The last time University of Memphis senior Wesley Witherspoonremembers FedExForum being as loud , he had hit the winning layup asa sophomore to beat St. John's in the first round of the NationalInvitation Tournament.
'The gym was shaking at one point,' Witherspoon said. 'When Itook the charge on the baseline, the gym erupted.'
Witherspoon was right. The 17,337 in attendance had 'gone nuts,'and they got louder and louder with each game-changing play the oft-maligned Witherspoon made down the stretch Saturday in an 83-76victory over Marshall.
'Wesley was excellent. There's no other word to describe Wesleytonight but excellent,' said Memphis coach Josh Pastner, whoseTigers won for the ninth time in their last 10 games and kept pacewith Southern Miss atop the Conference USA standings.
Witherspoon's stat line - 12 points, four rebounds, threeassists, two steals and one block - didn't begin to tell the story.Witherspoon, now a role player for Memphis after an inconsistentjunior season, was the one making the key plays in the second half.
Witherspoon's putback of his own miss with 4:08 left put Memphisahead 71-68. Later, with under two minutes to go, he blocked a DagoPena 3-point attempt that would have tied the score. That came afterWitherspoon drew a pair of offensive fouls, including theaforementioned one with 7:57 left after Witherspoon had pulled theTigers to a point on a steal and layup.
'It was a fun game. I was just playing basketball. Any time weget (the crowd) into the game like that, it's going to be tough foranybody to come into the FedExForum and play against us,' saidWitherspoon, whose Tigers (15-6, 6-1 in C-USA) improved to 11-1 athome this season. 'Our fan base is one of the best in the country,and they showed that tonight.'
The team, meanwhile, showed that it has indeed improved in manyareas since the Christmas break.
Remember when the Tigers' toughness was being questioned? Theywere tough enough against the nation's third-best rebounding team inMarshall (13-8, 4-3), out-rebounding the Herd 33-31 in a physicalcontest in which a combined 57 fouls were called.
Remember when Memphis was turning the ball over in bunches andallowing opponents too many open looks? The Tigers turned the ballover just 12 times and scored 26 points off Marshall's 14 turnovers.
Memphis, using a combination of Witherspoon, starter FerrakohnHall and reserve D.J. Stephens, held Marshall junior forward DennisTinnon, the nation's top offensive rebounder, to just four pointsand four rebounds.
Marshall sophomore guard DeAndre Kane, the 2010-11 C-USA Freshmanof the Year, was limited to three points in the second half andfinished with 15. Senior Damier Pitts, who two weeks ago saidMarshall, not Memphis, is the team to beat in C-USA, had 19 points.
'We've improved every day. We continue to get better,' Pastnersaid. 'I have to give a lot of credit to our assistant coaches forthe work they've done on the rebounding.'
Witherspoon wasn't the only Tiger making key plays. Sophomoreguard Will Barton scored a career-high 29 points and sophomoreforward Tarik Black had 19, 13 in a second half in which Memphisshot 65 percent. Barton had eight rebounds for Memphis, which willlook to win its fourth straight Wednesday at Southern Miss.
- Jason Smith: (901) 529-5804
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Tigers vs. Southern Miss
When, where: 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, Hattiesburg, Miss.
TV, radio: CBS Sports; WREC-AM 600, WKBQ-FM 93.5
