No. 19 Tigers Defeat Austin Peay to Win Sixth Straight

Saturday, December 30

Memphis, Tenn.

6:00 PM

University of Memphis

11-2,0-0AAC

Austin Peay

7-8,0-0ASUN

Austin Peay

Memphis

No. 19 Tigers Defeat Austin Peay to Win Sixth Straight

Dec 30, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The 19^th-ranked Memphis Tigers defeated Austin Peay 81-70 Saturday night at FedExForum behind a double-double from Nae'Qwan Tomlin.

The Tigers closed the book on the nonconference portion of the schedule with an 11-2 record, their most wins before the American Athletic Conference season since also winning 11 in 2019.

Senior forward David Jones led for Tigers in double figures with 19 points and five rebounds. Tomlin finished with a monster 15-point, 15-rebound double-double in just 24 minutes off the bench to go along with three blocks.

Nicholas Jourdain added 12 points and Jahvon Quinerly chipped in 11 points with four assists.

Memphis struggled to put the Governors (7-8) away after going up by eight points with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half. Austin Peay rallied back to tie the game before Jaykwon Walton sunk a triple in the final seconds to send the Tigers to the locker room with a 37-34 advantage.

The Tigers parlayed a 12-2 run midway through the second period into their largest lead of the night, 69-53, behind five-straight points from Jones. The Governors, once again, charged back and got within six points before Memphis put the game away at the free throw line.

Memphis shot 41.0 percent as a team (25-61), but struggled from long distance, hitting just 4-of-18 attempts (22.2%).

Austin Peay was led by Dezi Jones' 20 points, nine rebounds and five assists.

UP NEXT
Memphis gears up for AAC action as the Tigers head to Tulsa on January 4 for a 7 p.m. tilt against the Golden Hurricane. They will then return home to host SMU (Jan. 7) and UTSA (Jan. 10).

POSTGAME NOTES

Memphis used the starting lineup of Jahvon Quinerly, David Jones, Jaykwon Walton, Nicholas Jourdain and Malcolm Dandridge.
- The Tigers improve to 5-0 this season with that starting five.
Memphis extended its home winning streak to 13 games against nonconference opponents.
Memphis won its 9th-straight game in the series to take a 20-4 all-time advantage over the Governors.
The Tigers improved their winning streak to six games after dropping back-to-back contests with Villanova and Ole Miss.
David Jones' streak of scoring 20 or more points came to a halt at six games, missing the milestone by a single point Saturday. He still leads the team in scoring this season at 21.1 points per game.
Nae'Qwan Tomlin grabbed the third double-double of the season for the Tigers. David Jones has the other two.
Tomlin is just the fourth Tiger in the last five years to have a 15-point, 15-rebound game. The others are DeAndre Williams, Jalen Duren and Precious Achiuwa.
- He is the first Tiger since at least the 2010-11 season to grab 15 points and 15 boards in just 23 minutes or less.
The Tigers had six steals and six blocks as a team.
- Jones led the squad with three steals, while Jayhlon Young had two.
- Tomlin led the team with three of the six blocks.
Memphis was brilliant at the free throw line, converting on 27-of-31 for an 87.1-percent mark. Jones led the team with a 9-for-9 night at the line.
- The 27 free throws are a season high for the Tigers and the most by Memphis in regulation since hitting 31 against N.C. Central on Nov. 13, 2021.
- It is also the first time since Dec. 2, 2017 that the Tigers have converted 87.0-plus percent of its free throws with at least 30 attempts in a regulation game.
- They have achieved the feat only four times since the 2010-11 campaign, including a season ago in overtime at UCF (28-32, 87.5%)
The Tigers outrebounded the Governors 48-39 and pulled down 15 offensive boards.
- It marks the first time since Nov. 23, 2015 against UT Arlington that Memphis has totaled at least 25 made free throws and 45 rebounds in a single game.
Memphis outscored Austin Peay 42-24 in the paint and 14-11 off turnovers.
Jaykwon Walton brought an end to his 0-for-19 slump from three-point range with his long distance make in the final minute of the first half. He finished with eight points and four rebounds in 27 minutes.
Malcolm Dandridge closed the game with nine points and four boards in 18 minutes.

HOW TO FOLLOW THE TIGERS
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