Welcome to this week’s Tigers Basketball Insider. Below you’ll find the latest news and analysis from The Daily Memphian’s Steven Johnson, John Martin and Geoff Calkins.
We’ve talked at length about the Tigers’ turnover problems through the first four games of the year.
How about turning to possible solutions? Ahead of Wednesday’s game against Virginia Tech in the NIT Season Tip-Off, the Tigers will need to find answers quickly and Coach Penny Hardaway has an idea of what his players need to do.
“I think the formula for stopping the turnovers is making a natural, regular play,” Hardaway said Monday. “Not trying to get the home run play every time.”
Many of the Tigers have come in transition, with errant passes or just playing too fast.
Hardaway wants Memphis to play up-tempo and the team has mostly achieved that. The Tigers are ranked fourth in the country in possessions per game.
So speed certainly isn’t the issue, it’s just about being more effective, especially on the break.
“Recognizing when we have the advantage, and when we don’t bring it back out. If we do, let’s make the right decision and get a shot versus a turnover,” Hardaway said. “It happens because we’re so anxious, everybody wants to be unselfish and give the ball up. It’s usually a fancy pass and that usually doesn’t bode well for us.”
The Tigers had a similar turnover issue last year before settling down and running to an NIT Championship. Landers Nolley thinks the lessons from that run could help Memphis address the issue this year.
“We just gotta relax. We’ve got a couple young guys that are coming in and playing a good amount of minutes. We’ve just gotta calm them down, get them used to things and once they get their feet under them we’ll be good just like last year,” Nolley said.
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