Franklin's Steal & Layup in Final Seconds Pushes Tigers Past Knights

Thursday, February 16

Memphis, Tenn.

7 p.m.

University of Memphis

UCF

Franklin's Steal & Layup in Final Seconds Pushes Tigers Past Knights

Feb 16, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A steal and a layup by fifth-year guard Damaria Franklin in the game's final seconds pushed the Memphis Tigers past the UCF Knights, 64-63, Thursday night at FedExForum. Memphis improved to 20-6 overall and 10-3 in American Athletic Conference (AAC) play.

Fifth-year guard Elijah McCadden led the Tigers offensively with 16 points, six rebounds and an assist. Fifth-year forward DeAndre Williams added a dozen points, six rebounds and pair of assists.

Fifth-year guard Kendric Davis (10 points) left the game in the first half and did not return, but was in long enough to grab the AAC's all-time scoring crown when he buried his first shot of the night.

Memphis has won three-straight games and eight of its last nine overall. The Tigers have now logged six-straight 20-win seasons, including all five seasons under head coach Penny Hardaway.

Davis was feeling it early, draining four of his first five shots to give the Tigers a 10-1 lead just five minutes into the action. That advantage quickly grew to 19-4 by the 10:43 mark after Keonte Kennedy drilled the Tigers' first long ball of the night for a 9-0 run.

UCF went back to its game plan from the first time the teams met in Orlando and they started dialing it up from long distance. The Knights drained four triples over the next five-plus minutes to get all the way back to within four points at 29-25.

Following a three-pointer from Elijah McCadden to stretch Memphis' lead back to nine, Davis went down in pain under the goal and never returned the rest of night.

The Tigers pushed their lead to 12 with two minutes to play in the half, but went into the break up 44-35.

Memphis came out of the locker room with another run, this time 6-0 to get its lead back to 15 at 50-35 following a pair of buckets from Kennedy and Williams.

The Knights continued to battle and took advantage of Memphis miscues all night, scoring 32 points off turnovers.

UCF used a 7-0 run off back-to-back Tiger turnovers and took its first lead of the game, 63-62, with 3:10 left on the clock.

Memphis' defense stood tall and stopped UCF on its final six possessions to set the stage for the game-winner.

Following a Memphis turnover with 27 seconds on the clock, Franklin locked up UCF's Darius Johnson at midcourt and knocked the ball away.

Johnathan Lawson scooped up the ball and flung it out in front of a streaking Franklin who drove it to rim and finished with his left hand against a defender with seven seconds on the clock to put the Tigers back in front 64-63.

The defense made one final stop in the final seconds as the clock expired and Memphis emerged victorious.

UCF (15-10, 6-7 AAC) was led by Taylor Hendricks' 17 points.

UP NEXT
The Tigers go back on the road for a nationally anticipated showdown with No. 2 Houston on Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN. It will be the first meeting of the season between the programs as they will also close out the regular season in Memphis on March 5.

POSTGAME NOTES

Memphis used the starting lineup of Kendric Davis, Elijah McCadden, DeAndre Williams, Keonte Kennedy and Kaodirichi Akobundu-Ehiogu for the ninth-straight game.
- The Tigers are now 8-1 in those games.
Memphis leads the all-time series with UCF, 30-8.
- That includes a 20-1 mark all-time in Memphis.
Kendric Davis now sits atop the AAC's all-time scoring chart with 1,869 points between his time at SMU and Memphis. He passed Temple's Quinton Rose (2016-20).
- He has set the league's career mark for assists, free throws and total points in the last six games.
The Tigers shot 54.5 percent (24-44) despite making just three buckets over the final 12:20 of the game.
- The Tigers were shooting 64 percent overall before that mark having made 21-of-33 prior to that point.
- The only shot Memphis attempted from the floor in the final 5:20 was Franklin's game-winner with seven seconds to play.
Memphis won the battle of the boards, 33-30, despite only grabbing four offense rebounds to UCF's 11.
The 24 turnovers were a season high for the Tigers, leading to 32 points for the Knights. They coughed it up 16 times in the second half, including eight times in the final 4:42.
Memphis scored just 10 off UCF's 15 miscues, but outscored the Knights 32-20 in the paint.
Elijah McCadden has now scored in double figures four times in his last five games, including three-straight. He's averaging 11.8 points and 7.0 rebounds in that stretch.

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.