The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Memphis
Men's Basketball ends season with 85-67 loss to Memphis in NCAA Regional Final
03.30.2008 | Men's Basketball
HOUSTON (AP) -- John Calipari has a good reason for calling his Memphis Tigers a "Dream Team" -- a kid from Chicago who wears No. 23 and makes plays that bring fans out of their seats.
With freshman Derrick Rose soaring and scoring, Memphis ended two years of regional final failure and routed Texas 85-67 Sunday to reach the Final Four. The victory backed up the Tigers' season-long reign near the top of the poll and made them the third No. 1 seed headed to San Antonio.
Rose had 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds, outplaying Texas star D.J. Augustin and leading the Tigers (37-1) into a national semifinal Saturday against a UCLA team making its third straight Final Four appearance.
Memphis and UCLA met in the regional finals two years ago and in the 1973 title game, with the Bruins winning both.
"I'm living a dream right now," Rose said.
Rose took the doubt out of this one in the first half, making a Michael Jordanesque layup as part of his 4-for-4 start, blocking an open-court layup by Augustin and throwing a long pass for a thunderous dunk by Joey Dorsey among his four early assists.
The Tigers were up 29-13 after 12 minutes, with Rose accounting for more points than Texas (31-7) scored.
The Longhorns slowed Rose for only about a minute -- when he got poked on the cut above his right eye, forcing him to the bench for a new tape and glue job. No stitches, though; despite all his tattoos, needles creep him out.
Rose finished 7-of-10 and was voted the most outstanding player of the South Regional. The game ended with him getting one last assist of sorts -- generously bouncing the ball to a Texas player for the final seconds.
When the horn went off, Rose tugged at the Memphis on his jersey and gestured to the few Tigers fans. They soon were chanting "One more year!," in hopes that he might not turn pro.
Chris Douglas-Roberts, a Naismith Award finalist, led Memphis with 25 points, with 14 coming on free throws. Joey Dorsey provided 11 points and 12 rebounds, and Shawn Taggart added 12 points. Antonio Anderson had nine points and four assists.
Rose and his teammates already are in elite company. Their 37th win matched an NCAA Division I record held by four other teams, and it was their 103rd victory over the last three seasons, the second-best run by any program.
If the Tigers can win it all, they'll hold both marks. That would take a lot of the sting off the last two years, when Memphis was knocked out a game shy of the Final Four.
Memphis has only been back to the Final Four once, with Keith Lee leading the way in 1985. But that trip was vacated according to the NCAA record book because of rules violations. Ditto for the only other time Calipari coached a team to the Final Four, UMass in 1996.
Despite being labeled the top seed most likely to lose, Memphis has hardly been tested in the tournament. There was a three-point win in the second round, but that was only because of a late flourish by Mississippi State in the second round. This was the closest of the other games -- and, of course, it wasn't really close.
"There have been some doubters, but that's OK," Calipari said.
The Longhorns got a 17-point deficit down to 11 at halftime, then got within 39-34 early in the second half. But their lack of size -- and the lack of an answer for Rose -- ended any hopes of a second Final Four trip in six seasons and a short drive to San Antonio.
Having Kevin Durant back for a sophomore season certainly would've helped. Without him, and without any major additions, coach Rick Barnes got the most out of his leftovers just to get this far. They even won the most games in school history.
Although the Longhorns were the lower seed, having this game in Houston gave them a heavy homecourt advantage. But even that didn't help much Sunday.
With Texas trailing 34-20 late in the first half, about a dozen fans tried getting some spirit going. Their call-and-response chant of "Texas! Fight!" took a while to build steam -- and once it did, the Memphis band drowned it out. With 1:01 left, some Tigers backers got a cheer of "Final Four" going.
Last year, Memphis' title hopes ended in San Antonio with a regional final loss to Ohio State. The Tigers have been reminded of it by a "Remember the Alamodome" sign back home.
Now the Tigers are returning, with a chance to make a great memory in that building.
They bring an interesting collection of guys: Rose and Dorsey, a 24-year-old Ben Wallace wannabe, escaped rough neighborhoods in Chicago and Baltimore. Douglas-Roberts is from Detroit. The other starters are from Georgia and Illinois. Only three reserves are from Tennessee.
And, of course, they're cajoled as much as coached by Calipari, who made a name for himself with Marcus Camby and UMass in the mid-'90s, struggled during his 2 1/2 seasons in the NBA and now is back atop his profession working in Elvis' hometown.
Calipari is quite the program pitchman, but he knew Rose made this his best group yet. It was harder for him to lash out at critics considering Memphis opened the season ranked third, moved to second and spent five weeks at No. 1.
Calipari not only considers these guys a "Dream Team," he's even given them a poem explaining why it's true.
While Rose is the obvious difference between this Memphis team and the ones that fell short of the Final Four, basketball aficionados also know about the Dribble Drive Motion offense and a steal-seeking defense that Calipari has installed.
One thing that hasn't changed is their wretched foul shooting.
Or has it? The Tigers made about 75 percent in the regional semifinal and were 30-of-36 this time.
POSTGAME NOTES
TEAM
- D.J. Augustin was named to the 2008 NCAA Tournament South Regional Team
- Texas completes its season with 31 wins, the school record for most victories in a single season (30, 2005-06).
- Texas is 7-1 in NCAA Tournament games played in the state of Texas.
- Texas played 20 of its 38 games this against NCAA Tournament teams and posted a record of 15-5 in those games.
- Texas is 32-29 (.524) in its 26 trips to the NCAA Tournament.
- Texas finished the year 4-3 against the AP Top 10 and 6-4 against the Top 25.
- Texas leads the all-time series with Memphis 4-2.
- In Texas' seven losses, it has allowed 82.0 point per game, on 49.2 (187-of-380) field goal shooting.
- Texas posted more assists than turnovers in 32 of its 38 games.
- Texas did not commit a turnover in the second half.
- Texas blocked 77 shots in the last 13 games (5.9 bpg).
A.J. Abrams
- Moved to 15th on the UT career scoring list with 1,389 points, passing Larry Robinson (1,377, 1972-74)
- Tied for second on the Big 12 single-season three-pointers list with 118, he tied Clarence Gilbert (Missouri, 2001-02)
- Scored in double figures for the 30th time this season and the 68th time in his career in 109 career games
- Collected at least four rebounds in four of the last five games
- Led Texas in scoring for the 12th time this season
- Led Texas in steals for the 22nd time this season
- In four NCAA Tournament games, averaged 20.3 ppg on 28-of-59 shooting (.475), including 19-of-38 (.500) on threes
Connor Atchley
- Finished the season ranked fifth on the UT single-season blocked shots list with 80
- Blocked 11 shots in four NCAA Tournament games (2.8 bpg)
- Has blocked at least one shot in 18 of the last 19 games and 33 of 38 games this season
- Has blocked at least two shots in all four NCAA Tournament games
- Blocked at least three shots for the 16th time this season
- Led Texas in blocks for the 24th time this season
D.J. Augustin
- Finished the season ranked fourth on the UT single-season scoring list with 731 points
- Scored in double figures for the 34th time this season and the 59th time in 73 career games
- In seven postseason games, posted 42 assists to 15 turnovers (2.8-to-1 ratio)
- Made at least two 3-pointers in nine of the last 11 games
Damion James
- Set the UT single-season rebounding record with 393, passing Kevin Durant (390, 2006-07)
Gary Johnson
- Set his postseason high by halftime with six points and finished with eight points
Justin Mason
- Had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.9-to-1 (39-10) in postseason play
- Has made at least one three-pointer in nine of the last 10 games
- Collected at least seven rebounds for the ninth time this season and the third in the last four games
- Led Texas in rebounding for the second straight game and third time overall this season
- Scored seven of Texas' first 11 points and pulled down five of the first 12 rebounds
Dexter Pittman
- Averaged 6.5 rebounds per game in four NCAA Tournament games
