Needing a win to clinch the one seed and at least a share of the American Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship, the 16th-ranked Memphis Tigers would head south to San Antonio, Texas, to take on the UTSA Roadrunners.

A quick turnaround is never ideal when you’re off an emotionally charged road rivalry win over UAB. Still, the Tigers responded on Tuesday night by taking the fight to the UTSA Roadrunners. Memphis jumped out on UTSA early despite some pushback from the Roadrunners; Memphis carried a 41-36 lead to the locker room on Tuesday night, giving the Tigers momentum heading into the second half.

Memphis opened the second half with unparalleled intensity, extending the lead to ten at the under-16 media timeout. At the under-12 media timeout of the second half, the Memphis lead had been cut to nine with the Tigers in front of UTSA by a score of 61-52. At the under-8 media timeout, UTSA had cut it down another point to seven to make it 66-59 in favor of the Tigers with 7:28 remaining on the clock. UTSA would come out of the timeout with some swagger, cutting the Tigers lead to 66-64 with 6:06 to play. The talent disparity was too much as the Tigers escaped with a 75-70 victory over UTSA.

In what seems to be an every-game occurrence, Dain Dainja and PJ Haggerty led the Tigers in scoring in the win over UTSA. Dain led the way with 19 points, while Haggerty finished close behind with 18.

Tuesday night might not have been the blowout that Coach Hardaway or the Memphis fans were hoping for, but the Tigers walked away from a trap game with a championship-winning win to secure the one seed at next week’s AAC Tournament. Now, the Tigers will focus on beating USF on Friday night before the real deal begins next week in Ft. Worth.

With Memphis beating the UTSA Roadrunners, the Tigers will have a double-bye in the AAC Tournament next week as the one seed in the conference Tournament. Memphis will play the first game on Friday of the AAC Tournament, with a tip-off slated for noon against the winner of the eight-and-nine matchup on Thursday.

With the win over the UTSA Roadrunners, Memphis improves to 25-5 on the season and 15-2 in conference play. A home game against USF remains before the AAC Tournament in Ft. Worth.