Memphis basketball has been cutting it close for a while; it paid the price against USF

For the third time this month, Jahvon Quinerly's 3-point attempt spun through the air as the final seconds ticked off the clock.

This time, though, the Memphis basketball game wasn't tied — the Tigers were behind by one point. And even worse — unlike against SMU and Tulsa, when Quinerly rescued them with a last-second shot — this one hit the front rim, bounced off the backboard and dropped to the ground.

The Tigers had been proverbially playing with fire during the beginning of American Athletic Conference play, playing down to their overmatched opponents and needing Quinerly to bail them out in the final seconds. Memphis finally got burned Thursday night, a double-digit favorite falling to South Florida 74-73 at FedExForum.

"I don't even know if this is going to be a wake-up call," coach Penny Hardaway said. "We just have so many things going on that we're just dealing with as we're moving forward. I hope by March it's all gone. It's still some stuff that's just lingering. But we've just got to continue to try to get better."

No. 12 Memphis (15-3, 4-1 AAC), which had won 10 straight, looked like it had turned a corner after scorching Wichita State on Sunday. It jumped to a 20-point first-half lead against South Florida (10-5, 3-1). But things turned in the second half as the Bulls erased the deficit with workmanlike basketball and tied the game in the final minute.

The Tigers missed an assignment on an inbounds play, which gave USF big man Kasean Pryor a wide-open lane to the basket. He was fouled by Nae'Qwan Tomlin, made one of two free throws, and Quinerly's buzzer-beater attempt failed. Hardaway said postgame he was trying to call a timeout as Quinerly drove down the court, but the referees never saw it.

"South Florida played harder than us," Tomlin said bluntly.

Hardaway wouldn't use the FedExForum atmosphere as an excuse, but it certainly played a part in the way the game unfolded. The announced attendance was 10,531, even though the actual attendance was likely closer to 1,000.

Memphis and the Mid-South have been hit hard by a winter storm that brought 4-6 inches of snow Sunday and Monday, and temperatures were expected to drop Thursday night, making for treacherous roads. The athletic department encouraged fans to stay home, which explained the muted atmosphere in the arena.

It provided a bizarre backdrop during the Tigers' second-half collapse. While a fan in the concourse wondered aloud where he could find an open concessions stand, a few pockets of fans in the lower bowl tried to start dueling "DEFENSE" chants at the same time. One fan asked the referees to stop calling fouls so everyone could get home sooner.

"We just won't take pride," Hardaway said. "As good a game as we had at Wichita State, just won't get the ball up the court and share the ball. Just won't get the ball in to the middle, kick, swing. It's just when you think you're going to win a game just because, then you get complacent up 20 points in the second half and lose the game, it's a shame."

Even a FedExForum filled with 19,000 fans in blue and gray would have been close to silent, though. after the clock hit triple zeroes Thursday night. The loss damages the Tigers' NCAA Tournament résumé and gives them real problems to address before Sunday's trip to Tulane (noon, ESPN2).

Hardaway said after the game that he "can't play certain groups together," and the players have to work through the issues that come with having a team comprising almost exclusively of transfers.

David Jones led the Tigers with 25 points, but 18 came in the first half. Memphis shot just 21% from 3-point range, a far cry from Sunday's 63.3% clip against the Shockers. And in the final 34 minutes of Thursday's game, South Florida led for exactly 4.4 seconds — the final 4.4 seconds.

"We lost," Hardaway said. "All on me."

Reach sports writer Jonah Dylan at jonah.dylan@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @thejonahdylan.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball paid the price of inconsistency with loss to USF