Welcome to a brand new series on the Tiger Blueprint, Throwback Thursdays. Each week, I will be recapping a historic game in Memphis Tiger basketball or football history until the seasons start. Please let me know in the comment section below any specific games you would want me to do. For this week’s game, I’ll be recapping the 2011 Conference USA Championship game against UTEP. Let’s dive onto it.
Going into the Tournament
Heading into the conference tournament, the Tigers were sitting at 22-9 (10-6) and on the wrong side of the bubble for the NCAA tournament. A position that most Tigers fans had grown accustomed to over the years. It was the second year for Josh Pastner at the helm, and he brought in the No. 2 recruiting class in the nation.
This recruiting class featured highly-rated, local Memphis talent such as Joe Jackson, Tarik Black and Chris Crawford. Pastner also picked up highly-rated players from outside the Memphis area: Will and Antonio Barton.
C-USA Tournament
Leading into the Championship game against UTEP, Memphis would first have to get past Southern Miss and East Carolina.
Memphis won a very close 3-point game against the Golden Eagles in the quarterfinals. It would then avenge its regular season loss to ECU in the semifinals with a 78-56 victory. The Tigers were now just one win away from making the big dance.
Two weeks prior to playing UTEP in the finals, Memphis went on the road against the Miners and were demolished by 27 points. UTEP had a very old and experienced roster that year compared to Memphis, a team that mainly comprised of underclassmen.
Championship Game
UTEP was the host for the 2011 C-USA basketball tournament, essentially giving it home-court advantage. However, Tiger fans did travel well like always hoping to see their team make a run. During the first half, the Tigers never had a lead and would find themselves down 9 going into halftime. In the first 10 minutes of the second half, UTEP continued to control the game not letting Memphis get within 10 points of it.
Memphis would finally crawl its way back into the game in the final 8 minutes. Led by Barton, Crawford and Jackson, it would continue to cut into the lead with timely three-pointers and layups. Memphis would finally tie the game at just under the 2-minute mark thanks to a three-point shot made by Crawford.
UTEP would regain the lead with a made free-throw and would have the lead with 7 seconds left. Jackson then put his head down and drove to the rim, drawing a foul. This gave the freshman 2 free-throws and a chance to give Memphis its first lead of the night.
Jackson sank both of them, making the score 67-66.
Memphis then held on the rest of the way to win the title. This victory gave Pastner his first NCAA tournament appearance as Memphis’ head coach, as well as the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid since 2009.
