purdue
- UNLV
🚨 Down goes Auburn, Memphis defeats the 11th ranked team in the nation
Just a good ol’ fashion beatdown is the name of this one. In what acted as a virtual home game for the Auburn Tigers, Memphis upset the 11th ranked team 82-73, dealing the SEC powerhouse its first loss of the season.
Memphis never trailed in the second half and led by as many as 15 points in the second period. The squad managed the clock beautifully down the stretch, using the majority of the shot clock in each possession, moving the rock and waiting until late in the shot clock to shoot the ball.
.@MbkDmann TO THE CUP 😤
— Memphis Basketball (@Memphis_MBB) December 11, 2022
8:15 2H | MEM 65, AUB 52 pic.twitter.com/DU5L2rbNiT
Kendric Davis had a stellar night as he flirted with a triple-double; he finished with a game-high 27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. DeAndre Williams also played well, charting a double-double of 16 points and 11 boards and was the third starter to finish in double figures. Alex Lomax also added 13 points. Auburn pressed for nearly the entire second half, but Memphis remained seemingly unfazed. Though the SEC team had four players in double figures, Green Jr., Moore, Broome and Johnson, none of them shot particularly well. The team shot just 38% from the field and 25% from three.
Coach Bruce Pearl got hit with a technical foul late in the outing after what he thought to be a missed call made him go ballistic. His team attempted to rally for a comeback, cutting the lead down to eight with three minutes left, but the game was ultimately out of reach as Memphis clung to its lead.
Auburn moves to 9-1 on the season, while Coach Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers move 8-2 on the year, notching the team’s first win against a ranked opponent with the victory tonight.
👀 Box score breakdowns
Here's a look at what each team's box score looks like after 20 minutes of play.
⏰ HALFTIME: Memphis roars in the first half, leads 38-32
The Tigers, I mean the one’s from Tennessee this time, have been nothing but tenacious in this one and are off to a hot start led by guard Kendric Davis. Despite playing at the center of a sea of orange and blue, Davis made sure to let surrounding fans know that State Farm Arena is his house. And can you blame him? Davis leads all scorers with 12 points and added six rebounds and three assists to the stat sheet.
Despite Auburn’s size advantage, Memphis defended the paint well and currently has more than double Auburn’s rebounding total (25 to 11). In fact, Memphis has almost as many offensive rebounds (9) as Auburn has total rebounds.
Auburn’s starters struggled at the start of the game and got into foul trouble forcing head coach Bruce Pearl to use his bench early. Wendell Green Jr. had a quiet first half, charting just two points. K.D. Johnson currently leads Auburn in scoring, dropping 10 points in the first half off the bench.
Memphis has led by as many as 8 points, but the team’s inability to take care of the ball has kept Auburn in the game. They'll look to keep turnovers at bay to try to balloon their lead in the final 20 minutes, while Auburn will have to crash the glass to have a chance to fight it's way back.
.@150__KD puts 'em on skates, @KeonteKennedy gets the flush 😯#GoTigersGo pic.twitter.com/7jpD4eRunJ
— Memphis Basketball (@Memphis_MBB) December 10, 2022
Auburn fans certainly travel
The stands at State Farm Arena are filled with Auburn Tiger fans this evening as hundreds made their way to Atlanta, Ga. Atlanta is less than a two-hour drive from Auburn, but as many SEC fans know, Auburn's fan base would've shown up if this game was played on the moon.
Is Auburn playing at home tonight? pic.twitter.com/nhUWwY8HAe
— codichilds_5 (@Codichilds_5) December 10, 2022
And we’re off — Starting lineups for No. 11 Auburn vs. Kentucky
Here are tonight's starting lineups:
Auburn (orange) 🟠- Wendell Green Jr.
- Zep Jasper
- Chris Moore
- Jaylin Williams
- Johni Broome
Memphis (white) ⚪️
- Alex Lomax
- Kendric Davis
- DeAndre Williams
- Jayden Hardaway
- Chandler Lawson
📺 How to watch No. 11 Auburn duel against Memphis
Don't miss a minute of men's college basketball action. Here how and when to watch today's game:
When: Saturday, Dec. 10 at 5 p.m. ET
Where: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Ga.
TV Channel: ESPN2
FOLLOW LIVE STATS HERE
Headin’ to the ATL 🌆#WarEagle pic.twitter.com/3T1XZhoaCe
— Auburn Basketball (@AuburnMBB) December 9, 2022
📊 Here's what the stats say
| Auburn | Memphis | |
|---|---|---|
| 8-0 | Record | 7-2 |
| 73 | Points per game | 73.6 |
| 0.433 | Field goal % | 0.459 |
| 0.369 | Field goal % defense | 0.378 |
| 13.8 | Assists per game | 15.8 |
| 9.2 | Steals per game | 9.1 |
| 8.3 | Blocks per game | 4.9 |
Which Tiger will reign supreme? No. 11 Auburn vs. Memphis, previewed
No. 11 Auburn faces Memphis in the headline matchup of the Holiday Hoopsgiving showcase on Saturday in Atlanta.
The Tigers, well, the ones from Alabama, enter Saturday’s action at 8-0 and are one of just 10 teams in the nation to remain undefeated entering the day. Auburn’s one-two punch of guard Wendell Green Jr. and forward Johnni Broome have been electric this season, with Green Jr. averaging a team-high 13.4 points and 3.8 assists and Broome averaging 10.9 points and a team-high 8.7 rebounds. This will be the team's first game in eight days after beating Colgate 93-66 at home.
They face a hungry Memphis squad who is 7-2 on the season, looking for its first win against a ranked opponent. The Tennessee team's only losses were in a six-point defeat to Saint Louis and a crushing one-point loss to Seton Hall at the buzzer. Guard Kendric Davis, who is playing his fifth year at Memphis after transferring from SMU, has been putting up impressive numbers this year by averaging a team-high 17.4 points and 4.8 assists per game. Big man Deandre Williams enters Saturday's battle averaging 14.1 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds.
This will be the third meeting between the two programs; the first dates back to 1953 as Auburn took a home a 78-64 win, while the second game was at the inaugural Holiday Hoopsgiving showcase in 2020, Auburn winning again 74-71.
This year's Hoopsgiving college showcase begins with four games slated to tip-off: Tulane vs. Buffalo, Wake Forest vs. LSU and Clemson vs. Loyola from State Farm Arena in Atlanta. The final game of the showcase will see Georgia face off against Notre Dame on Sunday Dec. 18.