If the Bluff City had an Athlete of the Year for 2024, it was University of Memphis quarterback Seth Henigan. The senior piled up records like a greedy 5-year-old under the Christmas tree. Henigan became the first Tiger signal-caller to toss 100 touchdown passes (104) and climbed to 13th on the FBS career passing-yardage chart (14,266). Best of all, he led Memphis to an 11-2 record, a third straight postseason victory (over West Virginia in the Frisco Bowl), and finished his career with 34 wins, a mark no future Tiger quarterback is likely to match. Add the heroics of running back Mario Anderson Jr. — 1,362 rushing yards and 21 touchdowns — and Memphis is all but certain to finish in the AP Top 25 for only the fourth time in program history.
The Tigers’ gridiron success made for some late-year balance to an otherwise disappointing 12 months in Memphis sports. Ravaged by injuries (and a lengthy suspension for star guard Ja Morant), the Memphis Grizzlies missed the NBA playoffs for the first time in three years. The only silver lining: A miserable record (27-55) earned the Grizz the ninth selection in the draft, a pick they used to acquire towering center Zach Edey, the two-time national college player of the year at Purdue. As 2025 approaches, Memphis is near the top of the Western Conference standings. Let’s call 2024 a hibernation year in Grizzlies history.
College basketball was no less disappointing. Coach Penny Hardaway’s Tigers roared to a 15-2 start, climbing to a ranking of 10th in the country … only to bumble their way through their American Athletic Conference schedule, finishing with a mark of 22-10 and missing out on the NCAA tournament. David Jones won the AAC scoring title in his only season in blue and gray, but an 11-7 record in that league doesn’t impress come March.
On the diamond, slugging first baseman Luken Baker starred for the Redbirds, leading the International League in home runs a second straight season despite a late-summer promotion to the St. Louis Cardinals. Baseball America’s Pitcher of the Year, Quinn Mathews, finished his season with Memphis, tossing his 200th strikeout of the season — a minor-league rarity — in a Redbirds uniform. Look for Mathews to anchor the 2025 rotation (until the Cardinals decide he’s needed in St. Louis).
Memphis said goodbye to our USL Championship soccer club, 901 FC. Without a soccer-only stadium in the plans, the franchise is moving to Santa Barbara, California, after six up-and-down seasons at AutoZone Park. For the sports historians, 901 FC put up an overall record of 76 wins, 62 losses, and 45 draws.
Hideki Matsuyama won the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship (FESJC) at TPC Southwind, this being the third year Memphis has hosted the opening tournament of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Along with the Southern Heritage Classic and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, the FESJC is an annual reminder that Memphis can put on a show like few other cities in the world of sports. Let the 2025 games begin.
Ja Morant (12) and Yuki Kawamura dance at the Memphis Grizzlies open practice on October 6th at FedExForum. (Photos: Wes Hale)
Injuries and frustrations plagued the Memphis Grizzlies for most of the 2023–2024 season, beginning with standout point guard Ja Morant’s 25-game ban. Even after making a triumphant return, Morant was sidelined with a season-ending shoulder surgery that limited him to playing just nine games.
Coming off two seasons when they were near the top of the Western Conference, this young club was humbled and finished near the bottom of the standings.
By the time the regular season ended, Memphis had most of its roster on the injured list. They took on a record number of 10-day contracts to have the minimally allowed number of available players and relied heavily on the players on two-way contracts. No team in NBA history has employed more players and starting lineups than the Grizzlies last season.
The departure of Steven Adams to the Houston Rockets and the minimal playing time that backup Brandon Clarke had in the previous season after undergoing Achilles tendon surgery left the Grizzlies in dire need of a competent big man heading into the offseason.
With the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft, the Grizzlies acquired 7’4” Purdue center Zach Edey, who addressed a gap in the team’s roster. The remainder of the league is in for some terrifying hours if Edey’s preseason dominance continues into the regular season and beyond.
Along with Edey, the Grizzlies selected small forward Jaylen Wells with the 39th pick in the draft. As the lone Grizzlies player to reach double digits in five preseason games, Wells was a shining example of the team’s potential on both ends of the floor.
After Derrick Rose asked to be waived and subsequently retired from the league, another roster spot became available. As a result, Scotty Pippen Jr.’s two-way contract was converted to a standard multi-year deal while Yuki Kawamura went from having an Exhibit 10 contract to having a two-way offer.
Scotty Pippen Jr. shoots the ball during warm-ups before the preseason game against the Charlotte Hornets at FedExForum on October 10th.
New Beginnings
Will both atonement and vengeance drive the Grizzlies’ efforts this year?
The Grizzlies will be considered underdogs to begin the season due to recency bias in the national media’s expected rankings. That being said, it’s for the best because that’s where this squad excels.
“We know who we are; we know what we’re capable of. It’s just about going out there and doing it now,” Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane said during media day.
The previous two seasons prove that Memphis can inflict havoc at the top of the Western Conference when healthy, so fans should see last season’s dismal record as more of an outlier than anything else. They have the ability to get back on track in the standings. It may not be returning to the second seed, but it definitely will be an improvement over the previous position in last year’s campaign.
With former Defensive Players of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. and Marcus Smart plus defensive menace Vince Williams Jr., this organization has a strong defensive foundation. Memphis was 12th in the NBA in defensive rating last season, despite their entire season being a train wreck.
Solid role players, including three-point shooters and young, adaptable talent, complement the club’s depth that is already strong thanks to Bane, Jackson Jr., and its spark Morant.
Forward GG Jackson II, who made a meteoric rise to prominence last season at the tender age of 19, is someone the Grizzlies are keeping their fingers crossed for. He was the game-changer in a doomed season and earned himself a standard contract. With 6’9”, highly athletic Jackson II on the court, it provides the team dynamic options, particularly in half-court sets. Last season, fans didn’t get to witness Jackson II and Morant develop a connection on the court.
Since Jackson II is still healing from foot surgery, we should expect to see him start the season sometime in December, so we will need to exercise patience till we witness his and Morant’s synergy.
The Grizzlies need to get back to their brand of basketball. When Memphis was the Western Conference runner-up in 2021–22 and 2022–23, they averaged more points in the paint than any other team in the league. They had the worst point differential and placed 13th in the Western Conference a season ago.
The squad now is looking to boast a more dynamic offensive game thanks to Taylor Jenkins and his reorganized coaching staff. Last year, Memphis’ offensive rating was the worst in the league.
Edey and Morant’s pick-and-rolls will feed families this season. Edey’s fit into the starting center position will allow Jackson Jr. to play at the four, where he excels.
Making a deep run in the playoffs is within reach if Memphis can avoid significant injuries this upcoming season.
12 Is Back
Given that the NBA is known as a “what have you done for me lately” league, some may have forgotten about Morant’s presence on the court.
“A happy Ja is a scary Ja,” according to Morant, who made the bold proclamation during last month’s media day.
Morant showed flashes of his dominance in the last preseason game this past Friday. In 25 minutes of play, Morant ended with 17 points and six assists in the preseason finale. He called his performance light and implied a secret weapon will be seen in the season opener in Utah.
The South Carolina native was thrilled to return to FedExForum after injury, citing fans as his driving force and motivation to perform. It was his first time playing before the home crowd since January 3, 2024.
In 2022–23, his last complete season (61 games), he played 31.9 minutes per game and averaged 26.2 points, 8.1 assists, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.1 steals.
He understands that his availability is crucial to the Grizzlies’ success, so he’s been making an effort to avoid injuries and off-the-court issues like those that nearly derailed his career.
The two-time All-Star is still one of the league’s most exciting players, and he will make sure the league remembers who he is.
This is arguably the greatest week of the year for Memphis sports. Seventy of the finest golfers on the planet arrive in the Bluff City for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoff tournaments to decide the winner of this year’s FedEx Cup. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler will be here. Xander Schauffele — winner of the PGA Championship and the British Open — will be here. So will Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Justin Thomas. Memphis is the center of the golf universe for a precious, if humid, weekend.
I always think of Phil Cannon when the FESJC rolls around. We lost the longtime tournament director much too soon (in 2016), but Phil’s imprint on the event lives on, and in ways that go beyond any plaque or statue. The hundreds of volunteers who make you feel like the tournament belongs to you, personally? That’s Phil Cannon’s influence. A media center equipped with every tool a reporter might need to best share a story? That’s Phil Cannon’s influence. And the ongoing bonds between our tournament and both St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and FedEx? That’s Phil Cannon’s priority list, living and breathing, making the FESJC distinct from any other golf tournament in the world.
Phil was the primary source for my very first feature in Memphis Magazine, way back in June 1994. He treated me like a veteran scribe in town for Sports Illustrated. I have little doubt every writer who crossed his path would tell you the same thing. Phil Cannon was a Memphis treasure. When the FESJC makes sports headlines every summer, I’m reminded that he still is.
• The Memphis Redbirds unveiled a new sign on the outfield wall at AutoZone Park last Saturday, a tribute to the 1938 Negro American League champion Memphis Red Sox. It made for a glorious night at the ballpark, Memphis beating Gwinnett, 8-2, while wearing uniforms commemorating the city’s Negro League team of days gone by.
It’s a good start for a franchise and facility that desperately needs to better embrace the history we’ve seen over the ballpark’s first quarter-century. That lone red chair on the right-field bluff? That’s where Albert Pujols (yes, that guy) hit a baseball to win the 2000 Pacific Coast League championship for Memphis. But there’s no plaque to tell a new fan why September 15, 2000, is an important date in Memphis sports history. Just an oddly placed red seat.
And how about a reminder (poster?) that Yadier Molina played here, and actually caught his first game with Adam Wainwright on the mound at AutoZone Park? (The two broke the major-league record for starts by a battery in 2022.) You might recognize highlights of David Freese from the 2011 World Series. Did you know Freese hit game-winning home runs in the 2009 PCL playoffs, helping Memphis to its second championship? A visual reminder would make AutoZone Park a better, happier place.
• The U.S. Olympic basketball teams (men and women) both brought home gold medals from the Paris Games. Salute to LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, and the many future Hall of Famers who handled the uncomfortable role of heavy favorite and made it to the podium. It makes for a good time to remind voters for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame that Memphis legend Penny Hardaway is the only member of the 1996 U.S. Olympic team — also gold medalists — not currently enshrined. The only one. Mitch Richmond is in the Hall of Fame, for crying out loud, but not Penny Hardaway. Let’s get this corrected.
Marc Gasol reacts during the Marc Gasol jersey retirement on April 6, 2024 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Wes Hale)
It wasn’t the basketball game that drew over 17,000 spectators to the FedExForum on Saturday and caused all the excitement. The extremely short-handed Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Philadelphia 76ers, 116-96.
The reason the fans were there was for a more joyous occasion as the franchise retired Marc Gasol’s No. 33 jersey. Just two players in team history have had their jersey numbers retired: Zach Randolph on December 11, 2021, and Gasol, who now joins him.
Marc Gasol’s jersey is risen during the Marc Gasol jersey retirement on April 6, 2024 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Wes Hale)
As the lights went out inside the arena, the music blared, DJ Paul of Three Six Mafia began rapping, “Now ever since I can remember, I’ve been poppin’ my collar. Poppin’-poppin’ my collar, poppin’-poppin’ my collar,” and there stood the “Core Four” together again in one place for the first time since the spring of 2017: Gasol, Randolph, Tony Allen, and Mike Conley. They were met with a standing ovation.
When it came to doing things the right way as a team, Gasol wasn’t really concerned about individual accolades. Appropriately, he chose to share the night alongside the three men who had been instrumental in his — and the franchise’s — greatest success. These men spent seven seasons together, won the very first playoff game in franchise history in 2011, and went on to make it to the 2013 Western Conference finals.
Gasol thanked his Memphis coaches and teammates, with his family by his side. The All-Star big man also thanked the fans and the city of Memphis for their unwavering support throughout his stay in the Bluff City.
Marc Gasol and his family look on during the Marc Gasol jersey retirement on April 6, 2024 at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Wes Hale)
His brother (and former Grizzlies star) Pau Gasol spoke to the media prior to the game: “I am very proud of what we’ve be able to accomplish, and what Marc has been able to accomplish, and how he came here as a 16-year old, had to leave school and everything back home, to the kind of follow the big brother’s dream and just brought about what he has been able to do.”
Hall of Famer, Pau Gasol speaking to the media prior to the jersey retirement ceremony (Photo by: Sharon Brown)
The two-time NBA champion continued: “How we approach everything is his character, his determination, the mark he left, the legacy, what he was able to do here and throughout his career, representing the city of Memphis the way he did for so many years with all those guys, Mike [Conley] Zach [Randolph] Tony [Allen] and many others. Tonight is a special night for our family that brings back a lot of memories.”
A host of former Grizzlies were in attendance, including Mike Miller, Rudy Gay, Quincy Pondexter, Beno Udrih, Darrell Arthur, Jon Leuer and Tayshaun Prince. Former Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger was also there, and former Grizzly Kyle Lowry, who stayed after the game.
Fellow Spaniard, and Grizzlies forward, Santi Aldama, spoke about the Gasol brothers: “I think since day one, obviously making it to the NBA is a child’s dream,” Aldama said. “But getting drafted by Memphis and being here and seeing what [the Gasols] have done for the franchise and the city has been awesome. Just being able to talk to them and kind of see their life here and now me kind of experiencing that is incredible.”
Elizabeth Smith has been a season ticket holder since 2011. “Marc Gasol isn’t just a player who played for my favorite basketball team; he is an integral part of the fabric of the city of Memphis and the Grizzlies,” Smith said. “Marc’s impact on the court speaks for itself, but it’s more than just his basketball accomplishments that make him special. He was the center of the Grizzlies for over a decade in more ways than the obvious.”
“Big Spain embodies everything I love about the Grizzlies and what I expect from my favorite team: a passion for the game, a heart for the community, and a refusal to accept defeat without fighting til the bitter end. Marc, along with TA, ZBo, and Mike, were the catalysts for my casual appreciation for basketball evolving into a deep love of the game. I have said many times that those four will forever be my favorites. That wouldn’t be possible without Marc, one of the cornerstones of that era of Grizzlies basketball, for fans like me.”
“My favorite moment of the night that brought tears to my eyes was the showing of his Toronto championship ring that had “GRIT N GRIND” engraved in it,” said longtime fan Sheri Dunlap Hensley.
“We were able to celebrate with the Gasols after the ceremony,” Hensley explained. “It was nice speaking with his parents. I asked them when they would be traveling back home and I said “I am sure you are ready to get back home.” His mom said “Oh no! We love Memphis! The city embraced us and Memphis put smiles on my son’s faces!” She went on about how thankful she will forever be to Memphis and the fans.”
Hensley even had a chance to reminisce with Gasol, himself.
Sheri Hensley chatting with Marc Gasol.
Adrian Shavers has been a Grizzlies season ticket holder for a long time. The night was very special for him. Shavers said, “It was awesome — felt like a family reunion. It felt really good seeing and chatting with old friends. One thing about our players, they love us fans and remember us. It was a real family feel, and that’s what I felt that night.”
Grizzlies fan Adrian Shavers posing in front Gasol’s banner. (Photo by: Adrian Shavers)
One of the most talented players to ever suit up for Memphis, Marc Gasol’s legacy is now sealed with his jersey hanging from the rafters. It has been a pleasure, Big Spain. GNG Forever.
Sword strikes bounce off metal armor, pole arms sweep, and the crowd roars. Memphis Armored Fight Club is a group who has resurrected the European martial arts of the Middle Ages.
Clad in period-authentic (or as authentic as you can get here in the twenty-first century) they spar with swords and shields. This is not choreographed fake fighting, they’re really going at it like competitors at a medieval tournament! Granted, the sharp edges are blunted, and there’s a strict “no stabbing” rule — that’s how you kill knights.
Last Saturday, they held one of their periodic bouts at Black Lodge in Midtown. I was there with a camera to capture some of the hot knight-on-knight action. After MAFC members showed everyone how it’s done, members of the audience got a chance to fight in the arena themselves. Take a look.
Jaren Jackson Jr. dribbles the ball during the game against the Detroit Pistons on April 1, 2024, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan. Credit: NBAE/Getty Images.
Down by as many as 15 at one point, the Memphis Grizzlies powered through in the second half on the shoulders of Jaren Jackson Jr. and Luke Kennard to come away with a win against the Detroit Pistons.
This wounded Grizzlies team has been limping toward the end of the season, patched together with two-way players and 10-day contracts. Despite those handicaps, they managed to come away from Monday night’s matchup with a win. Never mind that Detroit holds the worst record in the league, a win is a win, especially during a season where wins have been hard to come by for Memphis.
A tale of two halves.
Memphis struggled mightily in the first half, with the Pistons taking a 13-point lead into the second half.
I’m not sure what head coach Taylor Jenkins said to the team during halftime, but whatever it was, it lit a fire under them, because they stormed took over the third quarter to the tune of 41 points. Jaren Jackson Jr. played all 12 minutes and put up 21 of his 40 points in the third on six of seven shooting overall, and one of one from beyond the arc.
We saw Brandon Clarke looking very much like his old self in his third game back after spending a year rehabbing an Achilles injury, particularly in the fourth quarter, where he racked up seven of his 15 points, including a rare for Clarke three-point attempt and make. (For reference, Clarke only had six three-point attempts in 58 games last season.)
— Bally Sports: Grizzlies (@GrizzOnBally) April 2, 2024
Brandon Clarke with the block and a bucket on the other end.
Cade Cunningham and Jaden Ivey led the Pistons in scoring, with 36 and 20 points, respectively. Ivey, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2022 draft, is the son of Niele Ivey, the current head coach of the women’s basketball team at Notre Dame and a former assistant coach for the Grizzlies.
Detroit also got a 10-point contribution from small forward Tosan Evbuomwan. Evbuomwan, currently on a two-way contract with the Piston’s G-League affiliate the Motor City Cruise, previously signed a 10-day contract with the Grizzlies on January 30th, 2024, and played four games for Memphis in early February.
By The Numbers:
Jaren Jackson Jr. led all scorers with 40 points, and added seven rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocks while shooting 13 of 23 overall and two of three from three-point range.
Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke dunks the ball against the Orlando Magic on March 30, 2024. (Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images)
On Saturday night at KIA Center, the Orlando Magic thrashed the Memphis Grizzlies 118-88.
The first quarter came to a close with Memphis already down 20 points. Orlando put up 33 points, while the Grizzlies managed just 13, shooting a dismal 21.7 percent from the field.
The victory snapped the Magic’s three-game losing streak. Earlier in the week, they lost close games against the Sacramento Kings, the Golden State Warriors, and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Orlando ended a five-game losing streak against the Grizzlies. The previous meeting ended in a nail-biter at FedExForum, 107-106, with a Grizzlies win on January 26th.
Memphis dropped to 24-50 for the season, with eight games remaining, a mark they’ll want to forget. It appeared early on in Saturday night’s contest that Memphis’ players were focused on something other than basketball, and it showed.
Reserve Jordan Goodwin led the Grizzlies with 16 points and 11 rebounds for his first career double-double.
In his second game back from injury, Brandon Clarke had a solid showing, with 13 points and four rebounds off the bench.
“It was already out of hand — they won every single quarter,” said Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins after the game. “You have to give the Magic tons of credit. They played with a lot of physicality; their defense was phenomenal tonight. Couldn’t get in the paint — couldn’t knock down an open shot. They played beautiful basketball, shared the rock.”
Jenkins added, “So you know we just kept trying to fight. I thought we had a chance to win that second quarter — have some momentum, but the Magic had an answer for everything; so many different guys stepped up and played well.”
“I thought BC [Clarke] did a really good job; liked seeing Jordan [Goodwin] have kind of a bounce-back game. I thought he did some good things. Well, obviously Luke [Kennard]’s been out for a couple of weeks now, just seeing him have some pop with his conditioning and stuff. And we’re just trying to find every way possible to have some positives and move forward. And obviously we’ve got to respond on Monday against Detroit.”
“Keep fighting, keep making something out of each every day,” Jenkins said about his message to his players as the season is winding down. “That’s what we’ve done all season long. Every year that I’ve been here we got different guys that are gonna hear that message for the very first time. Over and over again. Obviously we haven’t been in this situation since I’ve been here, but you gotta make the most of every day. That’s what we stand for.”
Memphis travels to Detroit to take on the Pistons, Monday, April 1st, at Little Caesars Arena at 6 p.m. CT.
I’m appreciative of the people who have stood by us through these hard times. You can pinpoint a lot of things, but the one thing I do know: God doesn’t make mistakes. All of the negativity through this entire thing … these are still kids. They can have a bad day, a bad game, a bad week. That doesn’t mean there’s a disconnect between coach and players because you’re losing. Everything gets heightened here in Memphis. I was chosen to do this, not by the University of Memphis but by God, honestly. I took this job when it was at its lowest moment. I only want to do well for the city. I’m going to be hardest on myself. It guts me, because I want our city to be known for something other than what it’s known for. These are some tough times. Everybody has an opinion. But I know God has a plan, and there’s a plan for this team. I’m happy that I’m coaching this team. — University of Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway, after the Tigers ended a four-game losing streak with a win over Wichita State
On February 3rd at FedExForum, the Memphis Tigers found themselves down 14 points with less than 10 minutes to play against the supposedly inferior Wichita State Shockers. A loss would give a proud program not only its first five-game losing streak in six seasons under coach Penny Hardaway, but the program’s first five-game losing streak in 24 years.
Point guard Jahvon Quinerly — a senior transfer from Alabama — came to the rescue with a three-pointer to give Memphis its first lead of the game with 44 seconds on the clock. (It was the only field goal Quinerly made on an otherwise forgettable afternoon.) After the Shockers evened the score with a free throw, David Jones — a senior transfer from St. John’s — buried a short jumper from the left wing to snatch a Tiger win, as they say, from the jaws of ugly defeat. Losing streak over. A season that found the Tigers ranked 10th in the country merely three weeks earlier had been somewhat saved. At least until the next tip-off. The season has seen dreadfully ugly losses (at SMU) and the kinds of wins that seem to lift an entire region (the “get-back” over FAU in late February).
Like any decent Hollywood production, a college basketball season has a setup (nonconference play), a confrontation (league competition), and a resolution (postseason). This winter’s Tiger flick has, at times, made the popcorn tasty and, at others, forced fans to hurl the bucket in disgust. All with a resolution yet to come.
Point guard Jahvon Quinerly leads the Tigers in assists. (Photo: Wes Hale)
THE SETUP
In over a century of Tiger basketball, never had Memphis run a nonconference gauntlet like the one Hardaway scheduled for last fall. Seven teams from power conferences (ACC, SEC, and Big 10) plus a showdown with Villanova (national champions in 2016 and 2018) in the championship of the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. Making the challenge even greater, four of these teams took the floor against Memphis ranked among the country’s top 25. (For perspective, nonconference foes in 2017-18 — Tubby Smith’s final season as coach — included Northern Kentucky, Mercer, Samford, Bryant, and Albany.)
The Tigers beat 20th-ranked Arkansas in the Bahamas. They beat 21st-ranked Texas A & M. They beat 13th-ranked Clemson. They beat 22nd-ranked Virginia. They handled Michigan, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. Before the year turned, Hardaway and his team seemed to have grabbed a national microphone and collectively screamed, Look at us!
“I love winning close games,” said Hardaway after a two-point victory against Vanderbilt at FedExForum, the fifth in what would become a 10-game winning streak. “They make you tougher.” And the Tigers were masters of the nail-biter early this season: four points better than Michigan, five better than Arkansas, two better than Clemson, overtime escapes against VCU and UTSA. Quinerly drilled game-winning three-pointers near the buzzer in consecutive wins over Tulsa and SMU. Jones earned some national spotlight with 36 points against Arkansas, a performance that launched him onto the short list for the Julius Erving Award, given to the top small forward in the country.
“We never said it was going to be easy,” stressed Hardaway after the SMU win on January 7th. “The rest of the nation thinks it’s going to be easy in this conference. I have so much respect [for the American Athletic Conference]. These kids are capable. They read the clippings about us and [league favorite] FAU. It’s more than a two-bid league. Adversity is okay; you can learn from it.”
On January 15th, a day after the Tigers eviscerated Wichita State in Kansas for their tenth straight win, the Associated Press released its weekly poll and there was Memphis at number 10 in the entire country, the program’s highest ranking so late in a season since 2009, when one John Calipari stomped the sidelines. The nine programs above Memphis? If you pay attention to college hoops, they’re familiar: UConn, Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina, Houston, Tennessee, Duke, Kentucky, and Baylor. (Six of these programs have won at least one national title since 2012.) If the Memphis program was indeed screaming into that proverbial national microphone, the right folks were listening.
Nae’Qwan Tomlin has provided an energy boost at both ends of the floor. (Photo: Wes Hale)
THE CONFRONTATION(S)
Then came the freeze. The Tigers took the floor against USF on January 18th in a virtually empty FedExForum. That week’s winter storm had left Memphis streets so icy that the U of M actually released a statement advising fans to stay home (in which case ticket-holders could exchange for a later game). The Tigers raced out to a 20-point lead … before the team from South Florida made things that much colder, earning a 74-73 upset with a late-game comeback.
Three days later in New Orleans, another supposedly undermanned squad knocked off Memphis when Tulane won, 81-79. A week later in Birmingham, old rival UAB beat the Tigers, and rather easily (97-88). But the three losses that knocked the Tigers out of the Top 25 were merely prelude to January 28th, when the Rice Owls — 7-13 at tip-off, and 1-6 in the AAC — beat Memphis on its home floor.
For 17 games, the Tigers had played with a swagger, if not quite the flash, that reflected their coach’s All-NBA playing days with the Orlando Magic. They won 15 of those games. Then suddenly, shortly after the year turned, shoulders seemed to collectively slump, and Hardaway alluded to discontent between players. When asked about his team’s precipitous drop in confidence after the Rice loss, Hardaway had this to say: “That’s player-led. I’m trying my best, going to games, going to practice, talking about the pride we need to have, to have more fun playing defense, to communicate. It just seems like there’s a huge disconnect with this group right now. I can’t put my finger on it. You can tell in our play. When the game starts, the energy isn’t there.”
Following their second win over Wichita State (and the end to that four-game losing streak), Quinerly shared some perspective on what he hoped was a team-culture shift. “We didn’t have any player meetings,” he noted, “but you could tell the communication and the focus was different at our practices and film sessions. You could feel the tension in the air. Guys were super locked-in. It showed. We guarded the ball better [against the Shockers].”
Victories over Temple and Tulane followed, but then came a mid-February trip to the Lone Star State and double-digit losses to both North Texas and SMU (the latter a 106-79 mockery of the Tigers’ win over the Mustangs at FedExForum in early January). On February 24th, the university announced an inquiry involving fifth-year senior Malcolm Dandridge, sidelining an important member of the Tiger rotation entering the most important stage of the season. Memphis partially avenged its 2023 NCAA tournament loss to FAU the very next day. Ups and downs. Downs and ups.
How and why did a team mentioned as a Final Four contender in mid-January fall so precipitously, and so fast? You might start with a pair of hideous defensive measures. Through the end of the regular season, Memphis ranks 348th in three-pointers allowed: 9.1 per game. (This is according to College Basketball Reference, which tracks 362 teams in Division I.) And the Tigers rank 359th in offensive-rebounds allowed: 12.8 per game. These are effort stats. Bottom line: The Tigers haven’t guarded the perimeter and they haven’t hit the glass. In other words, they do a lot of standing and watching on defense. It’s murder on a team’s Final Four chances.
And there’s luck. Had Quinerly not hit those buzzer-beaters against Tulsa and SMU, there may not have been a 10-game winning streak or Top-10 ranking. Right player, right time, right moment … until the same player often looked like the wrong player, in the wrong time and moment. If you’re looking for a mercurial personification of a mercurial team, sadly, it’s Jahvon Quinerly.
Not to be discounted in the Tigers’ plight is the loss of Caleb Mills, yet another senior transfer (from Florida State and, before that, Houston) who suffered a catastrophic left-knee injury at Tulsa on January 4th. The team’s best perimeter defender and cultural “glue guy,” Mills embraced a role off the bench and contributed mightily in the Tigers’ four upsets of ranked teams. “I didn’t know Caleb’s magnitude until he went down,” said Hardaway in early February. The Tigers were 12-2 with Mills on the floor and have gone 10-7 without him.
If the loss of Mills exposed a susceptible Tiger rotation, the addition of Nae’Qwan Tomlin — a 6’10” midseason transfer from Kansas State — may have rescued that rotation’s integrity. (Mills and Tomlin only played three games together.) Tomlin’s ability to impose himself on both ends of the floor while providing visible, emotional energy has called to mind the play of former Tiger DeAndre Williams, the all-conference forward who completed his eligibility with the 2022-23 season. He earned Player of the Week honors from the AAC for his impact in wins over Charlotte and FAU in late February. Furthermore, Tomlin has a strong March track record, having helped the Wildcats to the Elite Eight of last year’s NCAA tournament. “He’s a big part of what we’re doing, moving forward,” emphasizes Hardaway. “We need his scoring ability, his rebounding ability, and his shot-blocking.”
However the Tigers’ postseason unfolds, Jones will leave a historic mark on the program. He’s the second consecutive Tiger (after Kendric Davis) to lead the AAC in scoring and earned first-team All-AAC recognition. He’s the only player in the country to average 21.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists and with 26 more points will become only the seventh Memphis player to score 700 in a single season. Jones is among five finalists for the Julius Erving Award, given to the nation’s top small forward.
THE RESOLUTION?
How does this four-month movie — to this point, a tragidrama — conclude before the credits roll? The happiest scenario has the Tigers banding together around their star trio (Jones, Quinerly, and Tomlin) and winning four games in four days at the AAC tournament this week in Fort Worth for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. Once in the field, a rocky regular season would be forgotten in exchange for hopes of a glass slipper that leads to the Sweet 16 (at least). Hardaway teams have done this before, both last year when the Tigers knocked off top-ranked Houston to win the AAC crown and in 2021 when Memphis won a scaled-down NIT in North Texas.
A more likely scenario is a win or two this weekend and a return to the NIT, college basketball’s sock hop for those without prom tickets. Not the kind of consolation anyone near the Memphis basketball program will embrace. “God has a plan for this team,” said Hardaway after the Tigers erased a 22-point deficit and beat UAB by 19 on March 3rd. “For all we’ve gone through, I never gave up. … We have a better resume than all these teams: first four out, next four out. I don’t understand why our name isn’t up there. We’ve won enough big games for us to be in the conversation. We have some great wins.”
Remain in your seats, Tiger fans. However this season ends, it’s become clear we don’t want to miss it.
David Jones (Photo: Wes Hale)
The 700 Club
David Jones hopes to become only the seventh Tiger to score 700 points in a single season.
The Memphis Tigers have a rare breed in junior quarterback Seth Henigan. With the transfer portal shuffling college football rosters like an overstuffed deck of cards, an athlete playing the sport’s premium position at the same school for three years is becoming rare. In fact, only 15 FBS quarterbacks (among 133 programs) will appear in the same uniform for a third season this fall having started more games than Henigan’s 24. A recent review of said transfer portal revealed no fewer than 74 quarterbacks (starters and backups, mind you) having departed one program for another since the 2022 season concluded.
Yet Henigan remains in blue and gray, the colors he’s worn since, literally, the day after his high school team (Denton Ryan High School in North Texas) won the 2020 state championship. Having started his first college game as a true freshman in 2021, Henigan will graduate after the fall semester with a degree in business management. By that time, he’ll have three full college seasons under his belt, and still shy of his 21st birthday. What kind of season should Tiger fans expect? It would be tough to top the expectations of Henigan himself, a signal-caller in shoulder pads for as far back as his memory will take him.
Henigan grew up with two brothers (one older, one younger), so competition was woven into the family fabric. Basketball. Football. And the kind of “house sports” only the parents of sibling rivals can fully appreciate. “We’d play ping-pong, darts,” recalls Henigan. “I was always trying to be like my older brother Ian and beat him in everything. I played T-ball but didn’t move on to baseball. Played lacrosse for one year. I’ve always had good hand-eye coordination, but no sport was as fun to me as football.” Ironically, Henigan found himself injury prone in basketball, breaking his nose and his left hand on the hardwood. So hoops became past tense after his sophomore year of high school. “I needed to focus on football,” he says, “and get my body prepared for college.”
University of Memphis junior Seth Henigan will return for his third season as quarterback. A successful season will afford him the opportunity to become only the second quarterback in Tigers football history to post three 3,000-yard seasons. (Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)
Going all the way back to his earliest flag-football memories, Henigan can’t recall playing any position other than quarterback. It helps being the son of a highly successful coach. (Dave Henigan has coached Denton Ryan since 2014 and earned at least one Coach of the Year honor every year from 2016 through the championship season of 2020.) He would accompany his dad on game nights and spend the pregame tossing a football with anyone willing to toss it back. “It was a bonding time,” notes Henigan, “and with my brothers, too. I liked having the ball in my hands. I was pretty fast, and I could throw the ball better than the average kid. Being able to make plays, from a young age, that was the position I was going to play to be the most successful in this sport.”
If quarterback isn’t the hardest position in team sports, it’s in a short conversation. (We’ll allow the case for baseball’s catcher.) Physical tools — height, arm strength, foot quickness — take an athlete a long way, but playing quarterback well enough to win championships requires as much talent between the ears as elsewhere. And the ability to absorb contact is a requirement.
“As you move up levels, the position becomes way more taxing,” says Henigan, “both physically and mentally. I wasn’t hit that much in high school, but at the college level, it’s a different feeling. We don’t get hit in practice because [coaches] are trying to preserve quarterbacks. When you get hit for the first time, it changes the entire game. Having that experience early in my college career really toughened me up. You’re playing 300-pound defensive linemen, and their goal is to harass you.”
As for the mental component, it’s the invisible tools that made Tom Brady the Tom Brady, that allow Patrick Mahomes to see angles and gaps most quarterbacks cannot. “You know so much about coverages,” explains Henigan. “You know the names, you draw them up, you speak them. Some quarterbacks learn better verbally, and some need to see it on a board. Or going through it on a practice field.”
Henigan draws a parallel between a quarterback’s mental challenges and those of a decidedly less physical sport. “Golfers’ mental game is so important,” he notes. “It’s hard to compare to any other position on a football field. You’re in control of so many aspects. You know everyone’s assignment on offense. A middle linebacker may know this for the defense, but he doesn’t have control of the play’s outcome. A quarterback has the ball in his hands. There’s so much going on. You’re thinking of 21 other guys on a field, reacting to a defense. The defensive coordinator’s job is to confuse the quarterback. You have to react as the play is going on.”
In the time it takes you to read this sentence, a quarterback must decide between handing the ball to a running back, running the ball himself, or passing to as many as five potential receivers. “Decision-making, accuracy, and toughness are three of the most important components for a quarterback,” emphasizes Henigan. “Fluid intelligence is key. That’s how you make your money, so to speak. Offenses and defenses both have tendencies. After a while, you identify consistencies in the way defenses want to attack our offense. But it changes each year. The base knowledge helps though. You have an out-of-body experience. It feels like you’re watching yourself because you’ve done it so many times. It’s muscle memory, and natural. I’ve seen a lot.”
(Photo: Larry Kuzniewski)
Henigan grew up a college football fan, more so than any devotion he might have developed for an NFL team. With his family wrapped up in “Friday night lights” followed by college games on Saturday, Henigan’s mom would actually not allow football on television come Sunday. Henigan’s favorite quarterbacks were a pair of Heisman Trophy winners in the SEC: Auburn’s Cam Newton and Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel. He loved their exploits but notes he’s never modeled his playing style after another signal-caller.
Despite compiling an eye-popping record of 44-2 over three years as a starter at Denton Ryan, Henigan was not heavily recruited by FBS programs. Former Memphis offensive coordinator Kevin Johns, though, made the kind of impression both Henigan and his family sought in choosing Seth’s college destination. “I had a good year as a junior,” notes Henigan, “but my body wasn’t spectacular. I was always smart and worked hard, and those attributes can take you a long way. Coaches weren’t really talking to me consistently, until coach Johns came after my junior year. He listed attributes of a good quarterback that I displayed and why I was attractive [to Memphis]. He’d show me film on FaceTime, break down plays. He’s the only [college] coach who did that with me. It was exciting, seeing how I’d fit the program here.”
Having enrolled for the spring semester in 2021, Henigan was comfortable with Memphis — both the city and campus — by the time fall camp opened. When the quarterback expected to start the ’21 season opener (Grant Gunnell) tore his Achilles heel late that summer, Henigan seized the opportunity. “Even if I was going to be the backup, I didn’t want to be a weak link,” reflects Henigan. “So I was mentally prepared. I have a whiteboard in my room at home. I’ve had it since my junior year of high school. Every week, I’ll change the name of the opponent, list base defenses, third-down defenses, and how we were going to attack them. I picked things up pretty quickly. That’s all I did that first spring camp: study that whiteboard and learn [as a college quarterback]. Coach Johns and I would throw on weekends at his house. He cared for me as a true freshman.” (Johns has since moved on and is now the offensive coordinator at Duke University.)
The Tigers went 6-6 in 2021 (Henigan’s freshman year) and qualified for the Hawaii Bowl, a game that was canceled the day before kickoff because of a Covid outbreak in the Hawaii program. Memphis went 7-6 last season and beat Utah State in the First Responder Bowl. Two decades ago, such marks would have qualified as successful seasons in these parts. But the program’s standards are higher. So are Seth Henigan’s.
“There’s no such thing as a young quarterback,” says Henigan in evaluating the midpoint of his college career. “You either have it or you don’t. You earn the job. It hasn’t been smooth sailing. We’ve beaten some good teams, but we’ve lost to teams we should have beaten. I didn’t really know what to expect out of college football; I just knew it would be harder than what I’d done in the past. I want to win a conference championship and win more than seven games. There’s so much more to achieve as a quarterback. My teammates respect me and know me as a competitor. I’ve taken hits and gotten up. I’ve been through the ringer, and I’ve stayed here in Memphis. We have a chance to be special.”
Tiger coach Ryan Silverfield would never project his program’s success on the play of one athlete. But he’s cognizant of how important Seth Henigan’s junior season will be to the health — and growth — of the Memphis program. “At the quarterback position, his steps are significant to the success of our entire program,” says the fourth-year coach. “He knows that he’s got to be better. He’s still young for the position, but he’s got experience. We have high expectations for him to make good decisions. You can’t turn the ball over. Find ways to win football games. We’ll continue to push him to be the leader of our team. He’s earned that respect and we’re excited to see what unfolds.”
Henigan is one of only 16 current Tigers who have taken the field for Memphis the last two seasons. He’s a junior, by class, but an extended veteran by measure of proportional service. Who will catch Henigan’s passes this fall? Junior Roc Taylor had 20 receptions last season, the most by any returning player. Senior Joseph Scates caught only 18 passes in 2022, but averaged 22.9 yards per reception. Newcomer Tauskie Dove — a transfer from Missouri — played in high school with Henigan but was a senior when the quarterback rode the bench as a freshman.
A healthy and successful 2023 season would make Henigan only the second quarterback in Memphis history to post three 3,000-yard seasons. (Brady White did so from 2018 to 2020.) Then there’s 2024. Should Henigan return as a grad student, a fourth season — again, presuming health — would likely shatter every passing record in the Tiger book. But that’s distant future, particularly with that pesky transfer portal. For now, Henigan is focused on the daily chores — as noted on his treasured whiteboard — that will add up to a better college season than his first two in blue and gray.
“Every day is challenging,” acknowledges Henigan, noting his commitment to football, school, his family, and nurturing relationships, particularly those with his teammates. “It’s hard to find time for myself. I have so many responsibilities. I’ve been on a fast track, starting my master’s program in the spring. A [conference] championship would make [this season] successful. Winning nine or 10 games. I think we have all the right guys. We’ve just got to stay consistent.”
Memphis magazine February 1996 Cover (Photo: Memphis Magazine)
This Saturday at FedExForum, the late Lorenzen Wright will become the 10th former Memphis Tiger to have his uniform number retired. At halftime of the Tigers’ game against Tulane, Wright’s 55 will rise to the arena’s rafters, where it will hang above the court for every Tiger home game to come. There it will join banners honoring nine other legends who proudly wore blue and gray for Memphis: Forest Arnold, Win Wilfong, Larry Finch, Ronnie Robinson, Larry Kenon, John Gunn, Keith Lee, Elliot Perry, and Penny Hardaway. Wright’s ceremony will be the first to retire a Tiger’s number since March 2014, when the program honored Kenon.
Beyond the Mid-South, Lorenzen Wright is as famous for his tragic passing as for his exploits on the basketball court. In July 2010, a little over a year since he played his final NBA game, Wright was shot to death in a field in east Shelby County, the victim of a scheme orchestrated by his ex-wife, who is now serving a 30-year prison sentence. (The man who pulled the trigger is serving a life sentence.) He left behind six children and thousands upon thousands of fans from his days with the Tigers and, later, the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies.
A graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Wright joined the Tiger program after a down season (13-16) in 1993-94. An immediate starter for coach Larry Finch, Wright brought a ferocity to basketball at The Pyramid unlike many Tigers before him. (Did players scream after dunks before Lorenzen Wright?) He averaged a double-double that season, pacing Memphis in both scoring (14.8 points per game) and rebounds (10.1). Best of all, he helped the Tigers reach the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16, drubbing archrival Louisville in the first round. After another double-double campaign as a sophomore (17.4 and 10.4 rebounds), Wright entered the NBA draft and was chosen with the seventh pick by the Los Angeles Clippers.
To date, no former Tiger has played in more NBA games than Lorenzen Wright’s 778. And while Wright suited up for five teams as a pro, he played more games with the new-to-town Memphis Grizzlies (336) than any other. He remains seventh in Grizzlies history with 2,386 rebounds. Wright’s banner will be the only one that could be left up on a Grizzlies game night and still feel appropriate.
Only 34 years old at the time of his murder, Wright deserved a better fate. He was and is a beloved Memphian, still one of only two Tiger players to appear on the cover of Memphis magazine. (Keith Lee is the other. Finch and Hardaway each graced the cover, but not until they were coaching the program.) Saturday afternoon will be a special moment in the history of a proud basketball program, and even more special for those who love and remember the one and only Lorenzen Wright.
• The Tigers won’t be able to stop with 10 retired numbers. Among the players honored, none played for the program since Wright appeared in his last college game 27 years ago. Andre Turner (number 10) should join his teammate Lee in the rafters, his career assists total (763) not so much as approached since the Little General’s last game in 1986. The university must also find a way to recognize at least one player from the extraordinary four-year period from 2005-06 to 2008-09 when the Tigers reached at least the Sweet 16 every season. I’ve long advocated the retirement of number 5 for Antonio Anderson. He played for all four of those teams and is the only player in Memphis history to compile 1,000 career points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists. Anderson also played in more games (150) than any other Tiger, a record unlikely to be matched in the near future.
