MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — If the Memphis Tigers keep this up, maybe the Conference USA tournament should be renamed the Memphis Invitational.
Derrick Rose scored 25 points and No. 2 Memphis advanced to the conference championship for a fourth straight year, beating Southern Mississippi 69-53 Friday for its 41st consecutive league victory.
Memphis (32-1), which will play either UTEP or Tulsa on Saturday, is looking to add a third straight tournament title to the third consecutive outright regular-season championship it clinched less than a week ago on this same court.
Southern Miss (19-15) hadn’t played in the semifinals since 2001, and this was only the third time in school history the Golden Eagles had gotten this far in a conference tournament.
While Memphis needs to win out to clinch a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, the Golden Eagles’ only chance at an NCAA bid was Conference USA’s automatic berth. To get that, Southern Miss had to win four games in four days, and the Golden Eagles won the late game in the first two rounds to advance.
Chris Douglas-Roberts added 14 points for Memphis.
Sai’Quon Stone led Southern Miss with 14 points, and Jeremy Wise and R.L. Horton each had 12. The Golden Eagles, who led only once at 3-2, hit their first 18 free throws and finished 24-of-26 at the line.
But not even a nearly flawless performance at the line and a zone defense that frustrated and slowed down the Tigers were enough, not against a Memphis team that hasn’t lost to another CUSA team in now 742 days and not to Southern Miss since Dec. 27, 2000, in Memphis.
The Tigers nearly ran Southern Miss out of the FedExForum in the opening minutes, scoring on eight of nine possessions and building a 20-3 lead with 12:34 left on a layup by Rose.
Memphis coach John Calipari pressed on defense, and it seemed the Tigers’ own miscues were about the only thing that could slow them down. An alley-oop pass from Rose was too low for Douglas-Roberts to dunk, and then Rose missed Dozier on a pass into the paint.
Southern Miss’ zone defense and lots of fouls finally started slowing down the Tigers.
Memphis missed nine of 10 shots during one stretch, allowing Southern Miss to close the gap. Horton’s two free throws cut it to 23-17 with 5:52 to go.
Southern Miss still couldn’t get closer than six despite hitting all 14 free throws in the first half to offset a pathetic performance from the floor. The Golden Eagles hit only four of 22 shots in the half.
Backup guard Andre Allen, who missed Memphis’ quarterfinal win over Tulane with a sprained right ankle, hit a 3 as the shot clock ran out that put the Tigers up 32-23 at halftime.
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