What Penny Hardaway said he did wrong with Memphis basketball, how he's trying to fix Tigers
Penny Hardaway admits he made a big mistake.
Even as Memphis basketball was stringing together 10 consecutive wins that helped it climb as high as No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and 10th in the AP Top 25, the Tigers’ coach acknowledged Thursday there was something he did that he shouldn’t have.
“The one thing I did wrong, I accepted in winning what I wouldn’t accept in losing,” he said. “And it caught up to us.”
Hardaway – whose team is ranked No. 22 in the coaches’ poll this week, thanks to back-to-back losses to South Florida and Tulane – said he let his players get away with diminished effort on defense while wins piled up.
“Because we were winning,” he said.
Hardaway conceded he didn’t harp on a lack of ball movement (nine assists against Vanderbilt, 10 against VCU and 12 versus Virginia) for the same reason.
“We didn’t want to press too hard,” he said. “If it wasn’t broke, we weren’t gonna fix it.”
But, by all accounts, this week has been devoted to a reset – a renewed commitment to the principles that have helped the Tigers (15-4, 4-2 AAC) of old be one of the best defensive teams in the country. Practices have been both physically and mentally challenging, according to freshman Carl Cherenfant. Senior David Jones said there has “definitely been more intensity” at the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center this week as Memphis prepares to face UAB (12-7, 4-2) on Sunday (4 p.m., ESPN) at Bartow Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.
In essence, the Tigers are fed up.
“They need to be. I am,” said Hardaway.
So, what specifically has he and his coaching staff done this week to get things back on track? Part of it is a better understanding of the Tigers’ personnel and how to scheme around the varying degrees of defensive ability.
“Every team has guys on the court that can’t defend, but you’ll never know (it from) the way the schemes are,” said Hardaway. “It’s basically just identifying your weaker defenders versus your top defenders. And what we need to do to protect in certain areas. I believe in packing the paint, then getting out (to the perimeter). We weren’t packing the paint (and) we were giving (opponents) both options.
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“Now, we’re getting back to what we do. This is Memphis basketball moving forward. I hate it had to be a loss to get there.”
Another variable that can sometimes factor into the equation under circumstances like these is what Hardaway calls “the care factor.” When Memphis has struggled in the past, he said, the players salvaged their seasons because they reached a crisis point.
“We’re not in a crisis right now,” Hardaway said. “We’ve lost some leverage – a bunch of leverage. But we still have a team that can make it to the Final Four and play with anybody in the country. Our defense can go from horrible to great just from the tweaks we’re doing this week.”
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball: Penny Hardaway says he made mistake with Tigers
