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Memphis Upset No. 18 Iowa State 80-76 in Season Opener as Jayden Reid Scores 26

Reid scored Memphis's final 11 points, including a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left, as the Tigers beat a ranked team in a season opener for the first time since 1995, winning at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls.

By Orbit Post2 min read
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Memphis Upset No. 18 Iowa State 80-76 in Season Opener as Jayden Reid Scores 26

Key points

  • Memphis opened its season with the kind of win that changes how a year feels.
  • Reid, a transfer guard, hit a layup with 3:02 left to put Memphis ahead 71-69 after Iowa State had erased a seven point deficit.
  • The first half set the tone.

Memphis opened its season with the kind of win that changes how a year feels. The Tigers beat No. 18 Iowa State 80-76 on Monday night at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, behind 26 points from Jayden Reid, who scored the team's final 11 points and closed the game out himself.

Reid, a transfer guard, hit a layup with 3:02 left to put Memphis ahead 71-69 after Iowa State had erased a seven point deficit. He kept going. His 3-pointer with 38 seconds left stretched the lead to 78-73, and Memphis held on from there for a win over a ranked opponent in a season opener for the first time in three decades.

A game that swung all night

The first half set the tone. The teams were tied at 19-19 and again at 32-32, and Tamin Lipsey gave Iowa State a 39-38 lead with four seconds left in the half. Luke Almodovar answered at the buzzer, driving into the lane and throwing down a dunk over a defender to send Memphis into the locker room up 40-39.

Almodovar finished with 18 points, nine of them from beyond the arc, and eight rebounds before fouling out late. Rihards Vavers added 15 points and five rebounds. Memphis stretched the lead to 43-39 early in the second half, Iowa State tied it at 50-50 on a Ryan Prather Jr. jumper with 12:38 left, and the Tigers pushed back ahead 69-62 on a Vavers 3-pointer with 5:30 to go. The Cyclones answered with a 7-0 run and tied the game again with 3:15 left, which is when Reid took over.

Prather led Iowa State with 19 points. Dominykas Pleta scored 15, Lipsey scored 12, and Tre Singleton finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Memphis led for 32 and a half minutes and won the rebounding battle 38-36.

A first since 1995, without a starter

The win carries some history. Memphis last opened a season by beating a ranked team on Nov. 25, 1995, when the Tigers beat No. 24 Purdue 91-76 in Kansas City. Coach Penny Hardaway is now 9-0 in season openers at Memphis, and this one came a season after the Tigers went 13-19, their first campaign under the 20 win mark under Hardaway.

Memphis also did it short handed. Starting center Nemanja Popovic did not play as he serves an NCAA mandated withholding period, and the Tigers still controlled the game against a Cyclones team playing its first season opener away from home since 2017. It was only the second meeting between the schools. Iowa State won the first, 78-59, in November 2021.

Memphis hosts VCU at FedExForum on Saturday, Nov. 7. One game in, the Tigers already own a result that will sit on their resume all season.

Timeline

  1. Nov 25, 1995Memphis beat No. 24 Purdue 91-76 in Kansas City, the program's previous season opening win over a ranked opponent.
  2. Nov 2, 2026Luke Almodovar dunked at the halftime buzzer to give Memphis a 40-39 lead over No. 18 Iowa State at the Sanford Pentagon.
  3. Nov 2, 2026Jayden Reid scored Memphis's final 11 points, including a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left that made it 78-73, and the Tigers won 80-76.

Sources