Tigers complete Back-to-Back C-USA Championships

Adam Douglas

 

     An up-and-down, see-saw battle in the first six minutes of this contest, turn out to be a no-contest as The University of Memphis Tigers (26-8) blitzed the Marshall Thundering Herd (21-13) 83-57 for their second consecutive Conference USA Championship Tournament title.

Marshall hung in there with Memphis for the better part of the first half, but once the Tigers turned on the defense, the Thundering Herd was no match for the athletic Tigers. The last five Tigers opponents have fallen in the same fashion - a blowout.

"That was obviously a well-played game. Marshall is a very, very good team," said Josh Pastner, head coach of the Tigers. "They are very well coached, and they have a lot of good players. But, the thing for us is that we did some good things defensively. I think Marshall is an NCAA Tournament team. They deserve to be in the field as does Southern Miss - you can even make a case for UCF, too."

One thing is for sure - the Tigers will be dancing for the second straight time and with the C-USA's Tournament MVP, sophomore guard Joe Jackson, peaking and playing the best basketball of his young career right now. Jackson averaged 15.3 points, 4.0 assists and 2.3 steals during the tournament run. He also led the Tigers with 19 points and six assists in the championship victory over Marshall.

"I honestly thought Tarik (Black) deserved the MVP," Jackson said. "He's been playing his butt off the last five or six games. It wasn't about winning the MVP for me, I just want to win games."

There were four other players in double figures to go along with Jackson; Will Barton, Wesley Witherspoon, Ferrakohn Hall and Chris Crawford all reached double figures. But it wasn't the offensive output that was nearly as impressive as the defense of Memphis. They held Marshall to just 35.5 percent (22-of-62) from the field for the game. And the Thundering Herd also shot poorly from the free throw line, going 8-of-18 (44.4percent).

"We ran into a team that is playing as well as any team in America," said Tom Herrion, head coach for Marshall. "That team might be the most improved team in the country in the last three or four weeks. We battled and I'm proud of my kids, but we didn't close the deal."

Up next for the Tigers is the NCAA tournament, and with the way the team has been rolling lately, head coach Josh Pastner believes his teams deserves a high seed.

"I believe right now, that there's no doubt in my mind that we should be a No. 5-seed in the tournament," Pastner said. "I think we've earned a right to be a five-seed - but whomever we play, we'll have to be ready."