Monday Look Back: Please do not provoke the Tigers

When are you people gonna learn?

Stop stepping to Memphis basketball players!

There are many things you can get away with in life, but talking crazy to Memphis basketball players isn't one of them. Most folks will walk away, I know. But not these guys.

Memphis reserve Pierre Niles was noticeably un-reserved after the Tigers' victory at UAB. (AP)

If you want to step up, fine. But you must understand they're gonna step up too, and it doesn't matter if you're a bouncer inside a club, a woman outside a club or a UAB student in the stands.

Yep, that's the newest allegation surrounding the Tigers.

It appears seldom-used wide body Pierre Niles smacked somebody dressed as Larry the Cable Guy right in the face on his way to the locker room Saturday night. Mark Weber of The Commercial Appeal caught Niles in the act, and perhaps now everybody will understand and live by the three rules of sport.

1. Don't date O.J. Simpson.

2. Don't trust Brian McNamee.

3. Don't mess with a Tiger.

(You saw what happened to Siegfried and Roy)

Anyway, here's the Monday Look Back.

Best game of the weekend: Before Niles popped a UAB fan in the face, Chris Douglas-Roberts popped all UAB fans in the gut (figuratively, not literally, it must be noted). The All-America candidate converted a three-point play with 6.5 seconds remaining to cap a 9-1 run that helped Memphis overcome a seven-point deficit in the final 83 seconds and record a 79-78 victory at UAB that was impressive on many levels. The team that can't make 3-pointers (Memphis ranks 220th nationally) made two in that crucial stretch, and the team that can't make free throws (341st) made one for the win.

It really would have been a perfect night all around if the Tigers would have just taken their victory to the locker room without incident, but unfortunately some -- and that's some, not all -- of them aren't the types to pass up the opportunity to have a good old fashioned altercation, provoked or unprovoked.