NCAA Tournament: Memphis edges Miss. St.; Texas downs Miami
But if someone wants to get down and dirty? Well, the Tigers can slog it out with the best of 'em, too.
Joey Dorsey set the tempo with a performance that endeared him to football coaches everywhere, finishing with 13 points, 12 rebounds, a season-high six blocks, five fouls and an untold number of bumps and bruises, and top-seeded Memphis outscrapped Mississippi State 77-74 on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
"He was definitely the focal point, an animal," Chris Douglas-Roberts said. "When he plays like that, our team is so much better, so much better. He was everywhere. He was helping everybody."
Plenty of other Tigers were lending a hand, too. Three more players finished in double figures, including 17 each from Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose, and Memphis outrebounded Mississippi State 45-37. The Tigers also had 19 assists to just five turnovers — one in the first half.
It was the ninth straight win for Memphis (35-1), which advanced to the round of 16 for a third straight year. The Tigers will play another bruiser Friday when they take on fifth-seeded Michigan State (27-8) in the semifinals of the South Region.
Jamont Gordon had 21 points and Ben Hansbrough 19 for eighth-seeded Mississippi State, which hasn't gotten out of the first weekend since the 1996 team that went to the Final Four.
"Every team that plays except one is going to have the feeling we have right now," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. "We had the last shot to tie the game up, that's all you could ask."
After trailing by eight with less than 25 seconds left, the Bulldogs (23-11) cut the Memphis lead to 75-72 on Charles Rhodes' rebound dunk with 10 seconds left. Rose was quickly fouled, but he could only make one of two and Gordon made a layup at the other end to make it 76-74 with 4.2 seconds left.
But Douglas-Roberts made one of two free throws, and Gordon's 3-point attempt at the buzzer wasn't close.
"I dribbled off my leg and didn't get a good shot at the rim," said Gordon, who was 4-of-7 from behind the line Sunday.
The victory avenged — somewhat — Memphis' only loss of the season. Another Southeastern Conference team, Tennessee, beat the Tigers on Feb. 23 and knocked them out of the No. 1 spot in the polls.
"They have totally different styles," Douglas-Roberts said. "Mississippi really slows it down, uses ball screens to control the game. They don't really play alike at all."
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