Tigers roll by ORU - TW (3-18-2006)

[ORUTerry]

Tigers roll by ORU

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

3/18/2006

The Eagles lead by as much as four in the first, but are down by 12 before halftime.

DALLAS -- Like Moses from afar, Oral Roberts University glimpsed the basketball promised land Friday but couldn't enter.

A tribe of giants called the Memphis Tigers blocked their path.

In a scenario the Golden Eagles feared most, the regional top-seeded Tigers played like the national-title contenders they seem to be. They answered ORU's best offensive spurt with a furious counter-blast and rolled to a 94-78 first-round NCAA Tournament win over the 16th-seeded Eagles at the American Airlines Center.

The Tigers (31-3) advance to play ninth-seeded Bucknell on Sunday for a Sweet Sixteen berth. The Bison beat eighth-seeded Arkansas 59-55.

ORU, making its first NCAA appearance in 22 years, ended the season at 21-12.

Memphis used only two men under 6-foot-5, but the smallest played a huge role.

Andre Allen, a 5-foot-10 sophomore who made only 15 3-pointers all season, made three in a 77-second span of the first half. He ignited a 20-2 spurt that turned ORU's 33-29 lead into a 49-35 Memphis advantage. The Tigers led by 12 at halftime and by double digits for most of the final 20 minutes.

"I thought we did enough to give ourselves a chance to win, but (Memphis was) too good," said ORU coach Scott Sutton. "For us to win, we needed a little help from them, and we didn't get it."

The Eagles shot 52.8 percent, best against Memphis all season. But the Tigers shot their season best of 60.7 percent (second best by an Eagle foe). The Tigers used their overpowering size and athletic ability to create the turnovers and easy baskets that made it a comfortable win.

"I don't know if (ORU) shoot(s) that good or we were that bad defensively," said Memphis coach John Calipari. "They just shot 52 percent on us, and (46.7) from the 3-point line. We usually hold people to 37 and 30."

The Tigers led Conference USA in shooting defense this year. And no, they weren't that bad against the Eagles.

They surrounded ORU's Caleb Green with huge bodies and made the two-time Mid-Continent Conference Player of the Year work for every one of his 19 points, which tied Memphis' Rodney Carney for game-high honors.

Forced to shoot more jump shots than normal from outside of five feet, Green made 6-of-14 from the field and 7-of-7 foul shots. When he received the ball in the blocks, he was usually in heavy traffic and had to throw it back out to the perimeter.

It didn't get any better for Green when Memphis subbed 6-11 Kareem Cooper and 6-9 Robert Dozier for 6-9 starters Joey Dorsey and Shawne Williams.

Dozier and Cooper combined for 15 points and 13 rebounds off the bench.

Memphis' size also prevailed on the perimeter, where 6-6 Antonio Anderson, 6-6 Chris Douglas-Roberts, 6-2 Darius Washington and 6-7 Carney always seemed to be flying in the face of ORU's 6-1 Ken Tutt and 6-2 Chris Riouse.

"It was hard for me to get my initial shot off," said Tutt, MVP of the Mid-Con Tournament. "They were a tall team, and everybody out there had long arms."

Tutt and Riouse attempted only nine 3-pointers between them, hitting two each, while senior guard Jonathan Bluitt made 3-of-4.

"I had limited opportunities after my first two shots," Riouse said. "I really couldn't get a good look, except in transition. We knocked down a few of them, but we didn't have enough to pull it off."

Considering how Memphis played, the Eagles would have had to be perfect. They were far from that. Sutton said the Eagles were adequate in avoiding turnovers and keeping the Tigers off the glass, two areas he considered key.

But every turnover and offensive rebound seemed to turn into Memphis points.

Said Sutton: "If you had told me before the game we would only give up 12 offensive rebounds and only turn the ball over 13 times, I would have taken that in a heartbeat. So we did some good things. But they were awfully good tonight."

Memphis opened with an 18-6 blitz, but treys by Bluitt, Tutt and Riouse's two sparked a 27-11 run that carried the Eagles to 33-29 lead. Senior forward Larry Owens capped the surge by blocking a shot at one end and racing to the other end to gather Tutt's alley-oop pass one-handed and score off the glass in the same motion.

Then Allen turned the game around, scoring 11 of Memphis' next 20 points on a layup and three treys.

The first of his 3-pointers erased ORU's last lead at 35-34. The Eagles sagged off and he hesitated before draining a shot from the left wing.