Memphis freshman Tyreke Evans stepped to the line with 1.9 seconds to go, knocked down the first foul shot, then turned and said something to the Tiger bench.
So, um, what did you say, Tyreke?
"I can't say," he said.
I can't write it either. But it rhymed with malls. It's a shorthand way of talking about -- let's see -- courage.
Because that's what it took to knock down that foul shot at that moment. That's what it took for the Tigers to come into Thompson-Boling Arena and win a bruising, 54-52 slugfest of a game over Bruce Pearl and his Tennessee Volunteers.
It took a bunch of other things too, of course. A brilliant 3-pointer to end the first half by Antonio Anderson. A driving layup by Evans on a play the Tigers call "winner."
It took a late miss by Tyler Smith. It took 1.1 seconds of suspense and strategy before it ended.
But mostly it took nerve.
"It was an all-out war," said Anderson, and you'll excuse the hyperbole.
Of course it wasn't a war. But for a team that had lost two straight to Tennessee, it was an immensely gratifying victory.
Why?
"Now we get to get on the plane and smile," said Anderson.
Which beats the heck out of last year.
I mean, it's great for the Tigers to be able to say they went further in the NCAA Tournament than the Vols. But there's something satisfying about an actual, look-at-the-scoreboard victory.
That's why the Memphis players broke out their camouflage caps as they got ready for this one. They never confused it with Central Florida.
"We lost to them the last two years," said Anderson. "That's disrespectful."
Or painful, at the very least. So the Tigers came out battling. Doneal Mack (10 points) might have strapped together his best performance in a big game. The Tigers went -- you ready for this? -- 11-of-14 from the free-throw line. And one of those was an intentional miss. More on that later.
But the point is that the same team that disappeared down the stretch against Xavier, Georgetown and Syracuse didn't budge in this one.
Anderson hit a 35-foot jumper to bring the Tigers to within one to end the first half. Evans had 17 points, eight rebounds and what proved to be the winning bucket.
It came with 2:53 left. Calipari figured he'd put the game in the hands of his best player.
"We hadn't called the play all game," Calipari said. "We call it 'winner.' "
"I was thinking one thing," Evans said. "Drive to the basket."
That put the Tigers up 53-50. But could they hold onto it?
There was some drama, certainly. Especially when Wayne Chism hit two free throws and then Robert Dozier found himself guarding Tyler Smith in the waning moments.
That's where Dozier found himself last year, too. Smith hit the bucket to win it.
"It was the same predicament," Dozier said.
But a different result this time. Smith missed. Evans grabbed the loose ball. A couple fouls later, he was on the foul line with 1.9 seconds remaining.
Evans knocked in the first shot and would have knocked in the second -- he swears -- except Calipari told him to miss on purpose.
"He argued with me," Calipari said. "I almost punched him in the mouth."
So Evans missed, as instructed. The idea was that the time would run out in the ensuing scramble. It didn't quite work that way.
The Vols still had 1.1 seconds to launch a final shot.
"There was no way they were making it," said Anderson.
Smart man, that Antonio. The game ended. The Tigers rejoiced. Calipari fibbed and said it was just another victory.
"He wanted to win it more than anyone," said Evans. "You could see it on his face."
Evans grinned. You could see it on his face, too.
"It took guts," he said.
If that's what you call it.
Tennessee's signing class for 2012
Tennessee defeats Georgia 3-2 in…
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Comments » 22
MrBamSeydu writes:
how cute. Memphis is gloating.
aren't we 7-3 against them, still? okay.
i'm glad they beat a UT team that is down at 12-6. i guess a 2 pt win over a 12-6 SEC team is an upgrade over the competition they play game in and game out in the Conference America or whatever it's called.
bluetiger writes:
UT might have been 12-6 when before this game, but they played their hearts out, and you know it. Not to mention the sellout hostile crowd.
Chism is a great player, and he showed class when he was interviewed and admitted that the Tigers deserved the win.
If the score had gone the other way, UT fans would be on here throwing out all kinds of insults.
In fact, I read some insults on here last night anyway, but it doesn't matter. Ya'll can say whatever you want, call us Tiger High, thugs, and all the other boring, immature stuff you come up with. We still won the game. We have a better coach, better record, and a brighter future.
So UT has won more games in the series? Yeah, and last year we were NC runner-ups, but that's not helping us this year. Let's live in the here and now.
Memphis has always been and will always be the best men's basketball school in the state. End of story.
cjensen writes:
This team has a little 'getting together' to do yet. If I recall, it was early to middle third quarter, whoever was posting up on the left side of the basket was presented himself several times to receive the ball but it never came into him.
You could tell by body language that he was pe-od. When the ball went to the other side, he just stood straight up and gave the equivalent of stomping his foot.
Demanding the ball inside is one thing, being teed-off at your team mates is another, and that's exactly what it looked like.
They have some work to do. Plenty of talent, but not much cohesion, though the defense is much improved in the last month.
shotgun writes:
"....early to middle third quarter..."
Really CJ?
pdhuff#552644 writes:
They won.
Back to the SEC.
No tourney run for either as of now.
PaulTheVol writes:
Bottom line - they are still Memphis and we are the University of Tennessee. With their small-time conference they need us a lot more than we need them. Let's move on.
murrayvol writes:
I consider 1 game a run.......albeit a short one.
On court life is hard with no perimeter threat.
WE__ARE_MEMPHIS writes:
lets see, we lose our 3 best players from last year (see the NBA where they reside. Loften is where??) play weak competition, have a bad coach, bad city and stupid players with the best being an overrated freshman, and we still go into to your bowling arena and beat you on national tv. So whats that make your team??? As long as you idiots want a dialouge and make your bs excuses you will get one. keep it up and so will we. I suggest you go back to all those tough suc(sec) games and try to make the nit. The oompa loompa king and his servants, omg this is tooo funny.
ggriggs939#223122 writes:
What they had was friendly officials and still won by just two points.
Makes you wonder about the rating system still more.
volroadwarrior writes:
Why can't our super athletes shoot foul shots? Frustrating, exasperating, maddening....... You don't have to be a super hero to make foul shots, but it wins games. We win if we make a few more shots. It is not ESPN highlight stuff, but it gets us a win. Somtimes I think we had rather be on the TV highlight show than to win with a lowly free throw.
orangebloodgmc writes:
F'alkins.
WE__ARE_MEMPHIS writes:
they were suc(sec) officials moron. Why would they favor MEMPHIS?? Besides, check the stats, they called twice as many fouls on the TIGERS trying to give you the game. Your tear drop thugs just couldnt hit free throws because your coach cant recruit (see hopson) or teach his players how. Free throws and drawing up the last play.....Its all coaching right??????
stevefrommemphis writes:
Last year in reference to the Tennessee vs Memphis game, Calkins misquoted completely out of context something I posted on the Commercial Appeal website to imply that East Tennesseans are racists. When I called Geoff on it, he never apologized.
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/...
Just for the record, "those people" I referenced in the article were two Memphis residents who showed up in Chattanooga and allegedly shot some people at a downtown party. The context should have been clear to anyone.
Apologize, Geoff.
govols22231 writes:
this year yall are better, according to the score. But not the last two years.
govols22231 writes:
i guess you dont remember last year when we beat yall when yall had those 3 nba players in yalls homecourt, and yall did the same thing last year making excuses all year. And you think the c-usa conferance is better than the sec conferance? But yall have earned this years bragging rights, i will give yall that.
floridavolsfan writes:
The Gators put on quite a show in Nashville today---and they will be in town this week--gonna be an old-fashion--southern style gunfight! Who you taken Mack???
floridavolsfan writes:
It's a rainy night in Georgia...I think it's raining all over the world! SING IT BRO!!!
thebadsamaritan writes:
Reflections on a UofM alum's visit to K'ville this weekend:
Wayne Chism is a terrific player.
Even with a reservation, you still have to wait too long at PF Changs.
Nice fireworks during your player intros - but the whole thing still needs work: The goofy "bring 'em out" chant prior to their entrance must go. It needs to be darker in the arena for the graphics to show. You spent more time introducing your coach than you did your players. (For a great intro - see the Tigers' at FedEx Forum).
Your 3-time National Dance Team is full of cuties, but their dance routine was weak. The local middle-school cheerleader sponsor could choreograph a better one than that. (Again, for a great squad see UofM's team).
Pearl should spend more time coaching than asking the fans to stand up and cheer.
I drove around the campus about three hours prior to the game. Some UofM fans had painted the big rock out by fraternity row with our colors. Hilarious! I've got a picture of it. Sadly, it was re-painted by game time.
The male cheerleader-rolling-down-the-court with Smokey body surfing on them looked really gay. You might want to consider dropping that.
People were filing out of the arena with the game still in the balance (Chism in-bounding with less than 2 seconds left). Some fans you have there.
My family and I were treated cordially by the UT fans. I appreciate that. Nice game. See y'all in Memphis next year.
WE__ARE_MEMPHIS writes:
Go Gators! You will like that vul meat. Really soft and goes down easy. Gators by 10 to extend the vuls national audience woes. The only recruits Oompa Loompa will get this year is the ones without tvs. Oh yeah, and the ones with the gangsta tattoos, pearlvert has the market cornered on those.
GlennMaxwell writes:
There's no question Tennessee is in the better conference and has the better football program (although you'd never know it based on this past season -- better hope this new guy can clean up Fulmer's mess).
As for basketball, dismissing the predictable trash talking by rabid fans on both sides, I think most objective observers would say Memphis has the better program overall. Yes, Tennessee holds the series lead in spite of this year's Memphis win. When looking at the overall accomplishments of the programs, however, it's hard to argue Tennessee has anything on Memphis given the Tigers' national championship appearance and two Elite Eights over the past three seasons -- not to mention another Final Four and another championship appearance prior to that. Tennessee, by contrast, has burned out twice in the Sweet Sixteen, as a I recall, and before that ... what? Has Tennessee basketball ever done anything prior to a couple of years ago? Maybe they have and I missed it since I haven't really followed UT basketball, but I don't think so.
Of course, women's basketball is a different story, but I can't get excited about ladies hoops. It's kind of like getting excited over the water polo team.
Anyway, not to say Memphis has the basketball tradition of, say, Kentucky, North Carolina or UCLA (although we beat UCLA like a rug in last year's tourney). Let's face, few schools can match those traditions. But in a head-to-head comparison of Memphis and Tennessee, it's cute that Tennessee would try to act like the Big Brother in basketball.
Slystone writes:
GlennMax many forget how the Vols dodge the Tigers during the 1980's when argubably the Tigers had their most talented teams with the likes of Andre Turner, Keith Lee, Doom Haynes, Bobby Parks just to name a few. I lived in Knoxville back then and Devoe refused to play them. That is a fact.
cjraney writes:
Glenn, objective post for the most part. We can agree Memphis is a BB school & UT is a football school. Therefore one would expect Memphis to beat UT in BB, and the reverse in FB. While that's been true in FB, not so in BB.
Also wondering why the Memphis fan above thinks its so funny y'all won by 2.
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