Looking Back (Feb. 23) | No. 2 Tennessee 66, No. 1 Memphis 62
A lot was at stake when No. 1 Memphis faced No. 2 Tennessee on Saturday. Memphis was trying to continue its run at a perfect season and silence critics who attribute its success to the weak Conference USA, while Tennessee was trying to earn a No. 1 national ranking for the first time in the program's 99-year history.
Sophomore forward Tyler Smith hit a turnaround jumper with 30 seconds left to put Tennessee ahead at 62-61. With under 10 seconds left, junior guard Antonio Anderson missed a potential game-winning shot for the Tigers, and the Volunteers went on to win the game 66-62.
Smith led the Volunteers with 16 points while freshman guard Derrick Rose led the Tigers with 23. Despite shooting a lackluster 37.5 percent from the field compared to the Tigers' 39.7 percent, the Volunteers pulled out the win because of their relentless rebounding. Tennessee pulled down an impressive 46 boards, easily trumping Memphis' 31 and earning itself several second-chance opportunities.
Free-throw shooting also hurt the Tigers. Coach John Calipari's squad shot an abysmal 47.1 percent from the charity stripe and missed six second-half free throws.
After the contest, Tennessee was ranked No. 1 in both the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll and the Associated Press writers' poll for the first time in school history. But Tuesday, in their first game as the top team in the nation, the Volunteers fell to No. 14 Vanderbilt 72-69.
Looking Ahead (March 1) | NESCAC Semifinals: Women's Basketball vs. Wesleyan
This Saturday, the women's basketball team will play one of the biggest games in recent program history when it faces off against the third-seeded Wesleyan Cardinals in the semifinals of the NESCAC Tournament.
The Jumbos, seeded No. 2 in the tournament and ranked No. 15 nationally, defeated Middlebury 71-60 at home on Saturday. They already broke the school record for wins earlier this season, and they'll attempt to prolong their season this weekend against the Cardinals, who defeated the No. 6 seed Williams Ephs 68-49 in Saturday's first round.
In the teams' lone regular-season matchup on Feb. 2, Tufts easily handled Wesleyan, who had entered the game in first place and unbeaten in conference play. The Jumbos won 66-52, getting double-digit scoring efforts from senior co-captain Khalilah Ummah, junior guard Kim Moynihan, sophomore forward Julia Baily and junior forward Katie Tausanovitch.
Wesleyan has a strong low-post threat in senior tri-captain Lucy Sprung, the second-leading scorer in the NESCAC. Held to just nine points in her team's first meeting with the Jumbos, Sprung is averaging 15.5 points and 9.2 rebounds per game this season and had an 18-point, 12-rebound effort against Williams last weekend. She and junior guard Ali Fourney are the Cardinals' major offensive threats.
With a victory, Tufts would advance to the NESCAC finals for the second consecutive season and would play the winner of the Amherst-Bowdoin matchup to be held on Saturday.
