GAMEDAY Mens Basketball
Memphis 75, Houston 65
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas - Kendric Davis scored 31 points, including 14 in a big run before halftime, and Memphis held on to beat short-handed No. 1 Houston 75-65 in the American Athletic Conference tournament championship game.
DeAndre Williams had 16 points and 13 rebounds for coach Penny Hardaway and the Tigers (26-8), who got the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. They are going to March Madness for the second year in a row.
Houston (31-3) played without AAC player of the year Marcus Sasser, who strained his groin in the first half of semifinal game. The senior guard's status will remain a question mark for the Cougars, who entered their final AAC game already a sure bet for their first No. 1 NCAA seed since 1983 during the Phi Slama Jama era.
The Cougars, who are moving to the Big 12 next season, beat Memphis 71-53 in last year's AAC tournament championship game, and won both regular-season matchups this season.
J'Wan Roberts had 12 points and 20 rebounds for Houston. Jamal Shead had 15 points on 3-of-14 shooting, and Jarace Walker had 13 points before fouling out.
The Cougars trailed by 18 at halftime, but got within 55-50 with 11:03 left after Shead scored eight points in a row for them in a two-minute span. His 3-pointer capped a 12-1 run, and he made another long-range shot before two free throws, but that was the closest Houston would get.
Memphis had taken control with a 16-2 run in the first half. Davis had all but two of those points and made two 3-pointers only 9 seconds apart.
That big spurt started on a fast-break layup by Davis with just under eight minutes left. Davis made a 3, and then Alex Lomax made a backcourt steal and passed to Davis at the top of the key for another 3. By time Davis made another fast-break layup with 3:36 left, the Tigers had doubled up Houston, 40-20.
BIG PICTURE
Memphis: Hardaway played in the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Tournaments in his only two seasons as a player for the Tigers, and now has taken them to as many as a coach. He has 110 wins in his five seasons as Memphis' coach. ... Memphis will make its 28th NCAA Tournament appearance.
Houston: Sasser dressed and went through some pregame warmups, but watched the entire game from the bench. ... The Cougars led only at 3-2 on a 3-pointer by Terrance Arecenaux before Williams responded with a 3 for Memphis. ... It was the first loss for Houston in 12 games at Dickies Arena. The Cougars had won the two AAC tournament titles there, and regular-season games each of the last three years.
March 12, 2023
| Memphis | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| D. Williams | F | 33 | 6-10 | 2-6 | 2-2 | 3-13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
| E. McCadden | F | 30 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 2-6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| C. Lawson | F | 26 | 1-2 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 0-3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| K. Davis | G | 38 | 10-21 | 8-8 | 3-6 | 1-5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 31 |
| J. Hardaway | G | 16 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| A. Lomax | 30 | 4-5 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 2-3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | |
| D. Franklin | 13 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| M. Dandridge | 12 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
| Totals | 198 | 27-53 (.509) |
15-21 (.714) |
6-12 (.500) |
9-36 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 18 | 75 | |
| Houston | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| J. Roberts | F | 37 | 5-11 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 10-20 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| J. Walker | F | 30 | 4-13 | 3-4 | 2-6 | 3-3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 13 |
| J. Shead | G | 39 | 3-14 | 8-10 | 2-9 | 0-0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 16 |
| T. Arceneaux | G | 35 | 3-10 | 2-3 | 1-4 | 3-3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| T. Mark | G | 34 | 3-10 | 4-5 | 0-1 | 2-8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| R. Chaney | 12 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| E. Sharp | 12 | 1-5 | 0-0 | 1-5 | 2-2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | |
| Totals | 199 | 20-64 (.313) |
19-28 (.679) |
6-25 (.240) |
22-42 | 11 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 65 | |