Sports

Josh Pastner may be the first college basketball coach ever to blame his wife after committing a minor NCAA violation.

Late Tuesday night, Pastner used the University of Memphis’ men’s basketball Twitter account to inadvertently tweet “Tony Parker,” the name of a highly touted Class of 2012 big man from Georgia that the Tigers have long coveted. Even though Pastner deleted the tweet minutes later, by rule that constitutes a secondary violation because the NCAA prohibits coaches from publicly discussing unsigned recruits.

Memphis defensive tackle Dontari Poe was seen walking through the NovaCare Complex on Thursday morning.

Poe, considered to be one of the top defensive tackles available in this year’s draft, was walking with Eagles defensive line coach Jim Washburn when spotted by reporters who were in the building for the first meeting with new offensive left tackle Demetress Bell.

The Cowboys are working out Memphis guard/tackle Ronald Leary on his college campus today. Leary, a 6-foot-3, 325 pounder, is moving up depth boards with his athletic ability and power. He’s expected to be among one of the 30 prospects to visit the Cowboys next month at Valley Ranch.

Leary will workout for Cowboys offensive line coach Bill Callahan. Adias Bakari, Leary’s Washington, D.C.-based agent, said Carolina and St. Louis also have planned visits with the lineman.

Mark Jackson must have known there would be nights like this when he decided to give coaching a try and signed with the Warriors last summer. Still, that doesn’t mean he got a wink of sleep Wednesday night.

His team didn’t arrive for the start of the game and quickly found itself down 21-4 to the Memphis Grizzlies. The Warriors rallied and even took a four-point lead in the second quarter. Then they took the rest of the night off, eventually losing 110-92.

Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi sent top-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova packing in the first round at the $220,000 Memphis International tennis event. Giorgi ousted the former world No. 3 Petrova in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 on the indoor hardcourts at The Racquet Club of Memphis.

In other action involving seeds, No. 3 Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic routed Georgian Anna Tatishvili 6-3, 6-1; No. 4 Marian Erakovic of New Zealand overcame American Sloane Stephens 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 and Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek upended No. 6 Brit Elena Baltacha 6-2, 6-1.

Gael Monfils has withdrawn from the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships because of a right knee inflammation. The Frenchman was scheduled to play in the feature first-round match on Tuesday. Tournament organizers announced Thursday that Monfils’ match will be replaced by John Isner’s first-round match.

Monfils also withdrew from the SAP Open because of right knee inflammation and said Wednesday that he plans to take a brief break from tennis. He will have an MRI on both knees when he returns home.

After a hard fought heartbreaking overtime loss at UTEP on Saturday, the Tulane men’s basketball team gets move forward and take the floor of Fogelman Arena when they face Memphis on Wednesday at 7 p.m. CT in a Conference USA match-up.

The Green Wave (15-9, 3-7 C-USA) fell to UTEP, 54-52, and where led by C-USA Freshman of the Week Ricky Tarrant and Jordan Callahan who each scored 19 points in the loss.

“Our guys have done a great job all season of going to the ‘next play’ and forgetting about what happened,” Tulane head coach Ed Conroy said. “This game with Memphis is a great opportunity for that to happen. We learned our lessons from the game at UTEP and will move forward and go to work. This is a great chance to prove ourselves.”

At long last, Memphis is part of the Big East. The Big East says the Tigers officially accepted an invitation to be part of the conference’s next incarnation in 2013. Memphis is the seventh school, and fourth from Conference USA, to sign up for future membership in the Big East since December. The Tigers will compete in the Big East in all sports.

Memphis has been trying to upgrade its conference affiliation for years, and the Big East was always the most likely landing spot. The Tigers were snubbed during the Big East’s last massive expansion in 2005 and lost a longtime rivalry with Louisville in the process.

Will Barton and Tarik Black, two key players for Memphis, weren’t around to see the end of Wednesday night’s game against Rice. Their departure after a second-half skirmish that saw multiple players ejected just meant they didn’t see the ultimate margin of the Tigers victory over the Owls.

Chris Crawford scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Memphis to a 73-51 victory over Rice. Antonio Barton added 11 points and Tarik Black had 10, hitting all five of his shots before he was ejected during a skirmish under the Tigers basket with 7:21 left in the game.

The New York Knicks just sent a surging Philadelphia team back home with a few things to ponder and will take their four-game winning streak to the road tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies at FedEx Forum. More >