By Teresa M. Walker
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Memphis Tigers were dominant in the matchup of unbeatens.
Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 24 points, Robert Dozier added 19 and the second-ranked Tigers beat No. 5 Georgetown 85-71 on Saturday, extending the nation's second-longest home winning streak to 37 games.
Freshman guard Derrick Rose had 18 points for Memphis, while Joey Dorsey had 11 points and 13 rebounds, grabbing 11 boards in the second half. The Tigers improved to 10-0, their best start since winning their first 10 in 2003-2004.
Memphis coach John Calipari wanted and needed tougher opponents this season to help offset the Conference USA schedule his Tigers play starting in January. He got exactly what he wanted with a bit of history for good measure.
This was the first time the Tigers played in a game on their home court with both teams ranked in the top five. They had only played in such a game twice before and not since the 1995-96 season when the then-No. 3 Tigers went to top-ranked Massachusetts and lost to a team coached by Calipari.
Preseason All-American Roy Hibbert had a season-low six points for Georgetown (8-1). Austin Freeman had a team-high 14 points for the Hoyas, while DaJuan Summers had 13 and Patrick Ewing Jr. 10.
Memphis had played then-No. 24 Southern California on Dec. 4 in New York.
This was the first time Georgetown had faced a ranked opponent this season and only the third road game for the Hoyas. There was a sellout crowd of 18,864 - more than usual because Memphis added a few extra seats for this morning matinee and the Tigers' first home game in 24 days.
Georgetown hadn't played since routing Radford 110-51 on Dec. 15. Memphis won at Cincinnati on Wednesday night.
The Hoyas led by as many as eight points in the first half, but Memphis took control in the second by hitting the boards, outrebounding the Hoyas 43-30. It was a season-low for Georgetown.
Dorsey, who picked up his second foul less than eight minutes into the first half, helped the Tigers dominate the boards in the second. He had seven within the first 4:20. Memphis missed 11 of its first 12 shots and trailed 46-45 on a steal and layup by Chris Wright with 15:40 to go.
But Jessie Sapp missed on a drive, and the Tigers finally heated up with nine straight points.
Dozier hit a jumper that put Memphis ahead to stay. Douglas-Roberts hit a jumper, a 3-pointer and dunked on the fast-break after Antonio Anderson stole the ball from Sapp for a 54-46 lead with 12:18 left.
The Tigers just kept padding their lead after that, reaching double digits on two free throws by Douglas-Roberts with 7:03 to go. They got it up to as many as 17 twice and finished 17-of-22 from the free throw line in the second half.
Georgetown's last eight-point lead was 35-27 on a fast-break layup by Ewing.
The Tigers settled down and started hitting some shots. Rose, who said he came to Memphis to play in big games like this, started them off with a three-point play with 3:45 left.
Douglas-Roberts rebounded a missed 3 by Rose under the basket and laid it up for a 41-40 lead with 49 seconds to go. Dozier added a dunk off a pass from Kemp for the halftime lead.
