Magical Memphis has final say after beguiling UCLA
SAN ANTONIO - Their only blemish of the season was a 4-point loss at home against a Tennessee team that had Final Four talent. Yet coach John Calipari's Memphis team came into a Final Four filled with No. 1 seeds with the general perception that the Tigers weren’t as good as the other three.
Not quite as good as the No. 1-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels. Or the hungry UCLA Bruins, who were in the Final Four for the third straight season. The Tigers were maybe on a par with Kansas, which had some late-season setbacks.
But last night - as they have been throughout this magical season - the Tigers were good enough to cruise to a 78-63 victory over coach Ben Howland’s Bruins and move into tomorrow night’s x NCAA title game against Kansas.
To say it was easy would not be much of a stretch. Remember, the Tigers (38-1) had taken apart a better-than-average Michigan State team in last week's South Regional final, building an incredible 50-20 halftime lead before coasting to a 92-74 victory.
Last night, the Tigers had to work a little harder and longer. They had only a 3-point lead at halftime, but slowly and steadily increased that to double digits in the second half and cruised down the stretch against a very good team.
Led by first-team All-America guard Chris Douglas-Roberts (28 points) and almost-certain first-round NBA draft pick Derrick Rose (25 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists), the Tigers dominated the second half.
For UCLA (35-4), it was another bitter end to what had been a sweet season.
The Bruins, after an opening-round rout of Mississippi Valley, had a tougher time reaching the Final Four, squeezing past Texas A&M, and holding off a second-half comeback from Western Kentucky. In last week’s West Regional final against Xavier, the Bruins were more in control.
But Memphis is not Xavier. From the start, the Tigers, who built a quick 7-point lead, looked bigger, deeper, faster, and better than the Bruins.
They outrebounded the Bruins, played better defense (UCLA shot only 37.5 percent), and protected the ball better (9 turnovers compared with 12 for the Bruins).
In a season that now has one game left, the Tigers made it clear that last night's win was just another step toward their goal - a national title.
"This is a dream team," said Calipari, who is in the NCAA Final Four for the first time since he brought Massachusetts to the big dance in 1996. "We have a team that's played all year. They've played great defense. They’ve played unselfish basketball. The way they act toward one another, the way they treat one another, it's been a ball coaching."
As has been the case for most of the season, Douglas-Roberts and Rose led the offense, and forward Joey Dorsey provided some power underneath, winning the muscle battle with Kevin Love, UCLA’s 6-foot-11-inch freshman, picking off 15 rebounds and limiting Love to 12 points and nine rebounds.
Early in the game, Rose set the tone with some spectacular highlight-reel baskets.
"All I'm trying to do is be aggressive," said Rose. ‘‘I'm just trying to be aggressive and just lead my team at point guard. And it still hasn't hit me that we won the game. But going into the game, we knew we were going to win. We were going to find a way to win somehow because that is what we do.
"And we're just a great team."
UCLA didn't dispute that assessment.
"They’re a very, very good basketball team," said Howland. "Obviously - 38-1. They played very, very good basketball today."
Calipari tried to make it a business-as-usual evening.
"You know, you don't believe this, but I walked out in that game and I was feeling like it was just the next game," said Calipari. "And I told the team before the game, 'Does anybody else feel like this is just the next game?'
"And so when we finished, I went in and said, 'I still feel like we're going to walk out there Monday and it’s just the next game.' "
And the last game.
