Charles Carmouche lifts Memphis to a win at Southern Miss

Memphis, playing without suspended forward Wesley Witherspoon for the second straight game, got a bit of veteran leadership from an unlikely source on Wednesday night.

Charles Carmouche, a junior guard that is only at Memphis because his previous school -- New Orleans -- is going to Division III, hit a three off of a terrific pass from Joe Jackson with 1.2 seconds left on the clock to give Memphis a 76-75 win over Southern Miss and move the Tigers to 3-1 in league play.



"I told them we are going to shoot a three regardless," Memphis head coach Josh Pastner said after the game. "We are going for the win. We will not shoot a two pointer. We drew up a play, we were going to do a hand off, pistol action we call it, with Joe [Jackson] and Will Barton. I said Charles, go to the other wing. I told Joe you're either going to hand off to Will for a three or skip it to Charles."

"And, by golly, Charles, what a big shot, what a great pass by Joe. I am so proud of our players."

"Joe found me," Carmouche said. "I was wide open, I had to take the shot and I just shot it with confidence."

Its a huge win for the Tigers. The Golden Eagles blitzed the Tigers early, jumping out to a 29-11 lead on the road. This Memphis team has come under a lot of fire early in the season for some poor performances, but they didn't show an ounce of quit tonight. They got the lead down to 11 at the half on a buzzer beating three by Jackson.

In the second half, Chris Crawford came alive, scoring all 12 of his points after the break, and a 16-4 run capped by a Will Barton three with 3:16 left to go up 69-66. Memphis would eventually go up five points, but Southern Miss responded with an 9-2 run of their own, taking the lead after back-to-back jumper from RL Horton in the final minute.

There was some confusion late. Memphis had to foul after a missed jumper from Carmouche with 6.7 seconds left and Gary Flowers tried to step to the free throw stripe. Horton was supposed to be shooting, and after the refs corrected it, Horton hit one of two to set up the exciting final play.

For Larry Eustachy, this loss had some added disappointment as he falls to 0-14 against Memphis in his seven year tenure in Hattiesburg.

This is a different Memphis team these past two games, as they previously beat Marshall by 16, the same team that knocked off West Virginia tonight.

With Witherspoon returning from his two game suspension tomorrow, the question that Memphis fans must now ask is whether or not he is a necessary piece.

Whatever the case, the Memphis team that has been on the court the past two games is the one we all expected to see this season.

(h/t to @mastermania1 for the video)