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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Hot-shooting helps Memphis rout Austin Peay


MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- Memphis started the game red-hot from the field and never cooled off against Austin Peay.

Chris Douglas-Roberts led six players in double figures with 23 points as the third-ranked Tigers cruised to an easy 104-82 victory on their home floor over the Governors on Tuesday.

"I was very, very pleased with our effort," Memphis coach John Calipari said. "Basically, I made myself coach in that game like it was an NCAA Tournament game, because I have to get these guys to understand 40 minutes."

Memphis (6-0) made its first eight shots from the field and shot 68 percent (21-of-31) en route to a 53-36 lead at the half.

The Tigers connected on 10-of-15 shots after intermission as they took their biggest lead at 76-53 with 11:53 remaining, and Memphis led by at least 16 points for the rest of the game.

The win also helped Memphis extend the nation's longest active home winning streak to 36 games and gave Calipari a victory in his 250th contest on the Tigers' sideline.

"When you lose by 22, it's difficult to find things to build on, but actually I thought that we battled (Memphis) pretty good," Austin Peay coach Dave Loos said. "They are really good. Actually they're scary good and well coached."

Douglas-Roberts - the preseason Conference USA Player of the Year - finished 11-of-15 from the field as the Tigers shot 64 percent (43-of-67) for the game.

Freshman Derrick Rose, who scored just four points in his last game, added 19 points and a season-high 12 assists and Shawn Taggart scored a career-high 17.

Despite the comfortable lead, Calipari did let his team rest, continuing to pressure the Governors throughout the game.

"Now they turned it over a little bit because they got tired, and that's why I kept pressing," Calipari said. "One, I wanted our conditioning to show, and two, I wanted to see what would happen if we wore them down a little bit."

With the game tied at 6-6, the Tigers used a 12-3 run capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Willie Kemp to take an 18-9 lead with 14:02 to play in the first half.

Douglas-Roberts' layup with just under seven minutes left in the first half gave Memphis a 33-22 lead, and Austin Peay never trailed by single digits for the rest of the game.

Drake Reed scored 21 points to lead the Governors (2-3), who committed 21 turnovers to negate shooting 54 percent (30-of-56) from the field overall.

"We played well offensively," Loos said. "This was our best offensive game and thank goodness that there is nobody like Memphis in the Ohio Valley Conference. I don't think that we'll see anybody in our conference doing the same things that they do."

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