University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
3-4
Oklahoma State
8-1
Memphis Drops Game to Oklahoma State
Dec 13, 2014 | Men's Basketball
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OSU-73_MEM-55_12-13-14 
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Struggles holding onto the ball in the second half doomed the Tigers as they fell 73-55 to Oklahoma State at FedExForum on Saturday night.
Memphis (3-4) turned it over 14 times in the second half and Oklahoma State (8-1) took advantage to the tune of 18 points to open up its lead.
Trahson Burrell and Kuran Iverson led the Tigers in scoring with 13. Austin Nichols was the only other Memphis player in double figures as he dropped 11 and also pulled down 13 rebounds for the double-double.
Le’Bryan Nash led the charge for the Cowboys as he finished with a game-high 20 points. Anthony Hickey and Phil Forte both finished with 19 points and Michael Cobbins added 12 of his own.
The Tigers won the opening tip and, after a few missed shots from both sides, Nichols got the home team on the board first. OSU then used a 13-2 run to take a 13-4 lead by the time the under 12-minute media timeout rolled around, from which the UofM was never able to recover.
After the Cowboys got their lead to 10, Memphis started to claw away and eventually got it as close as two after a Burrell and-one off of a layup made it 24-22 with 4:28 to go in the half. Oklahoma State responded with a three from Hickey, and after Nichols hit a layup, Nash had a dunk on the opposite end, sparking a 9-1 run over the final 3:34 of the half. At the break, OSU led the Tigers 36-25.
Memphis struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 28.6 percent (10-35), while OSU shot 54.2 percent (13-24), including 3-7 from three-point land. Memphis stayed close because they forced OSU into 10 turnovers and were also able to pull down 13 offensive rebounds, giving the UofM more chances to score.
Pookie Powell got the Tigers going in the second half with a layup to get the lead down to nine. After the teams traded baskets, Memphis got a stop and a dunk from Shaq Goodwin on the other end to cut it to seven.
With 16:05 to play in the game, Burrell hit a layup to once again bring the Tigers within seven 40-33. But then Memphis hit a cold streak, not scoring a field goal again until until a Burrell three pointer with 5:49 remaining. The Cowboys used this time to stretch their lead to 59-41, which would be the eventual margin of victory.
The score hovered around that mark, reaching a high of 22 and a low of 15 before a pair of free throws from Nash with 26 seconds remaining ended the scoring.
Memphis shot better in the second half, hitting 45.5 percent of its shots, but only took 22 shots because of the amount of turnovers. On the other side, Oklahoma State shot just 38.9 percent (7-18) in the second half, but also knocked down 21 free throws.
The Tigers turned it over 23 times in all, which OSU got 25 points off of, while The Tigers turned 17 Cowboy turnovers into 12 points.
The Tigers out-rebounded Oklahoma State 41-28, which included 19 offensive rebounds that resulted in 10 second chance points for Memphis. The Memphis bench carried a lot of the load, outscoring the Cowboys’ bench 38-3 and accounting for more than half of the Tigers scoring.
On Monday the Tigers North Carolina Central to FedExForum for the fourth game of this current nine-game home stand. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on WatchESPN.
