FORT WORTH, Texas — Memphis Tigers' overwhelmed Tulane 94-54 Saturday in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) tournament semifinals, with DeAndre Williams scoring 27 points and 11 rebounds.
Kendric Davis, as the second leading scorer added 20 points and six assists for the Tigers.
Tulane's Jalen Cook landed 15 points, and Kevin Cross closed with 12 points, making the university's record 20-11. Tylan Pope had 13 rebounds. The Green Wave shot a season-low of 25.8% (17 of 66).
Tulane led 10-5 in the first half, making four of its first six shots in the game's first four minutes, with Cross scoring a jumper. But the Green Wave were outscored 37-7 the rest of the half, missing 23 of their next 25 shots to trail 42-17 at the break.
The Green Wave also missed their last eight shots, and 12 of their last 13.
Both regular-season meetings closed, including Memphis winning 90-89 in overtime at home on Feb. 4. The AAC semifinal wound up being the most lopsided victory all season for the Tigers — and the worst for Tulane.
The Memphis team now has a 25-8 record, giving the team its most wins since going 31-5 a decade ago in their final Conference USA season before moving to the AAC in 2013-14.
Memphis now advances to play top-ranked Houston (31-2) in the AAC tournament championship game for the second year in a row.
The second-seeded Tigers lost both regular-season matchups, including 67-65 at home last week.
The winner Sunday gets the league’s automatic NCAA Tournament berth, but both teams will be part of the 68-team field — like last year when the Cougars won the AAC title game 71-53.
