Tag: Penny Hardaway

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 73, Saint Mary’s 56

CREDIT: Dave Eggen/Inertia

Boogie Ellis hit all six of his three-point attempts — including a buzzer-beating bank shot from just inside the half-court line to end the first half — to lead the Tigers to a season-opening win over Saint Mary’s in the quarterfinals of the Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls. The sophomore guard came off the bench and scored a career-high 24 points to help Memphis advance to the semifinals of the tournament, where they’ll play the winner of today’s Northern Iowa-Western Kentucky game on Thanksgiving.
Dave Eggen/Inertia

Boogie Ellis

The Tigers fell behind 8-0, but took the lead on a putback layup by freshman center Moussa Cisse midway through the first half. They would not trail again. Ellis’s circus shot gave the U of M a 42-26 lead at the break and the margin grew beyond 20 points (49-28) three minutes into the second half.

Cisse scored  10 points and pulled down seven rebounds in his Tiger debut. Transfer Landers Nolley also started in his first game for Memphis, scoring 11 points. Sophomore guard Damion Baugh added 10 points off the bench.

After leading the country in field-goal-percentage defense last season, the Tigers put the clamps on the Gaels, forcing 17 misses among 18 three-point attempts. Overall, Saint Mary’s shot 34 percent from the field while Memphis converted 43 percent of its shots.

Matthias Tass led the Gaels with 15 points.

“We are trying to be the number-one team in the country in opponent field goal percentage,” said Tiger coach Penny Hardaway, having started his third straight season with a victory. “That is something that we want to be at the very top in every year. For the most part, I am proud of the defense in holding that team to 56 points. With the way they like to play, that says a lot. We want to be the best defensive team in the country for sure.”

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Sports Tiger Blue

2020-21 Tiger Hoops Preview

If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

If the Almighty pays any attention to college basketball, He must have lost His breath by the end of the Memphis Tigers’ 2019-20 season. Penny Hardaway’s second winter as head coach was to be the revival of a once-proud program, and then some. The country’s most heralded recruiting class arrived. Surely a deep NCAA-tournament run awaited come March.

HA! The country’s top freshman — James Wiseman — departed the program after three games, neck deep in NCAA investigative eyes after a financial exchange between Hardaway (then East High School’s coach) and Wiseman’s family in 2017. The team’s second-leading scorer, D.J. Jeffries, went down with a knee injury the first week in February. Then just as the Tigers completed a second straight season in fifth place among American Athletic Conference teams . . . a pandemic eliminated March Madness. Pin that among your Memphis basketball seasons to remember.

Landers Nolley II

But Tiger basketball is back, pandemic be damned. Gone, of course, is Wiseman, along with Precious Achiuwa, the electric forward who became the first Tiger freshman to earn conference Player of the Year honors. (Wiseman and Achiuwa were the 2nd and 20th selections, respectively, in last week’s NBA draft, the first former Tigers chosen since 2012.) The U of M’s top three-point shooter over the last two seasons — Tyler Harris — transferred to Iowa State, two seasons of Hardaway’s tutelage enough for his ambitions. When the Tigers open play Wednesday in the Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, they’ll do so against the Saint Mary’s Gaels and not the Ohio State Buckeyes, the latter having pulled out of the event over, you guessed it, coronavirus concerns. (Duke also pulled out of the tournament. Positivity rates in South Dakota have recently topped 50 percent.)

Last year’s acclaimed freshmen — at least the five who remain — are now sophomores: guards Boogie Ellis, Lester Quinones, and Damion Baugh, and forwards Jeffries and Malcolm Dandridge. Hardaway expects, with a season behind them, these young veterans will make a larger impact than they did as college rookies. Add to this group a pair of significant transfers: sophomore Landers Nolley II (from Virginia Tech) and DeAndre Williams (from Evansville, pending NCAA approval to play this season). Nolley averaged 15.5 points per game for the Hokies last season and will be asked to fill the sharp-shooting role vacated by Harris. He hit 68 three-pointers as a freshman, but shot an underwhelming 32 percent from long distance. Williams started 15 games for the Purple Aces and averaged 15.2 points.

A pair of juniors — guard Alex Lomax and forward Lance Thomas — bring more experience to the floor for Memphis, though neither has found the consistency Hardaway would like to see. Having played for Hardaway since middle school, Lomax has adopted the “glue guy” role and will be expected to blanket opposing ball-handlers and shooters. Thomas teases with his height (6’9″) but averaged only 2.5 rebounds in 15 minutes per game last season. (He made 13 starts.)

Moussa Cisse

The star of Hardaway’s third recruiting class is center Moussa Cisse. A native of Guinea, the 6’10” Cisse averaged 18.4 points, 15.3 rebounds, and 9.2 blocks in leading Lausanne Collegiate School to a 2020 state championship. He was the top-ranked prospect in Tennessee after reclassifying last summer to the 2020 class. He’s the kind of interior defensive presence the Tiger program has lacked, for the most part, over the last decade. And nothing starts a fast break better than a blocked shot.

The Tigers are projected to finish second (behind Houston) in the preseason AAC coaches poll. They did not place a player on the first-team preseason all-conference squad (Jeffries and Nolley made the second team), and they are outside the Top 25 looking in. Cisse is picked to win the league’s Rookie of the Year honor, but Hardaway, needless to say, is aiming for loftier achievements.

“It’s refreshing to have [last year’s] freshmen understand their roles now,” says Hardaway. “They put a lot of pressure on themselves last season. And to see how good Landers and DeAndre are . . . they’re great additions. We feel like we have the talent, but we haven’t proven anything yet. We’re going to have to earn everything.”

After three games in Sioux Falls, the Tigers will open their home schedule December 2nd when Arkansas State visits FedExForum. (Attendance will be limited to between 3,000 and 3,500 fans, at least at the season’s outset.) There will be only two other nonconference foes (Mississippi Valley State and Auburn) before the Tigers embark, fingers firmly crossed, on a 20-game league gauntlet.

“The two years I’ve coached [at this level] have taught me a lot,” says Hardaway. “I don’t think anything we’ll surprise me. We’re ready for every situation, any scenario. After two years, I’ve seen what I need to do as a coach. In the beginning, I was fast-tracking everything. But I’m caught up, and looking at things better on and off the court.”

The University Memphis has somehow played six seasons without reaching the Big Dance, and the program hasn’t gone seven years without proper Madness since the days when the tournament invited fewer than 30 teams (1963-72). Will there be a 2021 NCAA tournament? Will it be played in a single-city “bubble” for pandemic protection? A bigger question for a long-frustrated Tiger fan base: Would a return to the tournament bring jubilation, or merely a sigh of relief? Take a few deep breaths and grab your face coverings, because we’re about to find out.

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News The Fly-By

MEMernet: Good Trouble, Tweet of the Week, & Penny and Mickey

Good Trouble

Rep. Steve Cohen paid tribute to the late Rep. John Lewis last week.

“I will never forget his words and his wisdom, and it has been an honor to serve with him [in] Congress. #GoodTrouble”

Posted to Twitter by Steve Cohen

Tweet of the Week

“If Trump has proven anything it’s that wanna be dictators really need to be less predictable. Delay the election? Get the fuck out of here with that bull shit.” — Shea Flinn (@FlinnShady)

Good Question

“Did anyone else start humming Footloose when they got to the part of the current Shelby Co. health directive that says no dancing in restaurants?”

Reddit user u/yodaboat added a poll to this query, and 54 of the 84 voters last week said, “No. I’ve never seen the movie and I hate dancing.”

Penny the Mouse

“The @nba Restart Begins today! @mickeymouse heard everyone talking about the The Best Duos in the Bubble, so he called his good friend @iam1cent to come back and join him in @waltdisneyworld #dynamicduo #thenbaisback #thenbabubble”

Posted to instagram by memphis_mbb

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Cover Feature News

Tiger Trials: Penny Hardaway’s Team Still Looking for the Smoke

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Let’s start with the positive. The 2019-20 Memphis Tigers will post a winning record, making it 20 consecutive such seasons, an unprecedented stretch for a program that has existed now for more than a century. The Tigers have beaten three teams from “Power Five” conferences (they beat none in Penny Hardaway’s first season as head coach), including regional villains Ole Miss and Tennessee (the latter in Knoxville). The Tigers have suited up arguably the finest freshman in the country, Precious Achiuwa having averaged 15.8 points and 10.8 rebounds on his way to all-league recognition in the American Athletic Conference.

Alas, having finished fifth in the American Athletic Conference (with a record of 21-10, the Tigers may need to reach the final of this week’s AAC tourney in Forth Worth to land a berth in the NCAA tournament. The Tigers hope to avoid a six-year Big Dance drought, one that would equal the longest (1997-2002) since the famed 1973 team played UCLA for the national championship.

Larry Kuzniewski

Penny Hardaway

While they’ve beaten the Rebels and Vols, these Tigers also have a 40-point loss to Tulsa on their record, along with a dispiriting home loss to USF in early February that seriously damaged any hopes of a run to the Big Dance.

And finally, while they may feature the finest freshman in the country, his name is not James Wiseman. The Wiseman Case, as it will forever be known, is now in the hands of something called the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP), a new agency tasked by the NCAA to measure and resolve infractions. Based on the Memphis program’s track record — two of three Final Four appearances vacated — the fan base should prepare itself for a hammer it didn’t know existed six months ago. All the more threatening, there is no appeal process with the IARP.

“We’ve been through everything you can go through. We’re fighting. These guys are scrapping. I’m proud of the effort.”

— Penny Hardaway after the Tigers beat UConn on February 1st

We asumed last summer the story of these Tigers would be told with Wiseman front and center. We didn’t know the story would actually be told with Wiseman as merely background, offstage. The acclaimed recruit — the centerpiece among seven jewels in Hardaway’s second class — made the kind of debut in November that had the most stoic of Tiger observers swooning: 28 points and 11 rebounds in just 22 minutes of playing time. It proved to be a cruel tease.

Wiseman played in two more games, even after learning he’d been ruled “likely ineligible” by the NCAA for his family having received $11,500 for moving expenses from Hardaway in 2017. It didn’t matter that Hardaway was merely a high school coach at the time. (He coached Wiseman and East High to a state title in 2018.) After some back-and-forth, the team accepted a 12-game suspension for Wiseman, only to have the player withdraw from the program to begin training for his pro career. (Wiseman is expected to be a top-three pick in June’s NBA draft.) This was removing Jagger from the Stones. It was killing off Rachel after the first season of Friends. Hardaway found himself tasked with driving a muscle car . . . minus the steering wheel.

Then in late January, as the Tigers were practicing before a clash with Connecticut, D.J. Jeffries suffered ligament damage in his left knee. The Tigers were 15-5 at the time, thanks in large part to the impact Jeffries had made since joining the starting lineup in late November: 10.8 points per game, 4.3 rebounds, and 51 percent shooting from the field. If Achiuwa was the second-best player in Hardaway’s ballyhooed recruiting class, it became clear the pride of Olive Branch High School was third. Now Jeffries would be as absent as Wiseman for the remainder of the season.

Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

“They’re learning on the fly. The pressure is different on this level than it’s ever been in high school.”

— Penny Hardaway after the Tigers beat Temple on February 5th

The Tigers have clearly lacked veteran leadership on the floor. You don’t get doubled up (80-40!) at Tulsa with the right captain in charge. You don’t surrender the final 15 points in a four-point loss to SMU at home without the right floor general shifting the game’s direction.

Why the leadership void? Five senior starters departed after the 2018-19 season. Four of them were junior-college transfers recruited by Tubby Smith to play but two seasons in blue and gray. Smith brought that quartet to Memphis, of course, thinking he’d be the guy tasked with replacing them. When Smith was fired — and Hardaway hired — at the end of the 2017-18 campaign, a “class gap” was all but certain, and the hurt has been compounded by Wiseman’s absence.

There’s been no superstar center — no “unicorn” — to hide or erase shortcomings among a talented-but-green rotation of players whose roles have changed not just from one game to another, but within games. When Achiuwa and Lance Thomas went down late in that home loss to USF on February 8th, the Tigers finished a tight game with no semblance of a frontcourt. The Bulls grabbed 41 rebounds, 12 more than the Tigers in a game decided by two points.

Larry Kuzniewski

Alex Lomax

Lomax has emerged as arguably the best point guard in what amounts to a committee system utilized by Hardaway. He’s near the top of the American Athletic Conference with an average of 4.3 assists per game. But veteran judgment? The 6’0″ sophomore chose to drive the lane as the clock wound down in a tie game at Cincinnati on February 13th. Instead of dishing to Achiuwa or another forward, Lomax put up a shot that was blocked from behind. The Tigers lost in overtime.

“This is life,” acknowledges Lomax, who has played for Hardaway since middle school. “People hold you to certain standards and expect you to be somewhere. You’re gonna have your ups and downs, no matter what. Stick to the same routine, trust the same people, and don’t let outsiders spread you with negativity. In the end, you’ll be fine.”

Having grown up in Memphis, Lomax knows the intensity of Tiger basketball culture as well as anyone his age. He also knows his coach personifies that culture, dating back to Hardaway’s All-America playing days (1991-93).

In some respects, Lomax has witnessed Hardaway’s development as much as vice versa. “He’s done a great job,” says Lomax. “All the punches thrown his way, he’s found a way to swing back. You lose a starter every three or four weeks, you have to adjust. You can’t play the same way. Players have to step up before you intended them to. You have to grow up faster. He’s trusted us to do our job. And he always reminds us that this is the city’s team. We have to do it for the city. Especially all the fans and boosters. He goes all out, 24/7. It’s been fun for me to be by his side, and see him develop from when I was so young.”

“Where we started, we had a very deep team. We had size, we had shooting, we had speed, we had length. Where we are now . . . we’re just scrapping.” — Penny Hardaway after the Tigers lost to USF on January 12th

Few would describe Achiuwa’s play as “scrapping.” Amid the team’s various stumbles and face-plants, the freshman from Queens has left an imprint unlike many rookies in Tiger history. His 18 double-doubles are a Memphis freshman record and one more than the great Keith Lee had in 1981-82. Achiuwa is only the fourth Memphis freshman to pull down 300 rebounds and he’s 11 points from becoming just the tenth to score 500. He’s a “specimen,” to borrow a description from Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall, the kind college basketball gets to enjoy but for a single season these days.

Larry Kuzniewski

Lester Quinones

Though not as consistent as Achiuwa, Lester Quinones (a fellow freshman and New Yorker) has made his own impression on the Tiger program, and beyond his uncomfortably high — for some — shorts and air-guitar celebrations after connecting on a three-pointer. His flamboyance doesn’t mean Quinones hasn’t felt the growing pains. (At times, literally. He missed five games after breaking his right hand in the Ole Miss game.)

“We’ve lost way more games than we expected to,” says Quinones. “[It’s been crucial] for us to stay together and not let outside distractions interfere with where we’re trying to get . . . the NCAA tournament. We’re buying in more — and coming closer together — as the year goes on. No separation, because it’s been tough. Being the youngest team in the country, I feel like we’ve dealt with it pretty well. It’s hard to find a leader with just one senior on the team. We’re going to live up to expectations. We’ll get it done.”

So, what awaits the Tigers for the 2020-21 season? It’s hard to imagine the honeymoon being over for a third-year coach. This city’s love affair with Penny Hardaway runs deeper than most relationships between a community and college coach. It’s a different kind of belief system: This is Memphis, and he’s Penny. But as Hardaway has begun to emphasize, growth is necessary. Graduate transfers — veteran leadership, even if new to town — has become part of the sport’s culture. Look for a transfer or two to provide next year’s team an actual senior class. Among the five current freshmen who may be back — Achiuwa will be a first-round pick in the NBA draft — how many will return? These are variables to consider after the current Tigers play their final game. For now, hope remains, even if but a sliver.

“The low points have been losing our brothers out there,” says Lomax in reflecting on Wiseman and Jeffries. “It’s a family thing with us. But you gotta keep going, bring it together. At the end of the day, you can’t focus on the low points. Make a quick decision, keep your head up.”

And like Quinones, Lomax relishes the expectations of a passionate, if embattled, fan base. Whether it’s internal bravado or the “smoke” of national attention, he wouldn’t have it any other way. “This program can be the highest level,” he emphasizes. “We want to be number-one in the country. It’s not just basketball. We want to be number-one in everything. Fans don’t want mediocrity. We don’t either.”

Could the 2020-21 Tigers — however that roster is shaped, whatever the IARP decides — be a better team for the trials of this winter? “We can be better, just for having been through a lot,” notes Lomax. “Guys who have been here can teach the young guys. But every year’s different. And we’re focused on this year, still have a goal to accomplish.”

Even with possible sanctions looming (a postseason ban? a scholarship reduction?), Tiger basketball will be back in the spotlight, sometimes more so when games are not being played. Such is life for a program built as much on the bruises it’s absorbed as the nets it’s cut down.

“With the amount of players returning, we should have way more experience,” adds Quinones. “And [we’ll be] working hard this summer, expecting things might go south, and how we’ll recover. We’ll have that experience next year. Bigger goals. Bigger accomplishments.”

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tigers 68, Wichita State 60

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

If Precious Achiuwa played his final home game as a Memphis Tiger Thursday night, he delivered a happy parting gift to the FedExForum faithful. The freshman small forward — one of five finalists for the Julius Erving Award — scored 14 points and pulled down 16 rebounds for his 17th double-double of the season, matching the freshman total of Tiger great Keith Lee. Along with a season-high 19 points from Tyler Harris, Achiuwa’s performance sparked Memphis to a win over Wichita State that keeps NCAA tournament hopes alive and sets up the Tigers for a possible bye into the quarterfinals of next week’s American Athletic Conference tourney. The U of M improved to 21-9 on the season (10-7 in the AAC), while the Shockers dropped to 22-8 (10-7).
Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

“I’m very proud of the team tonight,” said Memphis coach Penny Hardaway. “They stuck to the game plan for 40 minutes and made it really hard for Wichita State. A total team effort. The bench came in and played phenomenal. We didn’t start strong, but the bench calmed things down and we stayed in control for the rest of the game. Only seven turnovers . . . that was major for us.”

The Tigers didn’t score until Lance Thomas hit a three-pointer four minutes into the game. But a 13-0 run erased a 7-0 Shocker lead and the Tigers built a nine-point cushion before settling for a 29-24 halftime advantage (courtesy of a Harris trey at the buzzer).

Harris hit three-pointers on consecutive possessions midway through the second half to give the Tigers a 12-point lead (54-42). By the time Achiuwa threw down dunks on consecutive possessions (the latter at the 5:00 mark), the game was all but decided.

“We talked about taking care of the ball, and getting back on defense,” said Achiuwa. “Keeping it simple, playing solid.”

“It was a must-win,” added Harris. “Everybody was locked in.”

On a night Isaiah Maurice was saluted as the team’s only departing senior, Achiuwa deflected a question about the possibility of his own departure. “I’m focused on finishing out the season,” he said, “and putting my team in a position to achieve our goals.”

Goals are easier to achieve when turnovers are limited and your opponent shoots merely 34 percent from the field (and 26 percent from long range). “They did a great job of pressing our guards,” said Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall. “We had chances, but we could never make the play to put pressure on them.”

The win avenges a Tiger loss at Wichita State two months ago and sets up a showdown at Houston Sunday. Should Memphis beat the Cougars, the Tigers will secure fourth place in the AAC standings and that precious bye in the opening round of the league tournament at Fort Worth. Houston lost to Connecticut Thursday night and will enter the game with a record of 22-8 (12-5).

With news hovering around the program about an independent infractions investigation (related to James Wiseman’s suspension and his playing three games last November), Hardaway welcomed the win as reinforcement of the mission he continues to sell. “We’re going to keep going, no matter what,” he emphasized. “Nothing’s going to stop us from understanding what we’re trying to do. This is a family. We’ve supported each other through everything we’ve gone through this year. We’re not going to stop now.”

Sunday’s game at Houston is scheduled to tip-off at 11 a.m. and will be televised on CBS.

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From My Seat Sports

Memphis and The NCAA Tourney: Destination Dance?

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

“Right now, it’s tough. But it’s not impossible.” — Penny Hardaway

Go ahead and cry a river for Penny Hardaway and his Memphis Tigers. A Top-10 team the first week in January, the Tigers now find themselves in the home stretch of the 2019-20 season without James Wiseman, without D.J. Jeffries, and without a spot even in the Top 25. They sport a still-solid record (17-6), but are considered a “bubble team,” at best, among prognosticators drawing up brackets for the 68-team NCAA tournament. With four of their next six games on the road (starting Thursday in Cincinnati), the Tigers must run a gauntlet of villains to reach the promised land for the first time since 2014. How do they do it? Here are four factors to watch.

• Find a floor general. Quickly: Who is the Tigers’ point guard? The ambiguity in your answer, I’m convinced, is related to this team ranking dead last among American Athletic Conference teams in turnover margin and next-to-last in assist-to-turnover ratio. The irony is that the team has four players seemingly capable of seizing the ball when a game grows frenzied: Alex Lomax, Damion Baugh, Boogie Ellis, and Tyler Harris. So why so many sloppy turnovers, so many of the unforced variety that make Hardaway cringe like he’s discovered a dog dropping on his welcome mat? (Malcolm Dandridge, let’s agree, should not be handling the ball near midcourt, let alone passing it.) The four potential generals are still learning their games still. (Yes, a college sophomore — like Lomax and Harris — is still a young player.) For this team to reach the Big Dance with any chance of advancing, it must know who will handle the ball in crunch time. Point-guard committees don’t cut down nets.
Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa


• Make Precious moments. Lots of them. The damaging loss to USF last Saturday may not have happened had Precious Achiuwa not been sitting on the bench for 12 minutes of the first half, saddled with two fouls. Achiuwa is one of the top two or three freshmen in the country and a finalist for the Julius Erving Award (given to the nation’s top small forward). He’s been a double-double machine this season (12 of them so far) despite not being a volume shooter. (Achiuwa has taken no more than 10 shots in five of the Tigers’ last six games.) Particularly with Jeffries sidelined, the Tiger offense needs to find Achiuwa, if not run through him as the season winds down. He can score in traffic, from mid-range, and even connect from three-point country. Memphis may still be in search of a true point guard, but the team’s star has been here all along. And he needs to learn to play with foul trouble. Don’t let this season end without maximizing Achiuwa’s impact.

• Be angry at tip-off. The Tigers don’t start fast. They really haven’t in two seasons under Hardaway. A lead at the first media timeout (four minutes into a game) is as rare as a Louisville t-shirt at FedExForum. Particularly on the road, this has to change. Temple coach Aaron McKie said last week that his first priority in game-planning for Memphis was to take the crowd out of the game. The Owls indeed scored the game’s first six points and led (8-7) at the first media timeout. They just aren’t built to last with a team as talented as the current Tigers. Hardaway must instill in his team the importance of not climbing Comeback Mountain before halftime. Perhaps this means slowing the pace of play immediately after tip-off. Perhaps it means getting to the foul line. Crowds at Cincinnati, Connecticut, SMU, and Tulane are ready to chew this “overrated” team up if they start slowly.

• Set a Cougar trap. TheTigers’ best chance to regain support for an NCAA tournament berth would be to sweep Houston. Memphis will host the Cougars on February 22nd (one of two home games in the upcoming six-game stretch) then play in Texas in the regular-season finale on March 8th. Houston is the only AAC team currently ranked and just destroyed a team (Wichita State) that has been ranked (and handled Memphis). The Tigers must establish themselves among the top two or three teams in their league. Winning these two cat fights would accomplish that.

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Sports Tiger Blue

Tiger Blue: Midseason “Madness”

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

In two seasons as a college basketball player, the longest winning streak Penny Hardaway enjoyed was six games (in 1993, a season he earned first-team All-America recognition). Merely 14 games into his second season as a college basketball coach, Hardaway has overseen a ten-game winning streak, his pack of freshmen (and three key veterans) having climbed into the nation’s Top 10. Beyond the James Wiseman saga, what will we remember about the Tigers’ season to date? And what does it suggest for this team’s fate come March?
Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

• “Chemistry is everything with a young team.” Hardaway spoke these words after the Tigers beat Tulane on December 30th for their 10th straight win (and first in American Athletic Conference play). Memphis opened the game poorly, falling behind 13-4 to a team charged to play in FedExForum (particularly former Tiger K.J. Lawson). But by halftime the Tigers led by 10 points. They withstood a late threat by the visitors, Tyler Harris and Alex Lomax — gasp, sophomores! — coming up big in the waning minutes. Five Tigers scored at least a dozen points and the team dished out 24 assists. Funny, but when a group of basketball players don’t care who scores, the team tends to score a lot. Despite playing their first season together, the 2019-20 Tigers seem to enjoy the shared mission. This will be important when roadblocks appear.

• A veteran bench goes a long way.
By “veteran,” I mean the lone senior (Isaiah Maurice) and those two sophomores in Hardaway’s rotation. Maurice started against the Green Wave, but played only six minutes. (Lester Quinones came off the bench and played 27 minutes.) Four of the Tiger starters were on the minus side of the plus-minus metric (scoring differential when a player is on the floor), while Harris (plus-19) and Lomax (plus-27) were the difference-makers in the victory. Lomax in particular has become Hardaway’s stabilizer, contributing on the offensive end (eight assists against Tulane) and defensively when things get frenzied. Whether Quinones continues to come off the bench or (more likely) Maurice fills a reserve role, the Tigers’ depth is, as Hardaway puts it, making it “hard to guard us.” It’s hard to envision one slumping shooter damaging the Tigers’ chances on game night. (Now a quartet of slumping shooters is a different story, one that cost Memphis a win last Saturday against Georgia.)

• Mr. D.J.
The Tigers are 10-1 without Wiseman, and 0-1 without D.J. Jeffries. The small forward has been the team’s most consistent stat-sheet-stuffer, but missed the Georgia game with flu-like symptoms. Let’s ease out on that limb and say the Tigers can’t afford a long-term loss of their starting small forward. Jeffries has scored at least 10 points in 11 of his 13 games. His season-highs include nine rebounds, eight assists, four blocks, and three steals. He’s shooting 56 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point range. The Olive Branch native somehow arrived in the shadow of Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa, but he’s vying for MVP honors for this year’s team and is critical to hopes of another lengthy winning streak.

• Traveling band.
The Tigers have only two more home games in January, with four on the road, starting Thursday night at Wichita State (the only other AAC team currently in the AP rankings). Road trips are often where a team’s kinks can be addressed, shortcomings either minimized or erased. Fewer family and friends in the stands means focus on the mission at hand, for now the program’s first regular-season AAC championship.

“I’m gonna dig in deeper,” said Hardaway after the Georgia loss. “We’re not gonna go crazy, but we’ll be better prepared for [the Wichita State] game.”

The second-year coach continues to emphasize ball-sharing, the unselfish play so evident in that win over Tulane. When cracks appear in that team-first approach, the Tigers suffer.

“We take the man-to-man challenge,” noted Hardaway, “instead of getting a teammate involved.”

Look for more than 10 assists (the Tigers’ total against Georgia) in games to come.


• POY watch.
No Tiger has yet won the AAC’s Player of the Year award, so it will be interesting to follow candidates with this year’s team, particularly Achiuwa. Currently the league’s leading rebounder (10.2 per game), Achiuwa kept Memphis in the Georgia game with 20 points and 15 rebounds, his seventh double-double of the season. His 14.6 points per game are seventh in the league and he passes every eye test, often looking like the first-round NBA draft pick he’s projected to be. Does he want to make his lone college season unforgettable? We’ll see in conference play.
Categories
Sports Tiger Blue

#11 Tigers 77, Jackson State 49

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

For the first time in more than five weeks, the Memphis Tigers took the floor for a game that wouldn’t be analyzed primarily for who is not playing. A certain star freshman was absent for an eighth straight contest, but we now know James Wiseman is actually no longer a star freshman with the Memphis Tigers. With Wiseman’s departure from the program — announced via Instagram Thursday — the Tigers who beat Jackson State Saturday afternoon are largely the players Memphis will ride in hopes of ending a five-year NCAA tournament drought. (The notable exception is Lester Quinones, the guard who missed his fifth game Saturday as he recovers from a broken right hand.)

Larry Kuzniewski

Precious Achiuwa

Led by Precious Achiuwa (20 points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes), the 11th-ranked Tigers easily handled JSU for their eighth straight win and improved to 10-1 for the season. It’s the best start to a season for Memphis since Derrick Rose and friends won their first 26 games on their way to the 2008 Final Four. The winning streak is the program’s longest since an 18-game run in the 2012-13 season (the Tigers’ last in Conference USA).

Tiger coach Penny Hardaway acknowledged that the Wiseman saga has been a shock to his system, but isn’t all that surprised by his team’s record or ranking. “I’m not surprised because of how hard we work,” he said following the win. “But it’s incredible. This team deserves a lot of credit for everything we’ve gone through, to be on this winning streak and 10-1.”

The Tigers played sloppily in their first home game since December 3rd, committing 18 turnovers before halftime. But they also led throughout the game’s forty minutes, putting Jackson State in a 16-point hole (33-17) merely 13 minutes into the game. Isaiah Maurice played like a man wanting to absorb some minutes Wiseman’s departure will create. The Tigers’ lone senior scored six points, pulled down six rebounds, and blocked four shots in 16 minutes of action. Malcolm Dandridge also appears to be in the mix for more playing time. The freshman is still finding game form after left-knee surgery, but scored seven points and grabbed five rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench.

D.J. Jeffries scored 13 points for Memphis, his team-leading ninth game this season with at least 10. Tristan Jarrett led JSU (3-9) with 20 points.

“It takes a lot of discipline to play the same way against every team,” said Achiuwa, acknowledging the Tigers’ struggles to protect the ball, particularly in the first half. “We gotta stay locked in, no matter who we play.”

“I don’t feel we get the respect we deserve,” added Jeffries, “but that’s good. It means we have something to prove.”

Hardaway welcomes another week-long break for his team, a chance to collect some proverbial breath before conference play. (The Tigers host New Orleans on December 28th, then league-rival Tulane visits FedExForum on December 30th.) But he’s grateful for the team he now knows is his, and on the cusp of the nation’s Top 10. “I’m proud of the team,” he emphasized. “It’s something we imagined. To be where we are right now, I’m very proud of that. Just to get [another] win is a blessing.”

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From My Seat Sports

Memphis Athlete of the Decade

CREDIT: Larr Kuzniewski

There was a time, not long ago, when naming a Memphis “Athlete of the Decade” was a one-stop shop. Pick the best Memphis State basketball player, and you had your man. In the 1970s it was Larry Finch. The 1980s had Keith Lee. Penny Hardaway dominated the 1990s, first as a Tiger All-American then later as an NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist.

It’s not so easy anymore. The Memphis sports landscape has gained new “scenery” since the turn of the century — including our own NBA franchise, and not just an AAA baseball team, but a soccer team, too, calling AutoZone Park home. The Memphis “AOD” for the century’s first decade was indeed a Memphis Tiger, but he wore a football helmet and shoulder pads — DeAngelo Williams setting rushing (and scoring) records on the gridiron that may never be broken.
Larr Kuzniewski

Marc Gasol

In choosing this decade’s finest Memphis athlete, though, we find ourselves in a barstool debate involving four beloved stars who — together — made the Grizzlies indeed our NBA team. First, the runners-up:

• The Griz revolution began when Mike Conley was drafted by Memphis with the fourth pick in the 2007 NBA draft. Considered undersized by some at the time, Conley played a gigantic role in 12 years as a point guard with more heart than his frame would seem to contain. He helped the Grizzlies beat the mighty Golden State Warriors twice in the 2015 playoffs after breaking his face in the previous round. It’ll be a while before his franchise records for games (788) and points (11,733) are broken.

• Zach Randolph arrived in 2009 with a checkered past, a reputation for causing as many problems off the court as he might solve on it. In eight seasons with the Grizzlies, “Z-Bo” became pure Memphis. A two-time All-Star, Randolph was the first Grizzly to earn All-NBA recognition (third-team in 2011).

• Was there “Grit-and-Grind” before Tony Allen? It may have existed in some metaphysical form, but Mr. “First-Team All-Defense” spelled it out for Memphis and the NBA community at large. He played seven seasons with the Grizzlies and it’s no coincidence the team reached the playoffs all seven.

Marc Gasol is the Memphis Athlete of the Decade. Acquired in a 2008 trade that sent his older brother, Pau, to the Los Angeles Lakers, Gasol transformed himself from a pudgy “little brother” stretching a uniform during his high school days at Lausanne to the 2013 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. (When Gasol jumped for the opening tip at the 2015 All-Star Game — he’s the only Grizzly to start in the event — he did so against Pau.) More than any of his “Fab Four” mates, Gasol embodied the city he represented for almost 11 full seasons, a player who found greatness more with effort and resolve than natural-born gifts.

In 2015, Gasol became the first Grizzly to earn first-team All-NBA honors and also graced the cover of Memphis magazine in December as Memphian of the Year. He described for writer Kevin Lipe a distinctive synergy he felt with the city: “If you give all you have, Memphis will take care of you. The fans will appreciate that. They don’t get blinded by the flashes and the drama and what not. They appreciate hard work, and dedication, and that’s what they want. They want you to be fighting. That’s what they like. So I respect that.”

A fractured right foot cost Gasol much of the 2015-16 regular season and the entire postseason, all but eliminating any chances the Grizzlies had of closing the gap on Golden State in the Western Conference. But he returned the following season, averaged a career-high 19.5 points and played in his third All-Star Game. And by that most workmanlike of basketball statistics — rebounds — Gasol is tops in Grizzlies history (5,942).

Ironically, the Memphis Athlete of the Decade finishes the 2010s in the uniform of the Toronto Raptors. The Grizzlies dealt the 34-year-old center north of the border last February in a move that signaled transition for one franchise while completing what would become a championship roster for another. Gasol’s greatest professional dream may have been realized in Canada, but the man remains forever Memphian, right down to his championship hardware. Engraved on the lavish ring he now owns as an NBA champion: “GRIT&GRIND.”

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Sports Tiger Blue

#13 Tigers 51, #19 Tennessee 47

CREDIT: Larry Kuzniewski

Down two starters (one of them the top freshman in the country), the Tigers crossed the state of Tennessee and earned their first win over a Top-20 team under coach Penny Hardaway by knocking off the 19th-ranked Tennessee Vols. Damion Baugh hit a three-pointer from the right wing with 1:40 left in the game for the sixth and final lead change of the contest’s final five minutes. Volunteer guard Yves Pons had a chance to tie the game with a pair of free throws with 21 seconds left on the clock, but he missed the front end of a one-and-one. Sophomore guard Alex Lomax buried a pair of free throws with eight seconds left to clinch the Tigers’ seventh straight win, all with James Wiseman serving his NCAA-mandated suspension. Larry Kuzniewski

Alex Lomax

The win is the Tigers’ first at Thompson-Boling arena since the 2012-13 season (the last time the teams played in Knoxville). Memphis improves to 9-1 on the season, the program’s best start since the 2010-11 campaign. With its first loss in 32 games at home, Tennessee falls to 7-2.

Both teams shot miserably to open the game, Tennessee missing 15 of its first 18 shots while the Tigers hit only one of their first 12. But a 20-7 run by Memphis — capped by a driving Tyler Harris layup as time expired — gave the Tigers a one-point lead (25-24) at halftime. Harris and Jeffries each hit a three-pointer midway through the second half to give Memphis a marginal lead, but UT jumped back in front on a field goal by Pons with just under six minutes remaining. But a steal and layup by Baugh put the Tigers back in front, setting up the punch-trading final stretch.

Jeffries and Harris led Memphis in the scoring column with 11 points and Baugh added 10. Precious Achiuwa pulled down 13 rebounds and just missed a double-double with eight points. Josiah-Jordan James led the Volunteers with 14 points.

The Tigers return to FedExForum for their next game, December 21st against Jackson State. They have five games remaining (including the American Athletic Conference opener) before Wiseman is eligible to return on January 12th (at USF).