No. 2 Memphis Cruises Past SMU
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Dallas, TX -- (Sports Network) - Derrick Rose scored 19 points and Chris Douglas- Roberts had 18 as second-ranked Memphis blew past SMU, 72-55, at Moody Coliseum.Antonio Anderson tallied nine points and 10 rebounds for Memphis (29-1, 15-0 C-USA), which posted its first perfect road mark for a season since the 1960-61 campaign. That 1960-61 Tiger team went 7-0 in its road games. This season's team went 10-0, and the Tigers have won 19 consecutive road contests since a December 20, 2006 setback at Arizona. "We did good stuff today," Rogers said. "We didn't turn it over, but we don't do that. We only turn it over 11 or 12 times a game, even as fast as we play." The Tigers, who lost at home to Tennessee on February 23 before rebounding with wins against Tulsa and Southern Miss in their last two games, have already claimed the Conference USA regular season title outright for a third straight year. Memphis wraps up regular season play Saturday with a home contest versus UAB. The Tigers have won 32 straight regular season Conference USA games and 38 in a row overall in C-USA, including the league's postseason tournaments. The last time Memphis suffered a setback to a C-USA foe was March 2, 2006, when the Tigers fell at UAB. Jon Killen scored 16 points and had eight assists for SMU (9-19, 3-12), which has lost six of its last seven contests. Bamba Fall scored 11 and pulled down eight rebounds for the Mustangs. "I thought it was a hard-fought game, but Memphis is just too darn good," SMU coach Matt Doherty said. "It's been a problem all year; we don't handle the ball great. We had 22 turnovers and they get 25 points. They get almost 20 more shots than we do and everything else is almost even. I just wish we could take care of the ball better." Derrick Roberts' basket had SMU within 24-21 inside of six minutes left in the opening half, but the Tigers finished the stanza on a 14-5 spurt with Douglas- Roberts accounting for six of those points. Killen's three had the Mustangs within 42-34 early in the second half, but Memphis pulled away with an ensuing 8-2 flurry, capped by a Rose jumper with nearly 15 minutes to go. Memphis continued to hold a double-digit lead the remainder of the way. Game Notes Memphis has a 44-1 record in C-USA play since 2005-06...This was the Mustangs' ninth all-time game against the No. 2 team in the country. SMU is 1-8 in those games with a win over No. 2 Louisville in the 1967 NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional semifinals...The Mustangs' last win against a ranked opponent was at No. 17 Purdue (60-59) on Dec. 21, 2003, in the championship game of the Boilermaker Invitational...SMU is 26-116 all-time against ranked teams...Memphis leads the all-time series, 6-1.
Copyright 2008 Courtesy of The Sports Network.










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