SAN ANTONIO “”mdash; And in the other locker room, heartbreak.
After being up by five with 1:23 to go in regulation, Memphis frittered the game away, missing free throws and making questionable decisions down the stretch to allow Kansas to force overtime and win.
Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts combined to miss four of five free throws over the last 1:15 of regulation. Joey Dorsey fouled out on a touch foul on Mario Chalmers on the perimeter with 1:23 to go. And with 10 seconds to go in the second half, the Tigers were unable to foul Sherron Collins effectively, allowing him to dish to Chalmers for the game-tying 3-pointer.
In the postgame press conference, a numb John Calipari essentially chalked the loss up to fortune.
“We did everything we were supposed to do,” Calipari said. “It wasn’t in the cards. It wasn’t our day. It was their day. And that’s ““ I just sat there and went, “˜Wow.'”
Calipari went on to say that everyone took blame for the loss, players and coaches included. He questioned his decision not to call a timeout toward the end of the game to get his team organized but said that ultimately he did not want to give a tired Jayhawks team time to rest.
Douglas-Roberts, leaning back in his chair at the press conference with his arms draped over the backs of Rose and Dorsey, could not account for the missed free throws.
“I really can’t explain why,” Douglas-Roberts said. “I mean when you play basketball, you can’t describe things like that. You really can’t. I missed them.”
In overtime the Tigers appeared tired, as they were outscored 12-5.
Rose played 45 minutes of the game, and three starters played 40-plus minutes.
Calipari stressed depth much of the year, rarely playing his starters more than 30 minutes, but when it counted the most, he relied on his starting lineup. Perhaps too much.
“I didn’t do a whole lot of subbing in those last eight minutes,” Calipari said. “And that really beat down Chris and even Derrick. And I rolled the dice. I basically said, “˜We better get out of here in regulation.'”
Both Rose and Douglas-Roberts declined to comment about their draft statuses following the game, saying they would like to talk it over with their families before making a decision. Rose is projected by most draft experts to be one of the top two picks in the NBA draft in June, while Douglas-Roberts could be a lottery selection (taken in the first 14 picks).
Calipari laid some of the blame for the inability of the Tigers to respond in overtime on the loss of Dorsey to his fifth foul.
Dorsey was more than willing to accept that blame.
“I was like, “˜Oh my God,'” Dorsey said. “You know, I felt like I was letting my teammates down again ’cause I fouled out of the game. And I was hoping it didn’t go to overtime, you know.”