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Memphis Punches Dance Ticket to March Madness Finals
Derrick Rose was dominant as Memphis beat UCLA to advance to the National Final. (AP Images)
In the end, the Rose beat out Love.
In a battle of arguably the two finest freshmen in the country, Derrick Rose and the Memphis Tigers advanced to Monday's NCAA championship game thanks to a 78-63 victory over Kevin Love and the UCLA Bruins.
Rose did pretty much whatever he wanted on Saturday, utterly dominating Darren Collison in one of the most lopsided point guard competitions this tournament. Rose went for 25 points and nine assists while Collison could only score two points on 1-of-9 shooting.
When Rose wasn't filling it up, Chris Douglas-Roberts was. The slashing junior swingman went for a game-high 28 points, many of which came on difficult drives. His most emphatic bucket came midway through the second half, when he cut backdoor and received a picture-perfect Rose pass. The ensuing dunk over Love put the final exclamation point on a dominant Memphis performance.
One of the most surprising lines of the night came courtesy of Tigers' big man Joey Dorsey. While at first glance it might look like he struggled - he scored zero points on 0-for-3 shooting - he pulled down a game-high 15 rebounds and harassed Love into mediocrity. The UCLA big man had his quietest game of the tournament, scoring just 12 points while pulling down nine rebounds.
Memphis came into this contest as a two-point favorite and easily covered the spread. The game's total went over the 135 points listed in the Bodog Sportsbook prior to tipoff.