TULSA, Okla. – The No. 15 Memphis basketball team escaped the Reynolds Center in Tulsa on Thursday with a 78-75 victory, the Tigers' seventh straight victory.
Tulsa (9-4, 0-1 AAC) tied the score at 75 with 33.4 seconds to play, but Jahvon Quinerly drilled a three-pointer with 4 seconds left to save Memphis (12-2, 1-0).
Nae'Qwan Tomlin and David Jones each scored 17 points for the Tigers. PJ Haggerty had 27 for Tulsa.
Here are five takeaways from Thursday's game.
Nae'Qwan Tomlin shines again
It didn't take long for the midseason transfer to Kansas State to make an impact.
Tomlin, the 6-foot-10 forward, scored 15 points and 15 rebounds in a win over Austin Peay last week, becoming the first Memphis player since at least 2010-11 with a 15-and-15 double-double in 23 Minutes less.
What does he do for an encore? Lead Memphis to a hard-fought road win over the troublesome Golden Hurricane.
Tomlin was a force around the basket – on both ends of the floor. In one sequence, he blocked a shot on defense, then took the throw almost the length of the court and finished with a confident wide-open one-handed dunk.
He also collected seven rebounds.
David Jones – sick?
Memphis wasn't even sure if its leading scorer would play Thursday.
Not after David Jones was kept away from the training ground for most of this week due to a hard-to-clear virus.
But if he still felt the effects of his illness, he endured it well. Despite seven turnovers, Jones scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
PJ Haggerty lives up to his billing
Haggerty came out on top against Memphis in the first half.
The 6-3 redshirt freshman guard was a dizzying one-man fireball. He dropped 17 points before halftime on 6 of 11 shooting from the field and 4 of 5 at the free-throw line, along with three rebounds and a steal.
The Tigers pride themselves on shutting down their opponent's best player. But the Crosby, Texas native finished with 27 points.
Caleb Mills' ugly injury
The senior guard had a clear path to the basket, so he broke the baseline to do it. As he approached the goal, he planted his left foot but was thrown into the air.
Mills immediately grabbed his left knee, clearly in severe pain. Head athletic trainer Darrell Turner (also the athletic department's senior associate athletic director for sports medicine) and strength coach Darby Rich rushed over to check on Mills. Hardaway followed them.
After a few minutes, most of which Mills spent writhing in pain, he tried putting weight on his left leg. But he couldn't, so Hardaway, Turner and Rich carried him off the floor.
Shortly after the team went to the locker room at halftime, Mills left the field area, partially under his own power. With a brace on his left knee and his arms around two staff members, he was able to put some weight on his left leg as he slowly made his way to the locker room.
Mills is averaging 8.5 points and 3.2 rebounds per game this season.
How Tulsa got back in the game
No matter how hard they tried, the Golden Hurricane couldn't do much in the first half (3:13).
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They turned things on their head in the second period, using 3-pointers to cut the Tigers' 14-point lead at halftime. After his sixth 3-pointer of the second half, Tulsa was only down 56-53 with 12:18 left in the game.
Most of the damage was done by Carlous Williams, who was just 3 of 15 from the 3-point line this season entering Thursday's game. That's how many goals he scored in four minutes at the start of the second half.
Williams finished the game with 16 points and made four 3-point shots.
Reach sportswriter Jason Munz at [email protected] or on Twitter @munzly.