MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Call it a message received.
A few games back, Raynere Thornton was concerned about his scoring. Head coach Penny Hardaway encouraged him to rebound and defend, and his scoring would come. It has.
Thornton posted his second double-double of the season Sunday with 11 points and 11 rebounds to lift the University of Memphis to a 77-57 American Athletic Conference victory over UCF. The game was played before a crowd of 17,046 at FedExForum.
Thornton also did a masterful job on the defensive end, helping to hold the BJ Taylor-Aubrey Dawkins tandem to a combined 12 points on 4-of-23 shooting from the field and 2-of-11 from the arc.