Memphis outlasts Arkansas

BOB HOLT
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

MEMPHIS -- The Memphis Tigers found an SEC team they could handle and beat Arkansas 76-71 Monday night in The Pyramid before 12,814 fans.
It was the Tigers' first victory over an SEC team in three tries this season. Memphis previously had lost at Ole Miss (74-64) and to Tennessee (74-69) at home.
The Tigers (7-7) broke a three-game losing streak against Arkansas (8-5) and beat the Razorbacks for just the second time in the teams' last nine meetings.
Memphis led the final 19:30 and by as many as eight points in the second half, but Arkansas pulled within one point three times, the last at 72-71 after senior guard Chris Walker scored on a drive with 1:20 left.
Razorbacks sophomore guard T.J. Cleveland then drew a charge to give Arkansas the ball, but Walker quickly missed on an 18-foot jumper with 30 seconds left on the shot clock.
The Tigers got the rebound, and junior guard Marcus Moody scored on a bizarre three-point play to make it 75-71 with 50.6 seconds left.
As Moody drove, he ran into Arkansas sophomore guard Jason Gilbert, who slapped the ball loose. Moody got the ball back, though, and threw up an underhanded shot that went through the basket as Gilbert was called for the foul. Moody then hit the free throw for a four-point lead that was too much for Arkansas to overcome.
"I got the ball and [Mood] jumped into me, but he picked it up and put it in," Gilbert said of the decisive three-point play. "I don't question the call. The calls went both ways all night, that one just went their way.
"It was a tough time for something like that to happen, but he made a good play and put the ball in after I'd knocked it away."
Memphis Coach Johnny Jones joked it's a play the Tigers work on in practice -- Moody losing the ball, then making the unorthodox shot.
"That was a big play for us because Arkansas had been on a run," Jones said. "That could have been a backbreaker if Marcus' shot hadn't gone down."
After Memphis moved ahead 70-62, the Razorbacks had a 7-0 run -- with freshman forward Alonzo Lane scoring five points -- to pull within 70-69 on Lane's dunk rebound with 2:44 left.
Arkansas Coach Nolan Richardson said he wished Walker, who led the Razorbacks with 15 points, would have looked for Lane inside when Memphis was clinging to its 72-71 lead, instead of shooting a jumper.
"Chris is playing with a bunch of freshmen and sophomores, and I think when he got the ball there, he took it upon himself to win the game," Richardson said. "He's the only senior on the team, and he thinks he's got to do more. But he's got some help, and he's got to rely on his help.
"He knew after he took that shot it wasn't the right shot, but Chris wants to win so bad, the senior in him took over. The other guys can help him now, and I think he can use that as a positive and then make some better decisions later in the season when he finds himself in that situation."
Arkansas hurt its comeback chances by hitting just 1 of 8 free throws in the final 7:41, missing seven in a row in one stretch. For the game, the Razorbacks were 12 of 26 from the line.
"Because we couldn't nail some of our free throws, they were able to put us away," Richardson said. "Had we hit some free throws, we might have been able to put them away."
Kelly Wise, a 6-10 sophomore forward, led Memphis with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Moody added 16 points.
Lane had 13 points and 11 rebounds but was limited to 18 minutes because of foul problems. Gilbert had 13 points off the bench.
Freshman guard Joe Johnson, playing his third game for the Razorbacks since gaining his eligibility, had 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in 36 minutes but shot 4 of 15 from the field and committed 4 turnovers.
"Joe Johnson is going to be a great player," Jones said. "It was just tough for him to come into this atmosphere on the road for the first time."
Richardson said he wasn't surprised Johnson struggled after averaging 14 points and shooting 48 percent from the field in his first two games, against Alcorn State and Centenary in Fayetteville and Little Rock.
"Joe wasn't hitting some of the shots he normally hits, but I expected that because, let's face it, this kid is only playing his third game," Richardson said. "He's got to play his way into shape, and that's a hard thing to do.
"But Joe is a class kid, and I guarantee you he won't have four turnovers when he gets in shape."
Arkansas stayed close to Memphis on the boards, being outrebounded just 47-45, and forced 24 Tigers turnovers while having just 14 themselves.
"Usually when we have stats like that, it's a 10- or 15-point game the other way, our way," Richardson. "But we missed so many shots."
Arkansas shot a season-low 35.5 percent from the field (27 of 76). Memphis shot 48.2 percent (27 of 56).
"We took 20 more shots than they did, and about eight of those were layups we didn't come up with," Richardson said. "The only thing you can say to your team is, 'If you keep doing what you're doing now, we're going to be pretty good because it's not going to be every night we miss eight layups and miss seven free throws in a row going down the stretch.' "

This article was published on Tuesday, January 4, 2000

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