The long rebound bounced near the 3-point line before University of Memphis sophomore guard Joe Jackson raced it down and got it ahead to sophomore guard Antonio Barton.
Barton fired from 3-point range. Swish. This time it wasn't going to be close, and it wasn't supposed to be.
Playing a Tennessee team that came into Wednesday's game with an RPI of 280 - the same Vols team that had given the Tigers all they could handle in a double-overtime loss in the Maui Invitational - Memphis did what it was supposed to do.
Barton was draining 3-pointers. Sophomore Tarik Black was catching lob after lob for alley-oop dunks. And Joe Jackson, the sophomore guard who had been given 48 hours off over the weekend to get his head back on straight, played with effort.
It all added up to a convincing 69-51 victory over in-state rival Tennessee before 18,334 at FedExForum. Though the win won't mean much in the grand scheme of things in terms of the the Tigers' NCAA Tournament rsum, winning in blowout fashion over a team it needed to beat handily meant plenty to this group.
"Yes, yes, yes," Barton said when asked if winning the way they did was an important step. Though Memphis (9-5) had won two straight coming in, it hadn't looked so great in doing so, having allowed Robert Morris and Charlotte to pound it on the offensive glass.
Against Tennessee (7-7), Memphis played physical, outrebounding the Vols 36-26 (the Tigers were outrebounded 49-34 by Tennessee in Maui) and limiting them to just six second-chance points on eight offensive rebounds. When a skirmish broke out at the 8:10 mark of the second half after freshman guard Wes Washpun fouled Jackson hard on the baseline, Jackson's teammates were at his side within moments in a show of unity.
Tennessee never got closer than 10 the rest of the way, and Memphis upped its lead to 22 points (65-43) on a pair of free throws by Black with 2:46 left that capped a 17-6 Tigers run after the fracas. Barton's 19 points led three Tigers in double figures while Black had his best all-around performance of the season with 18 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
"This brings our team back together," Barton said. "Everybody was excited, from the bench players to the managers to everybody on the team. Just bringing that intensity and coming out and feeling as one set the standard for everybody."
It wasn't just Barton and Black who shined. Though he played just 15 minutes, Jackson (seven points, four assists) used his speed to affect the game in other ways, like tracking down the loose ball that had led to Barton's 3-pointer with 4:42 left to go.
Freshman Adonis Thomas had set the tone physically early on with a monstrous baseline dunk over Tennessee big man Jeronne Maymon. Sophomore guard Chris Crawford came off the bench to contribute five points, six rebounds and a game-high five assists. And Wesley Witherspoon, who had missed Memphis' last two games with a knee sprain, played solidly on both ends in 21 minutes, registering four points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal.
"Everyone was terrific and just did their job," Memphis coach Josh Pastner said. "We won this game with defense and rebounding, and we also won the 50-50 balls. You have to win the 50-50 balls and hustle plays, and we did that. That's why we won the game."
Tennessee got a game-high 22 points from sophomore guard Trae Golden, but never led after a Barton made a pair of free throws to put Memphis ahead 11-10 with 9:54 left in the first half. The Tigers took a 28-20 lead into halftime after holding Tennessee to 30 percent shooting before the break and zero second-chance points. The Vols had scored 29 second-chance points in their 99-97 double- overtime loss to Memphis in Maui.
"They did a really good job of defending us tonight," Vols coach Cuonzo Martin said. "I thought that we did a good job in the first half, but when you struggle to get points and score, all of a sudden your offense becomes stagnant."
It was exactly the sort of team win Memphis needed as it moves into the Conference USA portion of its schedule. The Tigers open C- USA play on Saturday at UAB (5-8).
"We needed a win regardless, however it comes," Black said. "But a win like this lifts your morale and raises your spirits high."
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