Memphis and Wake Forest turned in highly competitive showings and were pleased with the efforts against ranked opponents on Thursday.
After falling short in their opening games at the Baha Mar Championship, Memphis and Wake Forest will get together in the third-place game on Friday night in Nassau, Bahamas.
Memphis (1-3) is on a three-game losing streak since a six-point win over San Francisco. The Tigers headed to the Bahamas coming off a 92-78 home loss to UNLV on Sunday and turned in a significantly better showing against top-ranked Purdue.
In the 80-71 loss, the Tigers held a one-point lead before getting outscored 17-7 in the final 6:37.
Dug McDaniel, who bounced back from going 1-of-10 and getting held to six points against UNLV, led the Tigers with 18 points. Zach Davis added 11 in his first start while Tariq Ingraham and Sincere Parker contributed 10 apiece in a game where Memphis scored 22 fastbreak points after getting nine Sunday in a game coach Penny Hardaway termed as “embarrassing.”
“Proud of the guys’ effort, but we don’t accept moral victories,” Hardaway said. “(If) we played this hard all year, we’d be 3-1 instead of 1-3. So we have something to build on.”
Wake Forest (3-2) is a few plays from being undefeated. The Demon Deacons own a pair of one-point losses to ranked opponents — then-No. 6 Michigan and No. 15 Texas Tech — and are bracing for a challenge in their first meeting with Memphis since 2003.
“They’re long and athletic,” Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes said on his postgame radio interview. “They’re going to play man, they’re going to play zone. They’re going to press. You got to be ready to go and everybody’s got to be on call.”
Against Texas Tech, the Demon Deacons fell behind for good with 1:34 remaining after trailing by 10 in the opening minutes and by one at halftime.
Wake Forest is hoping to get another big game from Juke Harris, who is averaging 22.6 points per game. Harris notched his third 20-point game by finishing with 26 and 10 rebounds.
