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Welcome to this week’s Tigers Basketball Insider. Below you’ll find the latest news and analysis from The Daily Memphian’s Parth Upadhyaya, John Martin, Tim Buckley and Geoff Calkins.
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway recently provided Tigers fans with some welcome news about the return of Malcolm Dandridge and Alex Lomax.
Dandridge, a 6-foot-9 senior forward, has missed the Tigers’ past 11 games after suffering a Grade 2 ankle sprain in the team’s Dec. 13 loss to Alabama. Lomax, a 6-foot fifth-year senior guard, has been sidelined for the past five games after injuring his groin in the Tigers’ Jan. 11 double-overtime loss to UCF.
After telling reporters Wednesday that Dandridge was “getting very close” to returning, Hardaway said after Memphis’ 80-68 road win over Tulsa on Sunday that there is “a good possibility” Dandridge will play in this Saturday’s game versus Tulane. Hardaway also said Wednesday that Lomax was “looking better” than he’d initially anticipated at this point, but he didn’t yet have a timetable on his return.
While Hardaway knows the boost — primarily on the defensive end — the return of Dandridge and Lomax could give the Tigers, he’s also cautious about the impact it could have on the team’s chemistry.
“In talking to both of those guys about coming back, (I told them) they have to be the ultimate role players,” Hardaway told reporters Sunday. “Whatever we need from them is what they have to do. They can’t be demanding anything, because we’re in a great rhythm.”
The Tigers previously ran into chemistry issues from late December through early January, when Hardaway threw Damaria Franklin — who didn’t become eligible until mid-December — along with Elijah McCadden and Johnathan Lawson into the bigger roles. It was during this stretch when the group fell to Tulane and struggled to get past lowly foes South Florida and East Carolina.
“The synergy got messed up after the Alabama (game),” Hardaway said. “It just kinda got really crazy for a minute because guys were trying to fight for playing time and shots. And the chemistry left. It was really bad for about three games.”
Since their loss to UCF, though, the Tigers have rattled off five consecutive wins and worked their way back onto the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble with now a 17-5 overall record.
Before his injury, Dandridge had averaged career highs across the board with 6.2 points, four rebounds and one block in 14.8 minutes per game through 11 games.
And through the 16 games that Lomax played and started in before his injury, he averaged 8.1 points, 3.5 assists and 2.8 steals in 29.6 minutes per game. Lomax ranks No. 5 in the country in steals per game and No. 7 nationally in steal percentage (5.2%).
“We definitely need those guys back, because they’ve been there,” Hardaway said on his weekly Penny Hardaway Radio Show on Monday night. “But there’s a difference in coming back now because of the way the team is structured and how well the chemistry is.
“So they don’t want to disrupt that.”
More from your Insider:
Davis poured in 26 points to save the day in an 80-68 win for the Tigers (17-5, 7-2 AAC) over Tulsa on Sunday afternoon.
Billy Richmond Jr., a former Memphis Tiger, said Hardaway “thinks the world” of his son, Billy Richmond III. John Calipari also likes his son, as a complement to a five-star player.
The Tigers’ four-star duo Mikey Williams and JJ Taylor had big games for San Ysidro High School (San Diego) in a late tip-off Saturday on ESPN2.
NCAA men’s basketball box score for the Sunday, Jan. 29 game between the Memphis Tigers and Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
On a night when the Memphis’ usually outspoken leader wouldn’t say much about his accomplishment, his players spoke for him.
Memphis’ fifth-year basketball coach was asked Thursday night if he had any comment on the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols due to injuries sustained at a traffic stop.
Davis scored 25 points to go with 11 assists and seven rebounds to lead his Memphis Tigers (16-5, 6-2 AAC) to a 99-84 win over SMU.
NCAA men’s basketball box score for Thursday’s game between the Memphis Tigers and SMU Mustangs played at FedExForum in Memphis.
Has Penny Hardaway met the lofty expectations he set for himself? No. Can he ever accomplish what he set out to accomplish? Probably not, but is he the man to coach Memphis basketball? Absolutely, he is.
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