First-year Memphis coach Penny Hardaway pushed Wichita State to its limits, with full-court press and pressure on ball-handlers.

Hardaway snagged his first conference win with the Tigers in a high-scoring affair. WSU dropped its first conference opener in nine years.

Memphis played the game up-tempo, with full-court pressure and WSU quickly fell into the trap. WSU surrendered 15 turnovers. Memphis turned those turnovers into 20 points of highlight reel dunks and uncontested layups.

Junior forward Kyvon Davenport helped put the game away for Memphis. Off the bench, Davenport scored 25 points on 11 shot attempts. Alex Lomax, a Memphis freshman who decommitted from WSU, scored eight points, had eight rebounds, and posted five assists. Lomax is 5-foot-10.

What had been mostly a back and forth contest quickly blew open after the Tigers closed the half on a 28-12 run. Samajae Haynes-Jones had 15 points on 5-17 shooting. Inside the three-point line, Haynes-Jones hardly missed, but that was counteracted by his 12 three-point shot attempts — tied for third-most by an individual player.

Against a two-three zone defense, WSU fired three-pointers at an impressive rate. Their 33 three-point attempts tied for the fourth-most in a single game in program history.  

WSU had plenty of opportunities to close the gap in the second half. A 9-2 run cut the margin to four points, but in a blink, the Tigers put the lead back up to double digits. Memphis shot 25-31 from the foul line, and the Tigers outscored WSU 44-26 in the paint.

A second wave of Tigers put the game away; Memphis scored 44 points off the bench. WSU’s bench produced just 18.

WSU’s Ricky Torres put up a career-high eight assists in 23 minutes of action. He did this without recording a turnover.

WSU pulled much of their scoring from senior Markis McDuffie, who led with 19. Freshman Dexter Dennis also broke double figures with 12 points.

Jaime Echenique started for WSU with the intent that he would play limited minutes while he continues to nurse a foot injury. He scored the first four points of the game, but was limited with foul trouble in both halves. He played 18 minutes.

Morris Udeze, a freshman reserve who backs up Echenique, did not play due to a shoulder injury. Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler scored 12 points in extended minutes, despite also struggling with foul trouble.