Memphis Finds Way to Contain Morrison

Adam Morrison impressed the fourth-ranked Memphis Tigers with his ability to score.

That didn’t stop them from shutting him down when it mattered most.

Darius Washington scored 22 points and had 10 assists, and the Tigers held the nation’s leading scorer without a point in the final 9:31 in holding off No. 8 Gonzaga, 83-72, on Tuesday night at Memphis, Tenn.

Memphis Coach John Calipari said Morrison knew he could score with Tiger senior forward Rodney Carney guarding him in the post. So he asked freshman Shawne Williams to guard Morrison despite having three fouls.

“I said, ‘Look man, if we don’t stop him right now, we are not winning this game because he will go nuts,’ and Shawne Williams went in and stopped him,” Calipari said.

Williams also had help from Chris Douglas-Roberts, Robert Dozier and Antonio Anderson in slowing down Morrison. It worked because the preseason All-American didn’t score again after his basket put Gonzaga up 62-59 with 9:31 left.

Morrison said the Tigers collapsed on him and denied him good looks at the basket. He also had his left thumb wrapped with tape that wound around his wrist after jamming his finger in last week’s victory over St. Louis, but he refused to use that as an excuse.

“I missed too many eight-footers in the lane, but part of it was Memphis’ defense,” Morrison said.

Gonzaga Coach Mark Few said reporters focus too much on Morrison.

“He plays great all the time. He’s got guys draped all over him, and he still passes and shares the ball,” Few said. “We had opportunities. We had point-blank post-ups we missed and wide open jump shots that we missed.”

With the victory, Memphis (10-1) continued its best start since 1985-86, winning its seventh straight game.

The Tigers are the only ranked team in the revamped Conference USA, a distinction Gonzaga (9-3) holds in the West Coast Conference. Memphis will play host to No. 15 Texas on Monday.

Memphis ended Gonzaga’s five-game winning streak even though Morrison finished with 34 points, including 12 for 12 at the free-throw line.

Rodney Carney had 17 points for Memphis and Williams had 14 points and 11 rebounds.

No. 13 Boston College 81, Duquesne 69 -- Craig Smith scored 21 points and held off a late comeback bid by scoring on three consecutive possessions for the Eagles (9-2) in a victory over the Dukes (2-7) at Pittsburgh.

Sean Marshall had 13 points and Jared Dudley and reserve Tyrese Rice had 10 each to help Boston College win its third in a row. The Eagles made only 11 of 25 free throws.

No. 20 Nevada 56, Norfolk State 46 -- Marcelus Kemp scored eight of his game-high 15 points during a key stretch in the second half and Nick Fazekas had 14 to help the Wolf Pack (9-1) overcome a cold shooting night at Reno, Nev., to defeat the Spartans (2-9).

Mo Charlo and Kyle Shiloh each had seven rebounds and Ramon Sessions had seven assists for Nevada, which shot 37.5% from the field.