MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- DePaul didn't dominate Memphis on the scoreboard Tuesday night. It was the backboards that mattered.

Quentin Richardson had 22 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Blue Demons (No. 23 ESPN/USA Today, No. 24 AP) to a 71-65 victory in the Conference USA opener for both. The final total as far as rebounding went was 53-33.

"Rebounding was our first key to victory, both offensively and defensively," DePaul coach Pat Kennedy said.

Memphis interim coach Johnny Jones said the rebounding difference was too much to overcome.

"We said before the game that the team that wins the rebound column will win the basketball game," Jones said. "They got 26 offensive rebounds, and a lot of those came late in the game, and I thought that was the turning point."

Richardson, who was 7-for-16 from the field, hit two big baskets in the final two minutes as DePaul (9-3) pulled away at the end.

"I thought the big key in the game in the second half is when we went man-to-man in the last five minutes. We got a tremendous number of stops, and they never got a second shot. We really rebounded well," Kennedy said.

The teams exchanged leads midway through the second half and Memphis (6-7) held a one-point lead when Paris London hit a 5-foot fallaway shot with 3:24 left. But DePaul, behind Richardson and 5-of-6 free throw shooting by Rashon Burno over the final 1:38, put the game away.

Burno finished with 13 points for the Blue Demons, while Lance Williams added 10.

Kelly Wise led Memphis with 21 points and eight rebounds, while London and Courtney Trask had 12 points each. Trask also had 11 assists.

DePaul led 62-60 with 2:02 left after Steven Hunter hit the front end of a 1-and-1. Richardson rebounded Hunter's miss on the second shot and put it back in for a 64-60 lead.

A 3-pointer by Trask from the top of the key cut the DePaul lead to 66-63. But on the ensuing possession, Richardson tipped in his own miss for a 68-63 lead with 48 seconds left.

DePaul led 41-40 after a first half of runs that translated into double-digit leads for each team.

Memphis took a 12-2 lead, but DePaul erased that with a 25-3 run during which Richardson scored 11 points.

But DePaul then went 3½ minutes without scoring and Memphis tied the game 31-31 on London's 18-foot baseline jumper with 4:36 left in the half.

A 30-footer by Burno as the half ended gave the Blue Demons their one-point lead.

Memphis shot 57.7 percent from the field in the first half but ended up at 42.4 percent for the game.