No. 13 Memphis outlasts No. 19 Tennessee 51-47

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) —

Damion Baugh sank a 3-pointer with 1:43 remaining to put No. 13 Memphis ahead for good and the Tigers outlasted No. 19 Tennessee 51-47 on Saturday to snap the Volunteers’ 31-game home winning streak.

Tennessee (7-2) had owned the longest active home winning streak of any Division I team. The Vols hadn’t lost at home since falling to Auburn 94-84 on Jan. 2, 2018.

Memphis (8-1) erased an early 12-point deficit for its second straight come-from-behind road victory. The Tigers had trailed by 20 before rallying to beat UAB 65-57 on Dec. 7.

D.J. Jeffries and Tyler Harris each scored 11 points and Baugh added 10 for Memphis, which found a way to win despite scoring just five points in the game’s first 12 minutes.

Josiah-Jordan James scored 14 for Tennessee, which shot a season-low 25% and was just 4 of 26 from 3-point range.

After Memphis bounced back from a miserable start to take a 25-24 halftime lead, neither team led by more than four in the second half.

The Tigers were clinging to a narrow lead for much of that second half before Yves Pons scored with 5:56 left to put Tennessee ahead 43-42. The lead changed hands a few more times before Memphis’ D.J. Jeffries drove the baseline and passed to Baugh, who sank an open 3-pointer to put the Tigers ahead to stay at 49-47.

After Tennessee’s Lamonte’ Turner missed a 3-pointer with 1:12 left, Baugh couldn’t connect on a fadeaway in the final minute. Tennessee’s John Fulkerson got the rebound, and the Vols called a timeout with 43 seconds left.

James missed a 3-pointer with 22 seconds remaining, but Pons got an offensive rebound and was fouled with 21 seconds left. Pons had been shooting 80% from the free-throw line this season, but he missed the front end of his one-and-one opportunity.

Memphis’ Alex Lomax sank both ends of a one-and-one with 7.9 seconds left to seal the victory.

BIG PICTURE

Memphis: The Tigers are making a habit of digging their way out of deep holes. They won this one despite trailing 17-5 with eight minutes left in the first half and going more than 10 minutes without a basket during one stretch early in the game.

Memphis won while playing a seventh consecutive game without suspended forward James Wiseman and a fourth straight game without injured guard Lester Quinones.

Wiseman, a likely NBA lottery pick averaging 19.7 points and 10.7 rebounds, is serving a 12-game suspension because Memphis coach Penny Hardaway gave the forward’s family $11,500 to cover expenses for its move from Nashville to Memphis in the summer of 2017. Hardaway wasn’t coaching Memphis at the time, but the NCAA determined he was acting as a booster.

Tennessee: The Vols got very little from their senior backcourt duo of Jordan Bowden and Turner, their two leading scorers this season who had just five points apiece in this one. Turner shot 1 of 11 (0 of 5 on 3-pointers) and Bowden was 2 of 10 (1 of 6 on 3-pointers).

UP NEXT

Memphis hosts Jackson State on Dec. 21.

Tennessee visits Cincinnati on Wednesday.

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