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No. 24 Memphis 64, Rutgers 59: Michael Dixon Jr. came off the bench to score 15 points and came up big down the stretch as the visiting Tigers escaped with an ugly win over the Scarlet Knights in American Athletic Conference play.

Joe Jackson struggled to 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting for Memphis (20-6, 9-4 AAC), which locked up its 14th consecutive 20-win season. Shaq Goodwin and Austin Nichols added 10 points apiece.

Kadeem Jack poured in 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Rutgers (10-17, 4-10), which was 4-for-20 from 3-point range. Aside from Jack, who was 10-for-18 from the field, the Scarlet Knights had a dismal night at the offensive end as the rest of the team combined to go 14-for-46.

The Tigers made their first four shots and raced out to a 12-2 lead before cooling off to allow the Scarlet Knights to hang around and get within 28-21 at halftime. Jack almost single-handedly kept Rutgers in it in the second half, scoring 18 of his points after the break.

It was Dixon who finally put the Scarlet Knights away, hitting 3-of-4 from the foul line — the last two coming after his own steal — and knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 59-51 with 1:18 left. Rutgers kept its slim hopes alive with 3-pointers from Malick Kone and Myles Mack, but the Tigers made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 23 seconds to seal it.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Memphis improved to 36-4 in games following a loss under coach Josh Pastner. … Mack (1,151) scored 10 points to move past Steve Kaplan for 25th on the school's all-time scoring list. … The Tigers improved to 6-2 in games decided by single digits while the Scarlet Knights dropped to 4-8 in such contests.