By Ken Cross
On Thursday evening in Tampa, the No. 14 Memphis Tigers used their versatility to defeat the South Florida Bulls, 80-65, which was their eighth consecutive win and it currently tops college basketball. The depth of this team underscored why Coach Penny Hardaway’s seventh season as a head coach could work into a long pathway into late March or early April.
Hardaway and his staff remade the roster, and its connectivity is a major reason why they currently post a 21-4 record and lead the AAC by two games with their 11-1 conference record.
The perimeter features shooters who also double as playmakers. PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter lead the Tigers in scoring as Haggerty (21.6 ppg) hits the three and gets to the line 7.7 times per game. Hunter (14.5 ppg), who transferred from Texas, has averaged 42.4 percent from three.
In last Sunday’s 90-82 win over Temple, Hunter missed his first college or high school game as he had a tweaked ankle.
“I don’t know how many players have done that, and for him to miss that game, something had to be wrong,” said Hardaway. “I was happy to get him back out there because he needs the rhythm when he was out there on the floor.”
Hunter scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds in 28 minutes, and his role beside of PJ Haggerty was key since he was able to return and not have a string of missed games.
“We are not going to force him to do anything,” Hardaway noted. “We have got to make sure he is healthy. Of course, we want him March-April. If he wants to play, we want to let him play.”
Haggerty, who finished with 18 points, came in from Tulsa and has averaged 21.5 points and plays 36 minutes every evening. At 6-0, he is a savvy rebounder who works as a prime playmaker.
“I think PJ can get downhill and create a lot, so let PJ do his thing and let shooters on the side,” commented Hunter. “So we let the defenders decide — focus on me, Colby (Rogers), or pick your poison, no matter what it is on the side.”
Rogers follows Haggerty in finding 5.9 three-point attempts per game. PJ Carter and Dante Harris come off the bench in the backcourt and average productive double-figures in minutes.
“They’re probably top two in the country in three-point percentage wise,” said South Florida coach Ben Fletcher of Hunter and Haggerty. “They do a really good job of ball screens, so where you have to tag, they put you in those long tags, so now you have got a decision to make.”
The backcourt duo is one of the reasons why Memphis is a collective unit that works well together. Setting each other up and working with the posts inside the offense solidify these Tigers as a collegial group of players that can play off of each other’s skills.
“Everyone is extremely close, and the players are doing what we ask them to do,” said Hardaway. “Their biggest word has been ‘sacrifice’ for everybody. Sacrifice some time, sacrifice your shots — just to marry all of that together.”
The efficiency in the post is a major storyline with 6-9, 225, Dain Dainja and 6-11, 229, Mousse Cisse working in two different styles. Dainja is more of a physical presence while Cisse’s length and athleticism make him a multiple talented player who finishes alley-oops, shows touch around the rim, and defensively, he leads with 1.4 blocks per game.
“On the inside, Dainja and Moussa are playing really well together, and the guards are just exceptional,” analyzed Hardaway. “They play off of each other and that makes it easier for us to play.”
At 6-8, 205, power forward Nicholas Jourdain is an excellent playmaker in the post, where he came away with nine rebounds, three assists, two steals, a block, and no turnovers in 25 minutes on Thursday.
Memphis is a major threat on the national stage as the Tigers’ offense harkens back-in-the-day as it encompassed so many features. That 16.0-second possession length exudes the metaphor on the track of when the runners check in to the starting blocks.
“We had to try different ball coverages to try to keep the ball in front of us and make them take tough contested twos as opposed to having ‘Meell’ (Jamille Reynolds) out there trying to close it off,” said Fletcher. “That just makes a long closeout for your guards on the back end, and that is hard.”
Hardaway Chalks Up Win 150: As Hardaway came back into the Bluff City to work on getting the Tigers once again to national notoriety, he picked up his 150th win Thursday and commented on being “Thankful.”
“The tradition of Tiger Basketball is always fun and I wanted to try to get it back there,” he said. “When I took the job, it was kind of down, and I didn’t always do things the right way, but I have always had my heart into this.”
As the Tigers once again proceed up the college basketball ladder, Hardaway led them to an NIT championship in 2021 and the American Athletic Conference tournament championship in 2023.
Tigers Stat-Line: Memphis scored 16 points off of 16 offensive rebounds and forced 15 Bulls turnovers to score 20 points.
Hardaway said he thought the biggest statistic was being able to get to the free-throw line 30 times.
“We wanted to be the aggressor, right? We got the rebounds, and we got to the free throw line,” summarized Hardaway. “On the road, you have got to get the rebounds, and you have to make your free throws and get to the free throw line.”