Penny Hardaway expresses concerns for Tigers’ faceoff against opponents

Memphis men’s basketball head coach Penny Hardaway said he has not been pleased with the way his team has played against top-ranked opponents this year.

Following a loss at Houston on Jan 6., Hardaway spoke about why his team continues making the same self-inflicting errors, which has cost them wins against good teams.

“It’s kind of concerning to me because we’re 0-5 in big games this year,†Hardaway said. “And we lost all of them because of the same reasons. So, for me it’s time for everyone to wake up and understand that if we’re going to make the NCAA tournament, we’re going to have to beat teams like Houston. We’re going to have to be more physical. We’re going to have to hit first and we’re going to have to put all the other things that we’re going through aside. We just can’t keep losing these big games if we’re going to try and make the NCAA tournament.â€

Hardaway discussed the physicality of play, but he also voiced his concerns about rebounds and turnovers.

Physicality 

There is no doubt the Tigers are playing with a lack of aggression when playing against top opponents. 

The Tigers played soft and too fast for themselves in the five big games this semester againgst LSU, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Tennessee and Houston. 

Of four of the five games, the Tigers were rebounded by five or more, and in three of the five games, they turned the ball over more times than their opponent.

In the Houston game, the Tigers gave up 18 offensive rebounds, which is the main reason why they lost that game. 

They were so good in this category during the first four of these games by grabbing five or more offensive rebounds than their opponent, but they ultimately lose the rebound battle overall. 

Fouls margin

To win a basketball game, one has to play smart and aggressive but not enough to rack up a lot of fouls. The Tigers have accumulated an average of 23.4 turnovers per game, while their opponent only averages 18.9. The only team they won the turnover battle against was Oklahoma State, but the Tigers lost that contest. Overall, the Tigers must play a lot smarter and take care of the basketball if they want to win games. 

Shooting mishaps

The last area of concern during Tigers’ games is their shooting. They average 39.9 percent from the field and 30 percent from three against teams that averaged 52 percent from the field and 33 percent from three against Memphis.

These stats are telling. Memphis has not done a great job of putting the ball in the hoop at all, which has to be addressed if they want to make the NCAA tournament.

Overall, the Tigers have been inconsistent with the good teams and consistent with the teams they statistacally trump. They need to find consistency overall and ways to beat the teams that matter.

They can accomplish this by creating turnovers, rebounding the basketball and taking open shots. 

If they can do each of these things and win against valid opponents in conference play, then the team may make a tournament bid.