Memphis eliminates Boise State from NIT with smothering defensive effort
It’s hard to say for sure what proved more challenging for Boise State. Was it the synchrony of Memphis on defense or the sheer unpredictability?
The Tigers seamlessly rotated between man-to-man and zone defenses — sometimes trapping at half-court, other times pressuring the ball from baseline to baseline. Boise State never looked completely comfortable, falling 59-56 to the top-seeded Tigers on Thursday night in an NIT quarterfinal at UNT Coliseum in Denton, Texas.
“It’s just unpredictable. You don’t know what’s going to happen. If they’re gonna send two. If they’re gonna go zone. If they’re gonna switch to man,” Boise State redshirt senior Derrick Alston Jr. said in a postgame Zoom interview. “It’s hard to kind of read, and then with that athleticism and length, it’s hard to play against.”
Memphis (18-8) advances to the NIT semifinals against Colorado State (20-6) at 10 a.m. Mountain time Saturday at the Comerica Center in Frisco, Texas. The game will be televised on ESPN. The Broncos finish the season with a 19-9 record and their 16th postseason tournament appearance in program history.
With its smothering, aggressive defense, Memphis limited Boise State to 37.7% shooting from the floor and 29.2% from 3-point range. It marked only the fourth time this season the Broncos were held under 60 points, and all four resulted in losses. The 56 points tied for the Broncos’ season low.
Boise State (19-9) entered the game averaging 11.6 turnovers per game, but the Broncos committed 13 in the first half alone. Despite struggling to take care of the basketball in the opening 20 minutes, Boise State started the game 5-for-7 shooting for a 15-5 lead. Memphis pushed back with a 22-6 run and ultimately led 31-26 at the half.
“We hung in there against one of the best defensive teams we’ve played this year,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said. “And we answered with some pretty good defense ourselves.”
After taking a 38-36 lead with 14:43 to go in the second half, the Broncos went a stretch of 7:19 without a field goal, missing 11 straight shots.
Junior Mladen Armus scored six of his team-leading 12 points during a 10-0 Boise State run that started with the Broncos down nine points, 54-45, with 5:18 to play. Armus made back-to-back buckets on the block, Alston knocked down a triple and Armus tied the score at 54 on a rare drive to the rack with 1:33 left.
Devonaire Doutrive gave Boise State its final lead, 55-54, by making 1-of-2 free-throw attempts with 47.5 seconds on the clock.
“Coming into these last couple games, I had no regret with whatever happened. We battled, man. We battled the whole game. That’s a really good team we just played against,” Alston said. “They played a crazy style of defense and they’re athletic and long on offense, and we just battled with them the whole game. I’m just proud of our guys for sticking with it and just fighting to the end.”
Memphis sophomore guard Lester Quinones scored the go-ahead bucket on a putback with 32.5 seconds to go. The Tigers then went 2-for-3 from the line down the stretch and avoided a potential game-tying shot by electing to foul Alston on the Broncos’ final possession.
“I’ve watched enough film on those guys to know that Quinones was coming,” Rice said. “He’s a winner and he makes winning plays down the stretch, and he didn’t give up on that board even though it looked like (Boise State’s Emmanuel Akot) had it. You’ve gotta credit his effort on that one.”
Five Broncos scored in double figures, led by Armus with 12 points and seven rebounds. Doutrive and Alston each had 11 points, and Marcus Shaver Jr. and Akot contributed 10 points apiece.
Alston would not say after Thursday’s loss whether he had played the final game of his Boise State career. The NCAA granted players an extra year of eligibility because of the coronavirus pandemic, but Alston is expected to declare for the NBA Draft. His 11 points against Memphis give him 1,479 for his career — one more than Chandler Hutchison’s career total and good enough for No. 10 in Boise State history.
“It’s crazy to say, but you kind of don’t see it coming until it’s all of a sudden final,” Rice said. “You don’t want to think, ‘If we lose tonight, it’s over.’ You don’t think that way. We’re gonna win tonight and then we’re gonna keep playing and I’m not ready to say goodbye, and then all of a sudden it’s just final.
“It can get emotional. I just thanked (Alston) for all the time he spent, all the hard work he put in and all the things he did for this program. I told him he’s got great things ahead of him.”
MEMPHIS 59, BOISE ST. 56
BOISE ST. (19-9)
Armus 5-6 2-2 12, Akot 4-10 0-0 10, Alston 3-9 4-6 11, Doutrive 4-13 2-3 11, Shaver 3-9 1-2 10, Dennis 1-5 0-0 2, N.Smith 0-0 0-2 0, Milner 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 9-15 56.
MEMPHIS (18-8)
Williams 3-8 2-2 9, Cisse 0-0 0-5 0, Ellis 5-11 0-0 11, Nolley 3-12 1-2 8, Quinones 3-3 2-2 10, Jeffries 5-10 1-2 11, Baugh 3-7 0-0 6, Dandridge 1-2 0-0 2, Hardaway 1-3 0-2 2. Totals 24-56 6-15 59.
Halftime—Memphis 31-26. 3-Point Goals—Boise St. 7-24 (Shaver 3-6, Akot 2-5, Alston 1-5, Doutrive 1-6, Dennis 0-2), Memphis 5-20 (Quinones 2-2, Williams 1-3, Ellis 1-4, Nolley 1-5, Baugh 0-1, Hardaway 0-2, Jeffries 0-3). Rebounds—Boise St. 28 (Armus 7), Memphis 35 (Quinones 7). Assists—Boise St. 9 (Akot 5), Memphis 7 (Jeffries 3). Total Fouls—Boise St. 17, Memphis 19. A—935 (10,500).
This story was originally published March 25, 2021 at 9:41 PM.
