Memphis: 2024-25 American Athletic Men's Basketball Champions

 

FORT WORTH, Texas — Memphis basketball bulldozed UAB Sunday 84-72 to win the AAC tournament championship – its second in the last three years.

The 17th-ranked Tigers (29-5) are double conference champs for the first time since 2013, when they were members of Conference USA. They have won eight consecutive games and are headed into March Madness as the AAC’s automatic qualifier.

AAC Coach of the Year Penny Hardaway and his short-handed team battled beginning to end – in much the same way the entire season has played out. With sure-handed veteran leader Tyrese Hunter on the bench – his left foot in a walking boot due to an unspecified injury he suffered in Saturday’s win over Tulane – and backup Dante Harris also sidelined with a high ankle sprain, sophomore guard Baraka Okojie made his first start of the season.

But it was Memphis’ superstar tandem of PJ Haggerty and Dain Dainja who stood tall and delivered once more. Haggerty finished with 23 points, while Dainja had his second double-double in as many games, dropping 22 points and pulling down 12 rebounds. Dainja also had five blocks.

Moussa Cisse was key, contributing 8 points and 14 boards. Colby Rogers emerged to bucket 15 points. Haggerty, Okojie, Cisse and Rogers each came up with two steals.

Whether it was Haggerty bullying his way to the basket and knocking down one tough shot after another, or it was Dainja and his high-level footwork rattling off indefensible move after indefensible move, the AAC Player of the Year and AAC Newcomer of the Year lived up to their billings.

Especially down the stretch. During a particularly fruitful stretch that began with 12:08 left in the game, the Tigers were 10-of-17 from the field. Haggerty and Dainja combined for seven of those made field goals.

After one of Haggerty’s hits that kissed high off the glass and found the bottom of the net, he performed an impromptu shimmy from the seat of his pants as the referee’s whistle blew. Haggerty hopped up and hit a free throw to put the Tigers up 63-56 with 8:23 remaining.

Three minutes later, Dainja went heads-up against a Blazers defender, blew right by him, made the layup, then looked toward media row, nodded his head and let out a primal scream.

And there wasn’t much UAB and its own superstar Yaxel Lendeborg could do to stop it. Lendeborg was his usual productive self, registering yet another double-double. But it wasn’t enough.

The first half was a bit tighter. The Tigers led by as many as 5 points in the first half. But things suddenly became problematic for them offensively.

Memphis went scoreless, going through a stretch spanning more than five minutes where it went 0 for 11 from the field. The cold snap was not limited to this player or that. Haggerty and Dainja missed three attempts. Rogers, Nicholas Jourdain and Cisse also each came up empty.

While UAB took the lead during that stretch from 9:29 to the 4:19 mark, the Blazers made just two field goals of their own.

Memphis: 2024 Frisco Bowl Champions

 

On Tuesday night at Toyota Stadium, the No. 25 Memphis Tigers football team defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers, 42-37, to win the Frisco Bowl.

The Tigers finish the season with an 11-2 overall record. This team's accomplishments have been sensational. Their 11 victories are the second-most wins in a season in their program history.

The Tigers scored 21 of their 42 points in the second quarter. Tigers quarterback Seth Henigan was named the Scooter's Coffee Frisco Bowl Offensive MVP after completing 18-of-26 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns.

Not only did Henigan torture the Mountaineers with his arms, but he did it with his legs as well. Hanigan rushed for 61 yards on eight carries. 

Wide receiver Demeer Blankumsee led the team with 120 yards and a touchdown on four catches. Late in the second quarter, Blankumsee caught an 18-yard touchdown pass that put the Tigers up 28-14.

The Tigers led as many as 35-17 in this game. West Virginia didn’t quit. They scored 13 straight points. Every time the Tigers would score, the Mountaineers would answer back in the second half.

Both quarterbacks, Henigan and Garrett Greene traded explosive plays after explosive plays.

However, the Mountaineers ran out of time. The game ended pretty wild, with the officials ruling that Herring was sliding when he lost the ball, thus marking himself down after giving himself up. 

Mountaineers finished the year with a 6-7 record. Greene went 29 of 40 completions with two touchdowns and one interception. He also ran for 96 yards. His longest was a 56-yard play run. 

Running back CJ Donaldson Jr rushed for 83 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Hudson Clement had 166 yards on 11 receptions with two touchdowns. 

Henigan achieved an achievement in this game. He reached 14,000 career passing yards, moving him to No. 13 in NCAA history. He concluded his career with 14,266 yards. 

Memphis: 2023 Liberty Bowl Champions

 

Memphis football had not won a game as an underdog all season, but the Tigers dispatched Iowa State in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl 36-26 on Friday at Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium.

Memphis (10-3) jumped out to a 19-0 first quarter lead and held on during some precarious moments in the fourth quarter to get to a rare double-digit win season.

Quarterback Seth Henigan was excellent again, breaking the all-time passing record for Memphis football in the third quarter. He finished 24-of-34 for 364 yards and four touchdowns and also rushed for a touchdown to pace the Tigers.

Iowa State (7-6) fought back after the rough start and had some momentum near the end of the first half. But Memphis did just enough to stay out of striking distance.

The Cyclones entered as 10.5 point favorites but struggled through most of the game, and the Tigers earned the win in their home stadium in front of an announced 48,789 fans mostly split between Memphis and Iowa State.

Memphis football came out swinging

The Tigers would've been hard-pressed to put together a much better start. Henigan hit Demeer Blankumsee for a 70-yard touchdown on the opening drive, and then the Tigers defense came up with a fourth-down stop to get the ball right back. Henigan rushed for a touchdown and then found former Iowa State receiver Joe Scates for a 51-yard touchdown, and the Tigers were flying. Slow starts have been an issue, but almost everything went well out of the gate.

Seth Henigan etched his place in Memphis history

Henigan finished his third season as Memphis' starting quarterback by setting the Tigers' record for career passing yards. He found Scates for a 17-yard gain late in the third quarter to pass Brady White as the leading passer in Memphis football history. Henigan has 10,773 career yards and announced before the game he'll return for next season and will be well-positioned to break basically all of the Tigers' career passing records.

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht had success

Memphis had been worried about stopping freshman RB Abu Sama III, who rushed for 276 yards and three touchdowns in Iowa State's last game against Kansas State. The Tigers defense shut Sama down early, but could not contain receiver Jayden Higgins, who had five catches for 140 yards in the first half.

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht threw for 446 yards and three touchdowns and improved as the game went on, but Memphis always had enough of a lead to keep the Cyclones in check.

The Tigers defense impressed

Memphis had spent most of the season engaging in shootouts and generally struggling to stop its opponents. Defensive coordinator Matt Barnes left for Mississippi State before this game, so linebackers coach Jordon Hankins was serving as interim defensive coordinator.

Iowa State couldn't get its running game going, and the Tigers were able to get pressure on Becht throughout the afternoon.

Memphis has momentum heading into next season

The Tigers will no doubt be among the favorites and possibly the favorite heading into next season's AAC title race. Of the three teams that finished ahead of them, Tulane lost its coach, UTSA lost its quarterback and SMU is headed to the ACC. The stakes will be higher with the expanded playoff, and Memphis will have real expectations at the beginning of next season. Friday's win gives Silverfield and his staff something concrete to build off as they prepare for a critical 2024 campaign.

Memphis: 2022-23 American Men's Basketball Champions

FORT WORTH, Texas − Kendric Davis not only looked like the best player in the AAC, the Memphis basketball All-American looked like one of the best players in the country.

In the blink of an eye, Davis sent a pair of heat-seeking torpedoes right through No. 1 Houston’s heart. His back-to-back 3-pointers that came 11 seconds apart in the first half let everyone inside Dickies Arena how this Championship Sunday might play out.

The Tigers (26-8) avenged a pair of regular-season losses to the Cougars (31-3), claiming a 75-65 victory – the first AAC Tournament title in program history – and sending the Big 12-bound program out on a sour note. Penny Hardaway’s team led by as many as 19 points, the largest deficit Houston has faced at any point this season. It is the first league title of any kind for the Tigers since 2013, when they won Conference USA.

Davis finished with 31 points.

Memphis will soon find out exactly where it will begin the NCAA Tournament, as the selection show begins at 5 p.m. on CBS.

Houston made a very Houston-like comeback, cutting the lead to 55-50 with 11:03 left in the game. But, if the first half belonged to Davis, a series of second-half clutch moments from senior guard Alex Lomax’s snuffed out any and all hope the Cougars had left.

Up 65-55, Lomax picked Terrance Arceneaux's pocket around mid-court, took off toward his goal (injured groin and all) and got the ball to go down despite being fouled by Jamal Shead. Lomax, after strutting his stuff for a few seconds, added the ensuing free throw for good measure. Lomax also secured a pair of key rebounds (including one offensive board that led to a Malcolm Dandridge field goal) and two assists.

Memphis: 2022 First Responder Bowl Champions

DALLAS – The University of Memphis football team earned a 38-10 victory over Utah State in the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl on Tuesday at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas. With the victory, the Tigers end the season with a 7-6 record, while the Aggies finish at 6-7.

 

The 28-point win for Memphis is the largest in the program's bowl history. Ryan Silverfield is the first head coach in team history to earn back-to-back bowl game championships and joins Tommy West as the only head coaches in Tiger history with two total bowl titles.

 

Sophomore quarterback Seth Henigan was named the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl MVP after completing 20-of-29 passes for 284 yards and three touchdowns. Henigan extended his streak of consecutive games with at least one TD pass to 24.

"I am so proud of our resiliency today and leading up to today," Silverfield said. "We are going to celebrate this and be proud of the moment. I am proud of our guys and our seniors. That win was for them. Thanks to all of the great fans from the city of Memphis. I am honored to coach this team. There are bright days ahead of us."

 

Fifth-year defensive back Sylvonta Oliver had two interceptions to spearhead the Memphis defensive effort, matching both the team's bowl game record, as well as the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl mark. The Tigers limited Utah State to just 261 total yards, the second fewest in program bowl history.

 

Memphis never trailed in the game on Tuesday, running out to a 24-3 lead at halftime thanks in part to a 21-point second quarter. Wide receiver Eddie Lewis had a pair of touchdown catches in the frame, finishing the game with five receptions for a game-high 83 yards and two scores.

 

Tight end Caden Prieskorn capped the first half with a three-yard touchdown catch with 24 seconds remaining. Prieskorn's score capped one of the best seasons for a tight end in Memphis history. The redshirt sophomore finished the year with 48 receptions for 602 yards and seven scores. His receptions and TD receptions are tied for the most among tight ends in single-season history, while his receiving yards are the second-most.

 

In the fourth quarter, the Aggies cut the lead to 24-10, but running back Jevyon Ducker ended the drama, scoring from 1-yard and 48-yards out to make the score 38-10. Ducker finished with 13 rushes for a game-high 83 yards and two touchdowns.

 

Defensively, redshirt junior linebacker Geoffrey Cantin-Arku had a game-high 10 tackles with one tackle for loss, while defensive back Joel Williams had one tackle and an interception for the Tigers. Playing in their final games for Memphis, linebackers Tyler Murray and Xavier "Zay" Cullens finished with seven tackles each.

Memphis: 2021 National Invitation Tournament Champions

When Alex Lomax pulled his No. 2 jersey over his head before Memphis’ NIT championship game, it was a gesture of hope. 

Lomax hadn’t played a second of competition basketball since he sprained his ankle Feb. 27 in what he calls a “freak accident.” The Tigers had played their past eight games without him, six of them wins, and were one win from clinching a title. 

So he didn’t really think he would play on Sunday in Frisco, Texas. He didn’t even know if he was physically capable. But something stirred inside him and spurred the junior captain to put on his uniform.

“Me and (walk-on Conor Glennon) actually been around each other these past couple trips and have been talking a lot, and I’d kind of been joking with him, ‘Who’s gonna play more minutes?’ ” Lomax said. “I kind of convinced myself I wanted to dress out with the team and show them some love and show the city some love, but I never really expected it to happen.”

Lomax watched from the sideline as Memphis raced to a 13-point lead against Mississippi State, relinquished it at halftime and fought to regain control in the second half. With 45 seconds remaining in the game and Memphis up 77-60, coach Penny Hardaway called Lomax’s number. 

As Lomax walked onto the court, he raised his right hand to the ceiling, overcome with emotion. 

“Just being out there, it just meant the world to me because I just wish I could’ve been out there helping the guys out earlier in the season,” he said, “because I feel deep down in my heart if the injury never happened, we wouldn’t be in the NIT tournament, we’d be in the NCAA Tournament.” 

Memphis closed the season with 11 wins in its last 13 games, the only losses coming to now-Elite Eight team Houston. Lomax had a front-row seat to it all, but it was from the passenger side instead of in the driver’s seat.

When Lomax first got hurt, stepping awkwardly on a teammate’s foot in practice, team trainers told him he was looking at an eight-week recovery period. 

“I told myself, I’m not gonna let this be an eight-week injury. I’m gonna work as hard as I can and try my best to come back,” he said. “It’s been three to four weeks and just for me to be walking and jogging right now is just a blessing. . . . I never felt I could be myself, but I made a lot of progress.” 

Although he wasn’t on the court, Lomax said his experience coaching from the sideline was meaningful and “made me a better player and a better person.” 

He was out of his walking boot and on a light practice schedule throughout the NIT run, mostly doing stationary shooting. There was never any real expectation he would play in the tournament. 

Putting Lomax on the court for the closing seconds in the championship game was Hardaway’s nod to their long shared history, which began at Lester Middle School with the late coach Desmond Merriweather. 

“A-Lo’s been through everything with me as a player, from sixth grade all the way up till now, and for him not to be able to play in this NIT to help his brothers, I know it was killing him on the inside,” Hardaway said. “Sometimes you can be forgotten when you’re not in the spotlight. But he was so pivotal and important to us because he kept the guys level-headed when they came to the bench.

“He kept a level head on practice days and in the hotel and he knew he couldn’t play, but he brought that leadership. So to be able to put him out there and think about Dez at the same time, it got a little emotional because we’ve come to win championships and the NIT is just a start.” 

After the final buzzer, Lomax reveled in the glory with his teammates, cradling the NIT trophy and mugging for photos with the net draped around his neck. 

“Gotta give it to Coach Penny, today was the first day we got to see him do his dance and he got the whole team hyped behind him,” he said. 

Lomax said he is enjoying celebrating the win while also looking to next season, when he’ll be a senior with a chance to make up for lost time. 

“Most definitely I will be working hard this summer to come back,” he said. 

In 18 games with four starts, Lomax averaged 22.7 minutes, 6.3 points, 4.4 assists, 3.1 rebounds and 1.9 steals. He and the Tigers (20-8) finished the season as champions, a long ways from where they started. 

“I just say we went from boys to men,” he said. “A lot of guys had to mature a lot. Coach wanted greatness for us and we had to realize he wasn’t gonna stop till he got the greatness out of us.”  

Sunday’s championship was the peak of that greatness, and it was then that Lomax, the player who has been called the Tigers’ “heart and soul,” rejoined his teammates.

For anyone who has watched him play the past three years, there’s no doubt that Lomax — a Memphian by birth, a guy who customarily ended his news conferences with a gleeful, “GTG, baby!” — is a Tiger through and through. 

So even though the Tigers accomplished a lot without him, when Lomax stepped onto the court, it felt like he made the them whole again. 

Memphis: 2020 Montgomery Bowl Champions

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Brady White passed for 284 yards and three touchdowns to lead Memphis to a 25-10 victory over Florida Atlantic on Wednesday night in the Montgomery Bowl.

The Tigers (8-3) built a big halftime lead, withstood a third-quarter rally and ended coach Ryan Silverfield’s first season with a second straight win. They also snapped a five-game bowl losing streak.

Meanwhile, Willie Taggart’s debut season with Florida Atlantic ended at 5-4 after the offense sputtered much of the way.

The game was created to replace the canceled Fenway Bowl. Cramton Bowl will also host the Camellia Bowl on Christmas Day. This one ended in a driving rain.

White, who was named game MVP, completed 22 of 34 passes with three short touchdowns while also throwing an interception, having a big game even with a quiet night from star receiver Calvin Austin III. Tahj Washington and Javon Ivory both have big games.

Washington caught eight passes for 105 yards while Ivory gained 126 yards on seven catches with a TD. Austin had 28 yards on three catches, with a TD.

Auburn transfer Asa Martin ran for 96 yards on 15 carries for Memphis.

Nick Tronti completed 16 of 32 passes for 146 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Florida Atlantic. Charles James ran for 82 yards.

Memphis capped the first half with a big man touchdown and a sizable lead — that would shrink in the third quarter.

The Tigers took an 18-0 lead with 22 seconds left in the first half on White’s 2-yard pass to moonlighting defensive lineman Joseph Dorceus. It was the 277-pounder’s first touchdown catch and was followed by a two-point conversion.

White completed all 10 of his pass attempts on the first two touchdown drives.

Florida Atlantic cut it to 18-10 in the third quarter with help from a fumbled kickoff return. Tronti passed for 38 yards in the first half and 46 on his initial drive of the second.

White answered right back with a 7-yard touchdown to Austin. Then the Tigers defense stuffed Tronti on a fourth-down run from the 1 to effectively put the game away.

THE TAKEAWAY

Florida Atlantic: Lost for the first time in a bowl game after coming in 4-0. Couldn’t muster much offense at all in the first half with either quarterback, Tronti or Javion Posey.

Memphis: Got its first bowl win since a double-overtime victory over BYU in the 2014 Miami Beach Bowl. ... Riley Patterson drilled a Cramton Bowl-record 53-yard field goal to cap the Tigers’ opening drive.

FLAGGED

There was a little scuffling in the game, with Florida Atlantic starting left guard Desmond Noel ejected for fighting in the final seconds of the first half with a shove to a Memphis player’s face mask. Silverfield was also called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

UP NEXT

Florida Atlantic gets its quarterbacks back but loses key players like outside linebacker Leighton McCarthy, running back James Charles, receiver TJ Chase and cornerback Zyon Gilbert. Scheduled to visit Florida on Sept. 4.

Memphis must replace White, the school career leader in passing yards and touchdowns and wins as a starting quarterback, but Austin is only a junior. All-conference defensive lineman O’Bryan Goodson is also a senior.

Memphis: 2014 Miami Beach Bowl Champions

The athletic directors at Memphis and BYU are expressing regret over the fight following the Tigers' 55-48 overtime victory over the Cougars in the Miami Beach Bowl on Monday.

Memphis athletic director Tom Bowen said he and coach Justin Fuente will review video over the next few days and take "appropriate disciplinary measures." He added in a statement Tuesday: "Hopefully, it will be a learning lesson for both teams."

"I don't know what happened at the end, first of all, so I don't know how upset I am," Fuente said after the game. "I'm sure I'll see it eventually. It's not who we are, it's not what we want to represent. I hope it doesn't take away from an incredible football game, for both sides."

BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe apologized to fans via Twitter.

After DaShaughn Terry's game-clinching interception in overtime Monday, dozens from both sidelines headed toward the middle of the field, with many punching and grabbing.

Cameras showed blood streaming from the face of BYU defensive back Kai Nacua as he came from behind to punch Memphis tight end Alan Cross, who was being restrained by someone from the Tigers' staff, in the head.

"You want them to rise above that and have fantastic sportsmanship," BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall said. "I'm sure if you go back and look, there'll be an instance or two that ignited. Probably the majority wanted to handle it really well."

Memphis president M. David Rudd also issued a statement Tuesday in response to the fight.

"We will provide another statement after the completion of that inquiry," Rudd said. "We have the highest expectations of sportsmanship for all of our student-athletes at the University of Memphis. I am very confident in Tom Bowen and Coach Fuente's leadership and know that working together we will be able to ensure incidents like this do not happen in the future."

American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco released a statement saying he has been in contact with Memphis officials and the league will work with the school in determining violations of the conference's code of sportsmanship.

"Needless to say, we are extremely disappointed that this happened, as we expect the highest standard of conduct from our student-athletes," Aresco said in the statement.

Memphis is a member of the American. BYU is an independent in football.

Memphis: 2012-13 Conference USA Champions

The Memphis Tigers are officially heading to the NCAA tournament after defeating the Southern Miss. Golden Eagles in double overtime, 91-79, on Saturday to win the Conference USA tournament.
Bubble teams around the nation breathed a sigh of relief as the Tigers squeaked out a victory in double overtime over a very resilient Southern Mississippi squad. The final score wasn't indicative of how close the game was, as Memphis didn't blow it open until the second overtime.

Conference USA is projected to be a one-bid conference, and if history said anything, it was always Memphis' to lose. The Tigers have defeated the Golden Eagles in 20 of their last 21 meetings and was riding yet another of their many hot-streaks as of late, going undefeated in conference play for the fourth time in seven years.

But the Golden Eagles played with the fire of a team that has nothing to lose. They harried the Tigers into a poor shooting night for much of the game, and made sure few things fell from behind the arc. The Tigers were 9 for 25 from the three-point line, with most of those falling as clutch shots towards the end of the game. The Tigers only led by two points going into halftime. It would generally be a one-possession difference for much of the entirety of the game.

Golden Eagles guard Neil Watson charged down the court after Memphis missed the front end of a one-in-one, making a lay-up with 0.1 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. But in the end, poor free throw shooting doomed the Golden Eagles. They missed many free throws in the waning minutes of the game, shooting just 15 of 28 from the line.

Sophomore Adonis Thomas scored and 19 points and had eight rebounds and senior D.J. Stephens added 12 points and five blocks in the win. Chris Crawford was electric in the second half and overtimes, scoring 19 of his 23 points in the second half of the game. It is the seventh-straight trip to the NCAAs for the Tigers.