Memphis Beats SMU, Penny Earns 100th Win

Thursday, January 26

Memphis, Tenn.

6 p.m.

University of Memphis

16-5,6-2AAC

SMU

7-14,2-6AAC

SMU

Memphis

Photo by: Joshua Jones

Jan 26, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Memphis Tigers took down the SMU Mustangs, 99-84, Thursday night at FedExForum in front of a rowdy "blackout" crowd, for the 100^th win of head coach Penny Hardaway's career and the 16^th-straight at home.

Hardaway is the seventh coach in Memphis history to reach the 100-win milestone. The Tigers improved to 16-5 overall and 6-2 in the American Athletic Conference (AAC).

Fifth-year point guard Kendric Davis led the charge against his former team, scoring 25 points to go with 11 assists and seven rebounds. Redshirt-senior guard Keonte Kennedy added 16 points, three assists and a pair of rebounds.

Fifth-year forward DeAndre Williams recorded 13 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals, while Jayden Hardaway and Chandler Lawson each added 12 points off the bench.

The Tigers were 22-for-30 from the charity stripe in the ballgame (.733) and made nine shots from long distance.

From the opening tip, it was clear Davis was on a mission. He buried a triple to get the night started, then went on to score (11) or assist (4) on all 20 points through the first seven minutes of action to help build a 20-15 lead. A few minutes later, he dished a ball around the defense to Chandler Lawson for a dunk that sparked a 13-1 run en route to Memphis taking a 50-32 lead into the half.

Davis went into the locker room with 16 points, nine assists and five rebounds in 19 minutes on the court. He orchestrated an offense that shot 54.3 percent (19-35) in the half with seven three-pointers and had six players with four or more points.

Memphis outscored SMU 19-0 off the bench and only turned the ball over four times in the first period.

Memphis grew its advantage to as many as 29 points down the stretch en route to the 15-point win. The majority of the second half was played with a 20-point margin until the final minutes of the action when Coach Hardaway called off the dogs.

Memphis won the battle in the paint 44-28 and finished the game shooting 54.0 percent from the field (34-63). The Mustangs shot 36.6 percent from the floor (26-71).

SMU (7-14, 2-6 AAC) was led by Zhuric Phelps' 20 points in 22 minutes.

UP NEXT

The Tigers hit the road, once again, for a 4 p.m. battle Sunday at Tulsa on ESPN2. They will then get nearly a full week of rest before returning to FedExForum on Saturday, Feb. 4 to host Tulane at 1 p.m., where they will retire Lorenzen Wright's jersey and handout bobbleheads of Larry Finch for his celebration game.

POSTGAME NOTES

Memphis used the starting lineup of Kendric Davis, DeAndre Williams, Keonte Kennedy, Elijah McCadden and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu for the fourth-straight game.
- Memphis has used five different starting lineups this season.
Memphis won its second-straight game against SMU and now leads the all-time series between the two schools, 17-15.
The win was the 16^th-consecutive victory for Memphis inside FedExForum.
- That is tied for the 2^nd-longest active win streak in Division I after Thursday with Kent State. The national leader is UCLA with 19.
Memphis shot 54.0 percent from the field (34-63), it's fourth-highest output of the season.
- Memphis' best game from the field was against Texas A&M on Dec. 17, 2022. (.558, 29-52).
- The Tigers have shot at least 50.0 percent from the field in nine games this season. They are 8-1 in those games.
- Memphis accomplished the feat just 10 times all of last season and five times total in 2020-21.
Kendric Davis recorded his second double-double of the season and the 10^th of his career.
- The national Player of the Year candidate eclipsed 20 points for the fifth game in a row, the first time he's done so in his career.
- His 11 assists was his 2^nd-highest total of the season and three off his career high.
- He enters Sunday's game four points shy of 2,000 points for his collegiate career (1,996).
- He also shot 10-11 at the free throw line, giving him 150 makes at the stripe this season. It was his sixth game this season with 10-plus makes, five of which have come in AAC play.
DeAndre Williams' 13 points extended his double-digit scoring streak to 17 games.
- He was 6-12 from the floor.
Keonte Kennedy matched his season high with 16 points on 4-7 shooting.
- He matched Davis for the team high in triples, going 3-5.
- Kennedy has finished in double figures in three consecutive games and in four of the last five outings after having done so just four times in his first 14 games played.
Chandler Lawson just missed his first double-double as a Tiger with 12 points and nine rebounds.
- His nine boards are the most he's recorded in a game at Memphis.
- He went 4-4 from the floor and 4-6 from the free throw line.
Playing just his third game since Christmas, Jayden Hardaway recorded double figures (12) for the second time this season.

How to follow the Tigers: For complete information on Memphis Tiger Men's Basketball, visit www.GoTigersGo.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.