Memphis Basketball Recap: Tigers outduel Golden Eagles, 79-69, in Hattiesburg

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this season to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our Memphis correspondent brings a recap of the Memphis vs. Southern Miss basketball game.

Just one day after defeating Houston 79-69 in an all out barnburner, the No.19 Tigers entered Reed Green Coliseum in Hattiesburg on their second Conference USA road date of the season—a date that quickly became a fight for their lives.

Memphis is just 3-3 in their last six trips to Hattiesburg, and Golden Eagles Coach Larry Eustachy made sure his squad was prepared to defend their home court. The strategy: slow the high octane Tigers down into a grind-it-out, physical matchup.

Grind-it-out this game was, with officials blowing a whistle seemingly every few seconds, calling 23 fouls in the first half alone. In addition, the Eagles strategy seemed to be paying off in the first half, as they held the Tigers to a narrow 31-26 lead heading into the locker rooms—two situations that compounded the Tigers poor field goal percentage in the first half.

Early in the second half, Memphis Coach John Calipari had seen enough. With the Eagles on a 6-0 run to take the lead at 32-31, Calipari spoke out against the poor officiating and was promptly charged with a technical foul. He wouldn't be the only one though, as Eustachy quickly followed with two technical fouls of his own, and an ejection with 2:31 left in the game.

The Golden Eagles continued to battle the Tigers closely throughout most of the second half, the lead hanging within a possession until 4:27 remained when Tiger senior Jeremy Hunt hit a signature 3-pointer putting Memphis up 65-59, and putting the Eagles to rest. Southern Miss only put three more points on the board after that while the Tigers went on to add another ten for the 75-62 escape out of Hattiesburg.

In the end, the Tiger's proved too deep for the Eagles, finding a way to win on the road inside of Eustachy's grind-it-out gameplan; and while they were held to just 46% from the field, they took advantage of the flagrant foul calls, hitting 72% from the charity stripe. It was perhaps the Memphis defense that sealed the win though, as the Tigers recorded 8 blocked shots, 6 steals, and led the Eagles rebounding 29-23.

Chris Douglas-Roberts led Memphis with 23 points, followed by Joey Dorsey's 14, and Robert Dozier's 11.

Craig Craft and Jeremy Wise finished with 21 and 13 points, respectively, to lead Southern Miss.

The No.19 Tigers (13-3, 3-0) survive to host UAB (10-7, 2-1) at FedExForum on the 16th.

The Golden Eagles (11-4, 1-1) will travel to UTEP (10-7, 2-1) on the 17th.