NCAA News Wire
Memphis 80, South Florida 58
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — For a day, the No. 23-ranked Memphis Tigers literally shot down their reputation as a poor 3-point shooting team.
The Tigers made a season-high 10 3-pointers Sunday afternoon at the FedExForum and defeated the South Florida Bulls 80-58 in an American Athletic Conference game.
Coming into the game, Memphis ranked ninth in the AAC in 3-point field-goal percentage (30.4). But the Tigers knocked down 7 of 12 threes in the second half and finished 10-for-22 (45.5 percent).
Guard Chris Crawford was 5-for-10 from long range and led Memphis with 15 points. Guard Joe Jackson scored 14 points with seven assists and forward Shaq Goodwin had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Forward Nick King scored 10 points and guard Geron Johnson chipped in eight points with seven assists.
Memphis (15-4, 5-2) swept the season series with USF (10-10, 1-6). The Tigers have won five of their last six games while the Bulls dropped their fourth straight. USF is now 0-5 against ranked opponents this season.
Trailing by 12 at the half, USF guard Corey Allen Jr. hit a 3-pointer at the 19:43 mark to get the Bulls within single digits at 34-25. But Jackson hit a three at 19:17, and Memphis went back up by 12, to pull away. Memphis led by as many as 30 in the second half.
Guard Martino Brock paced the Bulls with 15 points. USF shot 33.9 percent (21-for-62). The Tigers shot 49 percent (29-for-51).
USF stayed with Memphis for a while and trailed by just two, 24-22, after a dunk by forward Chris Perry with 4:15 to play in the first half. But Memphis closed the half on a 10-0 run and took a 34-22 lead into the break.
Memphis shot 19 first-half free throws, but converted just nine of them (47.4 percent). USF shot just two free throws and made both. The Tigers shot 45.8 percent from the floor (11-for-24). Jckson had nine points and forward Goodwin scored eight in the first half.
The Bulls shot 31.2 percent from the field (10-for-32) in the first half and each team had 20 first-half rebounds.
NOTES: Coming into Sunday’s game, the Tigers boasted two of the top four AAC players in assist/turnover ratio. G Joe Jackson ranked second, at 2.1, and G Chris Crawford ranked fourth, at 2.0. … In the first meeting this season, Memphis won at USF, on Dec. 31, 88-73. … Tigers sophomore F Shaq Goodwin entered Sunday with 13 double-digit scoring games, the same number he had all of last season.
