Xavier upsets No. 13 Memphis in finals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off tourney.
November 23, 2008
Terrell Holloway made 10 free throws without a miss and finished with 13 points to help Xavier beat No. 13 Memphis 63-58 on Sunday night in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off championship game.
“I’m really proud of our team,” Xavier coach Sean Miller said. “We really showed a lot of toughness and resiliency in all three games in the tournament.”
B.J. Raymond and Jamel McLean added 11 points each for the Musketeers (5-0), and C.J. Anderson finished with 10.
Tyreke Evans led Memphis (4-1) with 12 points, but was 4-for-16 from the field. Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson each scored 10 points.
Both teams struggled from the field, with Xavier shooting 36 percent and Memphis finishing at 32.7 percent. Xavier was 25-for-37 at the line, while Memphis was 15-of-30.
“We’re disappointed with the outcome, but November games are about learning about your team. We did tonight,” Memphis coach John Calipari said.
Holloway made two free throws with 27 seconds to go to give Xavier a 61-58 lead. After Dozier missed two three throws with 17 seconds left, Dante’ Jackson and C.J. Anderson hit free throws in the final seconds to seal the victory.
“C.J. has great toughness,” Miller said. “He’s an incredible leader. Our team follows his lead, especially in toughness.”
Memphis was 38-2 last season, losing the national title game to Kansas in overtime.
“This year’s team is so different from last year’s team and the year before. What disappointed me were our seniors down the stretch,” Calipari said. “Hopefully, we get better as the season goes on. We had chances to win the game, but didn’t make the plays we needed to make to win. We had some guys that played tentative and not to lose tonight. I want guys to make plays and play to win. I wanted this game to be close.”
Xavier opened the tournament with a 75-71 victory over Missouri, then beat Virginia Tech 63-62 in overtime.
“These were three great tests for us,” Miller said. “All three teams attacked us and we responded.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Memphis rolls into finals of 2008 Puerto Rico Tip-Off tourney.
November 21, 2008
Doneal Mack scored 16 points to lead No. 13 Memphis to an 84-70 victory over Seton Hall in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Friday night.
The Tigers (4-0) led 70-46 with 8:42 left and prevailed despite 20 second-half points from Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell, who finished with a game-high 32 points.
The Pirates (3-1), who overcame a 15-point halftime deficit to shock No. 19 Southern Cal on Thursday, fell behind 44-30 at intermission this time and couldn’t recover.
Memphis shot 39.7 percent from the field (25 of 63) and made only 65.2 percent of its free throws (30 of 46) in the fourth meeting between the two schools.
Willie Kemp added 14 points for the Tigers while Tyreke Evans chipped in 12.
Eugene Harvey scored 21 points for Seton Hall and John Garcia tallied 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Memphis will play Xavier in the tournament final Sunday.
The Pirates were plagued by turnovers in the first half. Memphis scored 16 points off 11 Seton Hall turnovers while committing only three miscues.
Seton Hall drew within four points at 21-17 with 11:02 remaining in the first half, but a 9-2 run gave the Tigers a cushion they would never relinquish.
A 10-2 run early in the second half, highlighted by two uncontested dunks, gave Memphis a 58-35 lead with 13:09 remaining.
The Tigers outrebounded the Pirates 46-36.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Memphis tops Chattanooga in opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
November 21, 2008
Doneal Mack scored 19 points and Shawn Taggart notched a double-double for Memphis in an 83-71 win against Chattanooga in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Thursday night.
Mack was 5-for-9 from 3-point range, and Taggart scored 16 points and 11 rebounds for the No. 13 Tigers (3-0) in the win. Mack and Taggart also added two blocks and three steals each. Robert Dozier added 18 points and eight rebounds.
Stephen McDowell led the Mocs (0-3) with a game-high 27 points, including a 7-for-12 mark from behind the 3-point arc. Nicchaeus Doaks added 15 points and 16 rebounds.
Memphis shot 51.7 percent (30 of 58) from the field for the game compared to 40.3 percent (25 of 62) for Chattanooga. The Tigers led 47-35 at the half and led by as many as 19 points, three minutes into the second.
The Tigers led 47-35 at the half and led by as many as 19 points, three minutes into the second.
The Mocs actually led 21-16 with 8:18 left in the first, but the Tigers ran off a 31-14 run the rest of the half to put the game out of reach.
Memphis logged 42 points in the paint versus 20 for Chattanooga. Both teams turned the ball over 18 times, but the Tigers tallied 13 steals en route to victory.
Memphis improved its record against current Southern Conference teams to 16-5, including a 9-2 record against Chattanooga.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off preview - Memphis vs Chattanooga.
November 20, 2008
Memphis may be coming off a pair of dominating home victories, but coach John Calipari isn’t happy with his team’s play.
The 13th-ranked Tigers look to bounce back from a weak shooting performance when they meet winless Chattanooga in the first round of the O’Reilly Auto Parts Puerto Rico Tip-Off in San Juan on Thursday.
The Tigers (2-0) have taken their first two games by a combined 49 points despite losing three starters to the NBA, including All-Americans Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose.
However, they shot 39.0 percent from the field and went 2-for-19 from 3-point range - the worst showing from beyond the arc since a 1-for-23 effort against Louisville in 2005 - Monday night against Massachusetts.
Despite its shooting struggles, Memphis blew out the Minutemen 80-58 by using its superior depth and defense. The Tigers limited Massachusetts to 30.3 percent shooting and forced 24 turnovers.
“There were a lot of things that I didn’t like,” said Calipari, who became the school’s winningest coach with his 221st victory. “I’m going to go watch tape and probably pull my hair out. We move on to Puerto Rico and hopefully we’re learning a little bit.”
Freshman guard Tyreke Evans led the way Monday with 19 points in his first start, while Robert Dozier had 18 and Antonio Anderson added 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
The 6-foot-6 Evans leads Memphis with 19.0 points over the first two games, hitting 48.3 percent of his shots, and is also adding 5.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per contest.
Coming off a national runner-up season that saw only Douglas-Roberts and Rose average in double figures, the Tigers have proved a little more balanced this season with five players scoring at least 10.0 points per game.
Forward Shawn Taggart is the only Memphis player averaging a double-double. He’s fourth on the team with 10.5 points and leads the Tigers with 11.5 rebounds a game.
Chattanooga (0-2) has been blown out in its first two games, both on the road. The Mocs lost 114-75 to No. 14 Tennessee in their opener Saturday before falling 103-75 against Missouri on Monday.
Freshman guard Ty Patterson, who had a team-high 18 points against Missouri in his first start, leads Chattanooga with 17.0 points per game and has hit six of his 17 3-point attempts.
Senior forward Nicchaeaus Doaks, who had 16 points and 10 boards Monday, leads the Mocs in rebounding for the third straight season with 9.5 per game.
In addition to Memphis and Tennessee, the Mocs could see two other ranked teams in the next five games with a potential matchup against No. 19 Southern California in this tournament and a visit to No. 21 Davidson on Dec. 13 to open Southern Conference play.
“We’re going to understand the urgency that you have to play with and understand how tough things are,” Chattanooga coach John Shulman said. “It’s going to be good for us as a team.”
Thursday’s game will mark the 11th meeting between Memphis and Chattanooga and third since the Mocs moved to Division I in 1977-78. Memphis has won both matchups, including a 63-55 victory in 1996.
The winner of this game will face either USC or Seton Hall in the semifinals on Friday with the loser relegated to the consolation bracket.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
No. 13 Memphis pounds UMass, 80-58, at Fed Ex Forum.
November 18, 2008
During his years as a Memphis assistant, Derek Kellogg had seen the Tigers’ formula in many of their victories.
Let the opponent hang around for a bit, then start throwing more players at them, run them until they wear down and pull away in the second half.
On Monday night, Kellogg, in his first season as Massachusetts coach, was on the receiving end of the tactic.
Antonio Anderson had 15 points and a career-high 12 rebounds and No. 13 Memphis shook off a poor shooting performance to beat Massachusetts 80-58.
“I’ve seen it before on that bench numerous times,” Kellogg said. “Their process is, ‘We have more bodies than you. We have bigger, longer players than you, and we’re going to wear you down.’ At the end, they take advantage of it, and that formula worked again.”
Freshman Tyreke Evans had 19 points and Robert Dozier added 18 for the Tigers, who were limited to 39 percent shooting for the game, including 2-for-19 from outside the arc. It marked the second successive game where Evans, one of last season’s prized recruits, led the Tigers (2-0) in scoring. Evans keyed a first-half rally that put the Tigers up for good.
“There were a lot of things that I didn’t like,” Memphis coach John Calipari said. “I’m going to go watch tape and probably pull my hair out.”
Ricky Harris led the Minutemen (1-2) with 17 points, while Tony Gaffney scored 16 points and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds.
Calipari became the winningest coach in Memphis history with 221 victories, surpassing Larry Finch, who led the program from 1986-1997.
The game was a real family affair.
Kellogg played for Calipari from 1991-95 during Calipari’s tenure as coach of the Minutemen. Kellogg was an assistant under Calipari for eight years at Memphis before moving to his alma mater. The Memphis crowd gave Kellogg a standing ovation when he was introduced at the start of the game.
And, if that isn’t enough, Calipari’s daughter, Erin, is a fourth-year student at UMass. Calipari’s wife, Ellen, and his other daughter, Megan Rae, wore shirts representing both schools.
Both coaches said afterwards that they were just glad the game was over.
“Driving down, I thought: ‘If Derek wins, this would be a huge game for him on (ESPN) for recruiting,’ ” Calipari said. “Then I said: ‘Forget that.’ ”
Memphis built the lead to double digits in the first half and extended it to as many as 27 in the second.
UMass was without 7-foot-1 senior center Luke Bonner, who injured his left knee in an 80-73 loss at Southern Illinois last week. In the second half Monday, the Minutemen lost 6-7 reserve forward Matt Hill to a left Achilles injury. But Gaffney’s effort allowed UMass to outrebound the Tigers 49-48.
“Tony Gaffney’s been absolutely phenomenal,” Kellogg said. “If we had two more of him, we’d have a pretty good record. We’re pretty thin, right now.”
While Memphis struggled from the field, UMass was even worse, shooting 30 percent. Add in 24 turnovers, and the Minutemen were unable to stay in the game in the second half.
The Tigers led 33-25 after a first half filled with poor shot selection, sloppy ballhandling and plenty of misfires from both teams.
Harris was 3-for-5 from beyond the arc and led UMass with 12 points in the first half.
Dozier had 12 points for Memphis and Evans had 11, seven coming during an 11-0 run that erased an early UMass lead and put Memphis up by double digits.
Dozier got inside for a handful of baskets to keep the Tigers in the game early, but turnovers, shots that barely caught rim and difficult unsuccessful layup attempts led to anemic shooting percentages.
UMass shot 28 percent for the half, while Memphis connected on 33 percent, but missed 11 of 12 3-pointers.
Memphis rebuilt the lead to double digits when Shawn Taggart, who had seven points and 11 rebounds, converted a three-point play with 15:37 left in the game, and Massachusetts never got the deficit under 10 the rest of the way.
“Guys just didn’t make shots,” Anderson said of the Memphis shooting. “That’s how it goes. … When guys aren’t making shots, we’ve got to figure out another way to earn the win. We did that by driving the ball and attacking the rim.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Nation’s top shooting guard, Xavier Henry, commits to Memphis.
November 18, 2008
John Calipari became Memphis’ all-time winningest coach early Tuesday.
Few hours after that, he won again.
“Next year I’m going to take my game to Memphis,” Xavier Henry said at a morning press conference that was broadcast live on national television.
Henry is the nation’s top-ranked shooting guard, a 6-foot-6 specimen who chose Memphis over Kansas to end a lengthy recruiting battle between the two schools that played for the national title last season. His pledge gives the Tigers a centerpiece to what is now a four-man recruiting class, and it’ll allow Calipari to turn all of his attention towards John Wall (nation’s top-ranked point guard) and Dominic Cheek (nation’s third-ranked small forward), both of whom visited Memphis this past weekend and left many close to the program with the feeling that the Tigers might be on the verge of securing a class that could rank as the nation’s best.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Memphis open 2009/09 season by routing Fairfield in Puerto Rico tourney.
November 16, 2008
Memphis overcame an early deficit and coasted to its first win of the season behind a freshman who showed flashes of his talents.
Highly touted freshman Tyreke Evans scored 19 points and No. 13 Memphis beat Fairfield 90-63 in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-off Tournament on Saturday night.
Evans’ performance came despite a right ankle sprain and an upset stomach.
“Tyreke did some good stuff when he drove the ball,” Memphis coach John Calipari said. “He got to the foul line. He’s strong and limber and he moves. He did some good stuff, but he’s got a long way to go.”
Evans made seven of 12 shots, pacing five Tigers in double figures. Shawn Taggart had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Doneal Mack also scored 14. Antonio Anderson added 12 points, and Robert Dozier finished with 10.
“I felt comfortable out there. My shot was not falling because I’ve been a little sick and my ankle’s not right,” Evans said. “(Calipari) told me to do the best to try and drive the ball.”
Warren Edney had 24 points for Fairfield (0-1), which was picked to finish second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference this season.
Jonathan Han added 18 points and seven assists, and Greg Nero had 10 points.
With the win, Calipari tied Memphis coach Larry Finch with 220 wins, the most for a coach in Tigers history. Finch, who played for the Tigers in early 1970s and led them to the national championship game against UCLA in 1973, coached Memphis from 1986-1997.
“There’s nobody ever going to replace Larry Finch in this town. Certainly not me,” Calipari said of the milestone. “What Larry’s done in this town, what he’s done for this university, what he’s done for basketball in the city in general will never be matched. It doesn’t matter that someone comes along and wins more games than he won.”
Memphis (1-0) struggled with Fairfield’s tightly packed zone before it started working the ball inside to Taggart toward the end of the first half.
Fairfield started to wear down in the second half, allowing the Tigers to extend their lead.
Fairfield coach Ed Cooley said the Stags lost a lot of momentum when 6-foot-8, 245-pound forward Anthony Johnson picked up his second foul midway through the first half.
“When he came out of the game, I thought the game changed a bit,” Cooley said.
The Stags shot 50 percent, including 8-of-18 from 3-point range, but were hampered by 26 turnovers, 12 by Han, a preseason first-team all-conference pick. While Johnson’s foul trouble affected the game, Cooley said, the turnovers were the difference.
“The fact that we shot 50 percent against a defensive team like that is really a credit to our players,” Cooley said. “… We just turned the ball over. End of discussion. If you turn the ball over like that, in this part of town, you might as well go home.”
Fairfield led by nine early, but Memphis closed the first half with a 29-9 surge and led 45-30 at the break. Evans and Mack led the Tigers with 11 apiece.
Memphis opened the second half by pushing the ball inside to Taggart, who had two quick baskets around a dunk by Evans as the Tigers extended their lead to 21.
Despite the Tigers’ depth and the rallies in the second half, Cooley said his team was not intimidated, rattling off a litany of Stag opponents from Georgetown to Wake Forest to Boston College and UConn.
“We belong in these games,” he said. “As we mature as a program, I’m pretty sure these schools are not going to want to schedule Fairfield. Absolutely, unequivocally, we are not intimidated in any environment.”
Even with the 27-point win, Calipari still shook his head about a defense that allowed 50 percent shooting from the field, including 44 percent from 3-point range.
He noted some ball-handling struggles from Evans and fellow freshman Wesley Witherspoon, and a lack of hustle at times.
Still, he was satisfied.
“We’re going to be OK,” Calipari said. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve got to get better defensively. You have to.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Lute Olson retires as head coach of Arizona after 24 years.
October 24, 2008
Lute Olson has retired after 24 seasons with the Arizona Wildcats.
Athletic director Jim Livengood confirmed Olson’s decision hours after news reports had started speculating about the 74-year-old Hall of Famer’s future.
“This was not a decision that was made lightly,” Olson said in a statement released by the university on Thursday. “I’ve had a wonderful run at the University of Arizona. I leave with a great sense of pride in what we have accomplished here.”
Speaking at a brief news conference at McKale Center, Livengood did not designate a successor — even on an interim basis. He said a national search would begin soon.
“I do not have a decision at this point in time in terms of who’s going to head our men’s basketball program,” Livengood said. “But that will be announced in the very, very short future.”
ESPN’s Dick Vitale first reported the story, saying Olson would be replaced by assistant coach Mike Dunlap, a former Denver Nuggets assistant and Metro State coach who joined the program in May. Dunlap ran practice on Thursday afternoon and declined to comment.
Olson missed the 2007-08 season after taking a personal leave of absence for what he later termed “a medical condition that was not life-threatening.”
Interim coach Kevin O’Neill led Arizona to a 19-15 record and the school’s 24th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance, the nation’s longest active streak.
When Olson returned from his leave in April, he said O’Neill was no longer part of his staff and that he planned to coach for the remainder of his contract, which runs through 2011.
On Tuesday, Olson said that he was fired up about the upcoming season. “I feel much more energized at this point,” he said at the team’s media day.
That feeling apparently changed quickly. Olson skipped a scheduled luncheon on Wednesday and missed practice the last two days.
Olson did not appear at the news conference announcing his decision, nor was there any mention of his health in the statement released by the school.
The announcement comes after a year of upheaval for Olson, whose contentious divorce from wife Christine was finalized last spring. Five months later, Olson announced that he was engaged to Kelly Pugnea, 47, a Tucson resident for 25 years.
Last month, the university reported a possible minor NCAA recruiting violation by Olson, who called it “an unfortunate and regrettable error.”
“At this stage in my life, I want to devote my time to my children, great-grandchildren, family and friends,” Olson said in the statement. “I look foward to watching Wildcat basketball and visiting with my colleagues in the coaching profession. It is time to pass the program on to a younger staff, to transition the university to the next generation of basketball.”
Olson went 589-187 in 24 seasons at Arizona, and he led the Wildcats to the 1997 national title and four Final Fours, most recently in 2001. His 327 Pac-10 wins are a conference record.
Olson is 780-280 overall in 34 seasons as a Division I coach.
As rumors of Olson’s retirement spread, television news trucks lined the street outside McKale Center. Reporters camped out inside the building for hours as Livengood and other school officials huddled in the athletic department offices, refusing to confirm or deny widespread reports that Olson had quit.
“This has been a long day for everybody,” Livengood said. “Things were released, unfortunately, non-confirmed, a long time ago, and it seems like it’s been hours and hours and hours.”
Olson’s players were among the last to learn of his decision. Several asked reporters what they had heard.
“We don’t know a damn thing,” forward Jordan Hill said as he waited for Thursday afternoon’s workout to begin.
Hookscenter.com wire report.
Billy Packer is out as CBS’ college basketball TV analyst.
July 14, 2008
Billy Packer is out after 27 years as the lead college basketball analyst for CBS, making way for Clark Kellogg.
Kellogg has done game and studio analysis for CBS for 16 years. He will partner with Jim Nantz on his first Final Four in April. Packer did 34 consecutive Final Fours.
“With his unquestioned popularity and performance over the years, Clark Kellogg earned all rights to this top spot,” Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, said in a statement Monday. “Like Billy Packer, Al McGuire or any of the most highly regarded broadcasters, Clark is an original voice with his own style and perspective.”
Kellogg said he was “excited, humbled and quite pleased.”
“I appreciate the confidence Sean has expressed in affording me this new role,” he said in a statement.
The 68-year-old Packer confirmed the move Sunday, through a CBS official, to the Miami Herald, which first reported the story. Packer is pursuing other basketball projects and declined further comment.
Packer, who played point guard for Wake Forest in the early 1960s, always spoke with authority. But his brusque, commanding style did not always go down well.
In 2006, he criticized the selection of four Missouri Valley Conference teams, before Bradley and Wichita State reached the round of 16. In 2004, Packer took umbrage at Saint Joseph’s getting a No. 1 seed.
In 2000, Packer bristled when asked to identify himself by two female students checking credentials before a game at Duke. One of the students, Jen Feinberg, quoted Packer as saying: “You need to get a life. Since when do we let women control who gets into a men’s basketball game? Why don’t you go find a women’s game to let people into?”
Packer later e-mailed an apology to the women.
Four years earlier, he apologized on the air after he was criticized for referring to then-Georgetown guard Allen Iverson as a “tough little monkey.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.
John Calapari signs extension with the Memphis Tigers.
April 29, 2008
Memphis coach John Calipari signed a contract extension through the 2012-13 season that includes an annual raise of $500,000 and a $5 million bonus if he stays through the end of the contract.
Calipari’s new contract will pay him $2.35 million per year.
Calipari took the Tigers to the national championship game this year, the program’s first Final Four since 1985 and first NCAA final since 1973. Memphis lost 75-68 in overtime to Kansas.
Calipari said the offer was made a month ago, but recruiting and other duties kept him too busy to sign the deal. He said other schools used that against him by implying he was still looking at other jobs.
“What this contract has done is wiped out 99 percent of that stuff, and I told them that I appreciate that. It’s not only the base salary, but it’s also the longevity bonus which wipes out the others. There are no other places. This is the place,” Calipari said Saturday at a news conference.
The Tigers had an NCAA Division I record 38 wins this season and captured their third straight Conference USA regular season and tournament titles. Calipari won his second Naismith National Coach of the Year award, joining Mike Krzyzewski of Duke as the only coaches to win more than once.
His Tigers are 104-10 over the past three seasons, tied for most victories in a three-year stretch in NCAA Division I history.
Calipari will have to virtually start from scratch next season. All five of the starters from this year’s team are testing themselves in the NBA Draft, and Calipari is confident freshman point guard Derrick Rose, junior All-American Chris Douglas-Roberts and senior Joey Dorsey should hear their names called.
“One of them may be the top pick the draft, another may be in the top 15 and the other may be taken in the 20s. If you look at our staff, they all got jobs. So from all of this we all have benefited,” Calipari said.
Athletic director R.C. Johnson said he was excited to get the deal signed, and acknowledged there were some nervous moments the last few weeks.
“You always worry about everyone in your department. Obviously, John is a much higher profile coach or else you all wouldn’t be here today,” Johnson said. “We had a great year in Tiger athletics, and we have a great staff so you always worry about trying to get everyone back. When you have success, people tend to move on and get offers.”
Hookscenter.com wire report.