Buckley: Pressure? Penny Hardaway is feeling it. Which maybe isn’t all bad.
University of Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway during a Nov. 26, 2025 game against Southern Illinois. (Josh Blake/Special to the Daily Memphian)
Tim Buckley
Tim is a veteran sportswriter who graduated from CBHS in Memphis and the University of Missouri. He previously covered LSU sports in Baton Rouge, and the University of Louisiana football and basketball for The Daily Advertiser/USA TODAY Network in Lafayette, the NBA’s Utah Jazz for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning for the St. Petersburg Times in Florida, and West Texas State basketball for the Amarillo Globe News in Texas.
One, two, three, four.
Pressure!
The Memphis Tigers sure had been feeling it after losing four in a row early in the 2025-26 college basketball season.
And it doesn’t take old-school lyrics to convince anyone that Penny Hardaway has been feeling it too lately.
Because the Tigers coach was singing a song of his own after Memphis finally halted its skid with a 74-58 win over Southern Illinois on Wednesday night at FedExForum.
“You can see just everybody — just so much pressure on each other,” Hardaway said.
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