Memphis guard Tyrese Hunter missed a recreation for the primary time this season on Sunday when a knee harm stored him sidelined.
The excellent news: If Hunter has to take a seat out the 14th-ranked Tigers’ Thursday recreation towards South Florida in Tampa, coach Penny Hardaway seems to have a high quality backup in place.
Former Virginia and Georgetown guard Dante Harris stepped up as Memphis outscored Temple 90-82 on Sunday to stay atop the American Athletic Convention.
Harris supplied 14 factors and two steals whereas making 6 of 8 pictures from the sector in 29 minutes. He was added to the roster as a midseason switch in late December.
“We knew his expertise might assist us,” Hardaway stated of Harris, whose standing is predicted to be a game-time choice on Thursday. “It actually confirmed (Sunday) how helpful he actually is. We simply stated, ‘Hey, we’re already successful. Are available in, be a part of a great group that is already successful. Hold doing the issues you’ll want to do to be a great teammate.’ And that is what he is achieved.”
The 6-foot Harris performed greater than 32 minutes per recreation within the 2010-22 season whereas averaging 11.9 factors and 4.1 assists for Georgetown. Final season, he noticed restricted recreation time for Virginia.
By means of 10 video games for Memphis, he’s contributing 3.2 factors per recreation in 13.5 minutes. He has related on 13 of 23 field-goal makes an attempt (56.5 p.c).
The Tigers (20-4, 10-1 AAC) do not want massive numbers from him each night time with teammates resembling PJ Haggerty (21.6 ppg) round to take the large pictures. Haggerty and Dain Dainja (12.5 ppg) have been the celebrities final week as Memphis averaged 86.5 factors in a pair of house wins.
Memphis, which leads Division I in 3-point capturing at 40.3 p.c, loved two good video games from past the arc final week. The Tigers went 9 of 21 towards Tulsa earlier than hitting 8 of 19 towards Temple.
Whereas the Tigers proceed to stalk a league title, the Bulls (12-12, 5-6) come into city after taking a 75-70 house loss towards Wichita State on Sunday. USF hit 52.2 p.c of its field-goal makes an attempt however dedicated 14 turnovers and was dominated 42-22 on the boards, permitting 19 offensive rebounds that led to 24 factors.
It was the Bulls’ first recreation after an emotional 100-91 double-overtime victory towards Temple on Feb. 6, an evening when the league honored former USF coach Amir Abdur-Rahim by naming a sportsmanship award for him.
Abdur-Rahim, who led the Bulls to the 2023-24 AAC regular-season title, died on Oct. 24 from problems after surgical procedure. He was 43 years previous, forsaking a spouse and three kids.
“No motivational speech wanted,” guard Kobe Knox stated after the overcome the Owls. “We knew who we needed to win this recreation for, and it was self-explanatory.”
Now Knox and his teammates should stand up for his or her first matchup of the season with the Tigers. Their recreation final Jan. 18 in Memphis helped flip round their season. USF erased a 20-point second-half deficit and received 74-73, the second contest in a 15-game successful streak that produced this system’s first regular-season convention title.
The Tigers personal a 32-8 lead within the all-time sequence, together with a 15-3 benefit in Tampa.
–Subject Stage Media
