Memphis Tigers vs SMU Mustangs Basketball Recap

Southern Methodist 70, Memphis 60

When Memphis lost at home to UTEP a few weeks ago, the story was that a proud program's 64-game conference winning streak had come to an end. After a disastrous afternoon in Dallas, the major headline to emerge is that the Tigers are in trouble.

It was not only understandable, but in some quarters expected, that Memphis fell to UTEP on Jan. 20, even though that 72-67 setback occurred on UM's home court, the FedEx Forum. Texas-El Paso owns a collection of talent that can cause problems for many teams throughout the United States. The inability to break Kentucky's 64-game SEC binge (from 1945 to 1950) and establish the undisputed mark for a league winning streak certainly disappointed people in and around the Memphis camp, but the Tigers - on the raw merits - hadn't done anything to warrant considerable discouragement from their fan base.

Now, that view has changed, or at the very least, there's newfound reason to see the 2010 Tigers in a different and less laudable light.

Southern Methodist - a doormat not just in football - has wallowed in the lower tier of C-USA for the past several seasons. The Mustangs - who entered this tilt with a 9-10 record - have not completed a winning season since 2003, when they went 17-13 and still didn't sniff the postseason. Coach Matt Doherty is immersed in a long-term rebuilding project that has lacked a discernible reason for optimism. Memphis - though not bearing the loaded lineup former boss John Calipari brought to the gym on a regular basis - should have been able to waltz into Moody Coliseum and keep SMU mired in Methodist misery. The Tigers' failure to take care of business against a program of SMU's (non-)stature should cause heads to turn in Conference USA.

This event - while possibly providing the spark Doherty needed to revive hardwood hopes in Dallas - is a huge story primarily because it shows how much work Memphis Coach Josh Pastner has in front of him. This 10-point tumble will surely eliminate Memphis from the at-large NCAA Tournament pool, so it means that Pastner - in his first year on the job after assisting Calipari last season - will have to get the Tigers to peak in time for the C-USA Tournament, which is their only ticket into the field of 65.

Just how did SMU deliver this dagger to Memphis's at-large hopes? Five words tell the tale: Papa Dia and Derek Williams. Dia, a 6-9 junior forward from Senegal, and Williams, a 6-1 senior guard whom Doherty plucked from New York state, didn't just combine to score 48 of SMU's 70 points (more than two-thirds of the Mustangs' output). The inside-outside duo earned 28 foul shots on a day when Memphis took 19 free throws as a team. Dia and Williams made 25 of those 28 charity pitches to give SMU a steady source of easy points (the Mustangs finished 33 of 38 from the line). Memphis might have hit 10 3-pointers, but SMU - thanks to Dia and Williams - dominated the game near the rim. Now, Matt Doherty - who won a national title as a player for Dean Smith at North Carolina in 1982 - might have a chance to make some magic as a coach in Conference USA.

And as for Memphis? The C-USA Tournament now looms larger than ever. If the Tigers don't win that four-day event, they'll miss the NCAAs just two years after coming within several seconds of a national championship.