Memphis Guard Tyrese Hunter missed a game for the first time this season on Sunday when a knee injury kept him on the side.
The good news: If Hunter has to sit out on the 14th ranked Tigers Thursday game against South Florida in Tampa, Coach Penny Hardaway seems to have a quality backup in place.
Former Virginia and Georgetown guard Dante Harris rose when Memphis surpassed the 90-82 temple on Sunday to remain on top of the American athletic conference.
Harris provided 14 points and two steals while making 6 out of 8 shots from the field in 29 minutes. He was added to the guard list as a mid -season transfer at the end of December.
“We knew his talent could help us,” Hardaway said of Harris, whose status is expected to be a decision on playing time on Thursday. “It really showed (Sunday) how valuable he really is. We just said: ‘Hello, we already win. Come in, be part of a good team that already wins. Keep doing the things you need to do to be a good teammate. ‘And that’s what he has done. “
6-foot Harris played more than 32 minutes per match during the 2010-22 season while he was an average of 11.9 points and 4.1 assists for Georgetown. Last season he saw limited playing time for Virginia.
Through 10 matches for Memphis, he contributes 3.2 points per match in 13.5 minutes. He has joined 13 out of 23 field target attempts (56.5 percent).
The tigers (20-4, 10-1 AAC) do not need big numbers from him every night with teammates like PJ Haggery (21.6 ppg) around to take the big shots. Haggery and Dain Dainja (12.5 ppg) were the stars last week because Memphis was an average of 86.5 points in a couple of home victory.
Memphis, which leads Division I in 3-point shooting to 40.3 percent, enjoyed two good games beyond the bow last week. The tigers went 9 out of 21 against Tulsa before they hit 8 out of 19 against the temple.
While Tigers continue to persecute a league title, Bulls (12-12, 5-6) comes to town after taking a home loss of 75-70 against Wichita State on Sunday. The USF met 52.2 percent of its field target attempts but committed 14 sales and was dominated 42-22 on the boards, which enabled 19 offensive returns that led to 24 points.
It was Bull’s first match after an emotional 100-91 victory with double overtime against the temple on February 6, one night when the league honored former USF coach Amir Abdur-Rhim by naming a sports award for him.
Abdur-Rahim, who led the bulls to the AAC title 2023-24, died on October 24 from complications after surgery. He was 43 years old and left a wife and three children behind.
“No motivating speech is needed,” said guard Kobe Knox after the triumph over the owls. “We knew who we had to win this game for, and that was self -explanatory.”
Now Knox and his teammates have to stand up for their first matchup of the season with Tigers. Their game last January 18 in Memphis helped turn their season. The USF deleted a 20-point deficit in the second half and won 74-73, the second competition in a 15-match winning line that produced the program’s first conference title in the regular season.
Tigers own a lead of 32-8 all the time, including an advantage of 15-3 in Tampa.
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