Jayden Reid dominated with 26 points as Memphis opened its season with an 80-76 upset win over No. 18 Iowa State on Monday in Sioux Falls, S.D.
Reid’s 3-pointer with 38 seconds left gave the Tigers breathing room at 78-73, and Memphis held on from there.
Luke Almodovar poured in 18 points, including nine from beyond the arc, and grabbed eight rebounds as Memphis opened the season with a win over a ranked foe for the first time since Nov. 25, 1995, when the Tigers beat then-No. 24 Purdue 91-76 in Kansas City, Mo. Rihards Vavers chipped in 15 to go along with five rebounds.
Ryan Prather Jr. led Iowa State with 19 points. Dominykas Pleta finished with 15 points while Tamin Lipsey, who is on the Naismith Player of the Year Watch List, scored 12 points. Tre Singleton chipped in with 11 points and 11 rebounds.
Memphis led 40-39 at halftime and stretched the gap to 43-39 on Almodovar’s 3-pointer at the 17:31 mark.
Prather’s jumper tied the score at 50-50 with 12:38 left.
The Tigers led 66-62 with 6:53 left after a 3-pointer from Almodovar, and Vavers’ 3-pointer pushed the advantage to 69-62 with 5:30 to go.
However, the Cyclones went on a 7-0 run and tied the game with 3:15 left on a free throw by Prather.
Reid hit a layup at the 3:02 mark to make it 71-69, and he put up Memphis’ final 11 points as the Tigers held on.
The first half was tightly contested as well. The teams were tied at 19-19 with 9:31 left after Lipsey sank a 3-pointer.
It was tied at 32-32 as well thanks to a free throw from Singleton with 4:32 remaining.
Lipsey gave Iowa State a 39-38 lead with four seconds left, but Almodovar answered when he soared into the lane with no hesitation and threw down a dunk over a defender as time expired.