Tigers set to take on Cougars on semifinal Saturday

Memphis defeated UCF 79-55 on Friday afternoon to advance to the semifinal round on Saturday, where the Tigers will meet the Houston Cougars for a second time this season. Houston dropped the Tigers 90-77 in the first meeting between the two schools back on January, 6that Houston.

Houston throttled UCONN 84-45 to advance to the Semifinal round. The Cougars controlled the flow of the game from the opening tip with the Huskies and showed why they were the one seed coming into the AAC Tournament.

Houston is led by Corey Davis Jr who led the Cougars in scoring with 22 points in the win over the Huskies. The Cougars also have a very talented guard in Armoni Brooks who shot lights out in the first game between the two lighting the Tigers up for 22 points.

The Tigers will need Kyvon Davenport and Jeremiah Martin to step up in a massive way on Saturday to have a shot at a win. Jeremiah Martin has yet to just have that one game that Memphis fans have grown used to. Davenport on-the- other-hand has had an absolute outstanding AAC Tournament so far. Davenport put 17 in the win over Tulane, and 16 on Friday in the win over UCF.

Penny Hardaway has his Tigers playing at a level that teams across the AAC are starting to take note of. These Tigers are playing as their brother’s keeper with an intensity not seen in years.

Penny Hardaway had this to say about the toughness of his Memphis Tigers:

“For Sure. We have been playing tough since the South Florida game. Ever since that game we have been playing way tougher. We made a little pact at that point going to ECU that we weren’t going to allow anybody to get up on us that big anymore, and we were going to fight to the finish. And from that point forward, everybody drew a line in the sand and said that’s it, we are not going out like we did at Temple, at Tulsa, and South Florida. The team is playing much tougher.”

The Tigers will need to play that gritty 901 Basketball the Tigers and Cougars go to battle Saturday afternoon. This will be an all-out war between the two teams and it will likely go down to the wire with an incredible March Madness moment bound to happen.

The winner of this battle will move on to the Championship round with a ticket to the Big Dance on the line.

The semifinal game will tip-off at 2:00 P.M. on ESPN2 and it will be must-watch basketball.