Memphis opened the season with a bang with a 73-56 win over the Saint Mary's Gales. It was an impressive outing by the Tigers.

They dominated from the midway point of the first half and kept their foot on the throttle the entire game. Memphis forced Saint Mary's out of their game by forcing the Gales to play at an up-tempo pace.

The Tigers did that by extending their athleticism and length on the defensive side of things. With that, the Tigers were able to hold the Gales to one of eighteen behind the arc. Given the recent success of Saint Mary's from behind the three-point line, holding them to only one made three-pointer is true success for this Memphis team. On offense, Boogie Ellis stole the show with 24 points coming off the bench.

Ellis had a coming-out party on Wednesday, with a half-court buzzer-beater, several big-time buckets, and an impressive defensive game.

From a basketball standpoint, Head Coach Penny Hardaway had the perfect gameplan to attack the Gales.

The Tigers used a lot of motion and high ball screens to free up Boogie Ellis to create his shot. Memphis also had three other guys score in the double digits, led by Landers Nolley, Moussa Cisse, and Damion Baugh.

Those three guys combined for 31 points. Lance Thomas was close behind with eight points. With the win, the Tigers advance on to the semi-final round, where they will face the winner of Western Kentucky and Northern Iowa game on Thursday at 11:00 AM.

As far as matchups go: Northern Iowa plays a lot like Saint Mary's. They like to slow down the pace, play deep into the shot clock, and they also like to force their opponents to play in the half-court by limiting them in transition.

Western Kentucky is built like Memphis. The Hilltoppers are athletic, they're fast, and they love to push the tempo. A matchup with WKU would be an exciting, high scoring matchup with an NCAA Tournament feel to it.