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Memphis cruises to 40th straight win over conference opponents

Mar 14, 2008 - 4:36 AM MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Memphis' aggressive attack was once again too much for a Conference USA opponent to handle.

Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 17 points and Robert Dozier had 14 and nine rebounds as third-ranked Memphis cruised to a 75-56 victory over Tulane in the conference tournament quarterfinals on Thursday.

Doneal Mack chipped in 11 points for the Tigers, who were 22-of-31 from the free-throw line, drawing 23 fouls while committing just 10 of their own.

"I was really excited about the way we started and our energy," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "I thought our defense was fairly good. It was a good win. It was a good first game."

Memphis, which extended its conference winning streak to 40 games, will play Southern Mississippi in the semifinal round on Friday.

The Tigers (31-1) scored the game's first seven points en route to taking a 20-4 bulge less than seven minutes to the contest. Douglas-Roberts had nine points to lead the fast start.

"I feel that my confidence started with our post presence, because we started out the game going to the post every time, and we got something good out of it," Douglas-Roberts said. "That makes it easier for the guards. Once we saw playing and scoring in the post and getting fouled, that's where it all started from and our confidence was real high after that."

Tulane never cut the deficit to single digits but were still hanging around, trailing 36-22 at the intermission.

But Memphis used a quick 7-0 run early in the second half to take a 44-26 lead and the Tigers led by as many as 57-34 on a 3-pointer by Dozier with 11:37 remaining.

The ninth-seeded Green Wave never got closer than 17 the rest of the way, shooting 43 percent (24-of-56) from the field, including 2-of-14 from the arc for the game.

"I'm very proud of our seniors for what they accomplished since they have been at Tulane," Green Wave coach Dave Dickerson said. "We had back-to-back winning seasons. That is the first time that has happened in more than a decade.

"Hats off to Memphis, they are a very good team, great coach, great players. I hope they win a national championship for our conference."

Memphis outrebounded Tulane, 43-28, and had 16 of its rebounds on the offensive end.

"We gave up some baskets in the second half that I wish we wouldn't have, but we rebounded the ball," Calipari said. "I screwed them up a little bit by subbing too much ... it probably affected the rhythm of the game. All-in-all, there was some good stuff."

David Gomez had 18 points to pace Tulane, which has lost to Memphis in the Conference USA tournament each of the last three seasons.