VOL. 127 | NO. 18 | Friday, January 27, 2012
Don Wade
The Press Box
Tigers Grow Close in Face of Adversity
By Don Wade
Here’s how a family works, at least a highly competitive family: You can say and do things to one another that you would never try on someone else.
So Rice’s Tamir Jackson was clearly in the role of outsider when he made a hard foul against the Tigers’ Joe Jackson late in a game the Tigers would win 73-51. Will Barton, Tarik Black and Trey Draper all came off the Memphis bench and were ejected.
The good news: Everyone will still be eligible to play Saturday, Jan. 28, at FedExForum against Marshall.
The better news: In the aftermath of that play on Wednesday, Jan. 25, the Tigers seemed more like a team than at any point since the giddy preseason when they were anointed Top 10 status and then proved unworthy of the honor.
“That’s how a team is,” Joe Jackson said of his teammates’ quick response on his behalf. “I’d expect that 10 out of 10 times. That’s normal for us.”
Interesting words coming from the guy who sat out a game – and perhaps seriously considered transferring – while he tried to figure out his “role” on the team. But Jackson’s and Ferrakohn Hall’s propensity for pouting shouldn’t be seen as rare either. They’re Memphis kids playing under the harsh light of Memphis expectations.
As coach Josh Pastner said, a team without issues and egos is also a team without talent and wins. How much such drama has contributed to the Tigers being 14-6 instead of, say, 17-3, is difficult to say. In a disappointing season, the finger of blame is easily and often pointed.
But for a night, all those problems faded and the focus fell on a team with a fighting spirit. Pastner came off the bench too, and even though he said he was just trying to break things up, he admitted to being “upset” about the foul. There was a flash of fire in Pastner’s eyes and his players saw it.
“We love it when coach do like that,” Antonio Barton said.
Two-thirds of the regular season now gone, the Tigers have had their ups and downs. And truthfully, aside from the Adonis Thomas injury, many of their problems have been self-created.
They have taken much for granted, including one another.
“Things aren’t perfect,” Will Barton said, “but that’s how it is in a family.”
Maybe this one just grew closer.
Don Wade is a native of Kansas City and a former feature writer for The Kansas City Star and sports reporter for The Commercial Appeal. His column appears weekly in The Daily News and The Memphis News.