Hustle outgun Legends in Saturday home tilt
Photo: Miles Norris faces a pair of Texas Legends defenders during Saturday’s 119-91 Hustle victory at the Landers Center. (Mary Scott/Oak River Media for desotocountynews.com)
The Memphis Hustle pulled away in the second quarter and continued pouring it on in the second half, on their way to a 119-91 NBA G League victory over the Texas Legends at the Landers Center.
The win improved the Hustle’s Tip Off Tournament record to 3-4, while the Legends have yet to win this year, dropping its fifth straight game.
Eight Memphis players scored in double figures, led by Miles Norris with 19 points. Norris hit on four of his first four three-point shot attempts, and finished 5-for-10 from the three-point line.
“I’m confident in my shot,” Norris said. “I feel like I could shoot 40-50 percent in some games. I just try to come out with confidence, you know, play my game. and let the game come to me.”
Teammate Colin Castleton added 18 points as all five starters and three players off the bench scored 10 or more points in the victory. Texas guard Brandon Williams led all scorers with 21 points.
“We had 10 guys score points tonight, which is great,” coach T.C. Swirsky said. “I feel like those eight guys can do that every night. We’re going to need to continue to get efforts from all 11 that we have right now and going forward.”
Memphis outscored the Legends, hitting 43.9 percent from the floor, and 46.2 percent from beyond the arc. The Texas offense was not very legendary, only 38.5 percent from the floor and just 27 percent from the three-point line.
The Hustle took a 29-25 lead after one quarter, but out scored the Legends 36-26 in the second frame for a 65-51 lead at halftime.
The attack continued in the second half with Memphis holding Texas to just 18 points for a 93-69 lead, going into the fourth quarter.
Memphis led by as much as 32 points at one time in the second half, while the Legends’ largest lead was early in the contest at just three points. The Hustle outrebounded Texas by a 56-47 margin.
The win, which came on the team’s “Hustle and Hounds Night” promotion, came on the back half of a two-game series that began Friday night with a 102-98 loss to the Osceola Magic. Castleton and Malachi Smith each scored 17 points for the Hustle against the Magic.
“Our guys competed last night to get back into a game where we were down by 20 plus points,” Swirsky said. “You can worry about the effort level, the compete, the way that the guys are going to compete the next day with the group we have. I didn’t worry about that at all.”
HUSTLE ADD HEIDEGGER: Before Saturday’s game, the Hustle announced it had acquired the returning player rights to guard Max Heiddeger, a 2026 first round pick and a 2026 second round pick from the Capital City Go-Go for forward Jalen McDaniels, who the Hustle had acquired off Waivers on Friday.
Heidegger (6-3, 180) appeared in 10 games (four starts) last season with the Windy City Bulls and averaged 12.9 points and 3.6 assists in 24.7 minutes while shooting 40.9 percent from beyond the arc. The 27-year-old California native has competed overseas the last five seasons in Israel, Germany, Turkey, Spain and Italy including competition in the EuroLeague and EuroCup.
McDaniels (6-9, 205) has appeared in 248 games (45 starts) across five NBA seasons with the Charlotte Hornets, Philadelphia 76ers and Toronto Raptors and averaged 6.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes.
