Memphis, Memphis, Memphis

Tulane posted their biggest win in quite awhile last night: 54-51 over Tulsa. Seriously, when was the last time Tulane beat a 20-win team? Away from home?

It was a gritty affair- but Tulane remained pretty organized despite the hard won natue of every point and possession. Thirteen turnovers are not that bad in that sort of game.

They did miss an absolute ton of free throws- including a real clutch pair late (although Kevin Simms did make a pair of “clutch-er” ones). Maybe Tulane didn’t shoot well either- but you know, Tulsa won those 20 games largely by playing great defense. For example, Memphis scored 72 and 69. Oklahoma scored 58. Their last seven league games: 58, 50, 65, 60, 64, 62, 51. Tulsa is a very good defensive team- for all their faults, they can consistently keep C-USA teams in the 50s, low 60s. It is what Tulsa does when they play well- and kudos to Tulsa, they did play well defensively.

And even if Tulane was not very good offensively; they were very solid on defense- particular on the perimeter- high effort and high discipline: nine steals, Tulsa had maybe six or seven real good looks from the arc all night, one trey in the whole second half. Tulsa didn’t shoot well either- largely because Tulane kept the answer to this question: “how many easy transition baskets did they have?”- to “acceptable”- particularly when you consider how many shots the Wave missed. If Tulane plays that sort of defense tonight- Memphis probably can’t get to the 85 needed to humiliate the Wave by 30.

You know, when two teams who really aren’t that bad, pretty close to NIT good- play a desperation game with a real commitment to physical defense (even a little thuggish, a little attitude at times), the product can look a little raw. Tulane hasn’t played a tournament game with real consequence in a long while- maybe we forgot what that sort of desperation looks like?