Memphis coach Mike Norvell set aside rumors associating his name with college coaching vacancies across the country Tuesday, saying his focus is solely on the American Athletic Conference Championship against UCF.

For most NBA teams, individual game outcomes shouldn’t be surprising, and despite their unexpected appearance atop the Western Conference standings a few days ago, the Grizzlies are one of those teams.

The coaching carousel is spinning, and for the second straight year Memphis fans are watching and wondering if Mike Norvell could head elsewhere.

The Grizzlies took a second straight loss and in both cases they needed Mike Conley a little too much.

American Athletic Conference commissioner Mike Aresco is taking the approach that the UCF and Memphis offenses did in a 62-55 double-overtime game in last year’s league championship.

Six games into Penny Hardaway’s first season as the Memphis Tigers’ head coach, this much is clear: The heralded freshmen will thrill and they will aggravate. In the end Sunday night against Charleston, there was more frustration than joy as the Tigers fell 78-75 in the fifth-place game of the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando.

For the first half Friday, Whitehaven looked nothing like a team that was ready for the bright lights of Cookeville. The second half, though, was a whole other story.

NASHVILLE – Losing in the state semifinals is a bad dream that Eric Gray continues to relive. But Sunday was a dream come true.

The official stats read, “HENDERSON, D. rush for 4 yards to the MEM48, 1ST DOWN MEM.” This moment was more significant than one line on Friday's play-by-play in Memphis' 52-31 win over Houston.

Enes Kanter had a career-high 26 rebounds and scored 21 points, Tim Hardaway Jr. finished with 22 points and the New York Knicks overcame a poor shooting first half to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 103-98 on Sunday night.

ORLANDO – Just a few days earlier, Penny Hardaway had been sitting along the baseline at the Landers Center, watching three gifted recruits light up the court.

Thirteen Memphis players appeared in their last game as a Tiger in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium on Friday. Some were major contributors; others saw minimal action.

Memphis (2-1) guard Tyler Harris stepped to the free throw line with 35 seconds to go in Saturday's game against Yale.

One of the keys to the Grizzlies’ surprising start to the season is that Mike Conley and Marc Gasol have played every game so far. But the Grizzlies got a reminder on Friday afternoon in Los Angeles of what playing without Conley is like, and it wasn’t pretty.

After Oklahoma State handed Memphis a 20-point loss in the first round of the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando, coach Penny Hardaway called the performance “embarrassing” and vowed to make adjustments.

The high school football season has reached the semifinal stage in both Tennessee and Mississippi. Here's a closer look at Friday's games involving area teams. All kickoffs are at 7 p.m.

Nobody at the breakfast table knew what school Jamirah Shutes would choose for college, not even her parents. Missouri, Ole Miss and Purdue were putting pressure on the 5-foot-7 guard from Brownsville to commit. The school 45 minutes away from her and her family still had a shot, though.

ORLANDO — Penny Hardaway sat in front of the microphone in the wake of Oklahoma State’s blowout win over the Memphis Tigers in the AdvoCare Invitational and decided to really lay into the individual he thought was responsible for the listless performance.

Memphis (8-4, 5-3 American Athletic Conference) overcame a halftime deficit to clinch the AAC West Division over the Houston Cougars (8-4, 5-3 AAC).

The modern college football coach can put the happy shine on almost anything. Even a public sideline spat with a player over a jacket that, well, really wasn’t about a jacket at all.

Chris Herrington, Geoff Calkins, and Don Wade launch the Daily Memphian Grizzlies Podcast by discussing the Memphis Grizzlies’ surprising start and how sustainable it may be.

At the end of the night, they posed for photos. Malcolm Dandridge on the left, DJ Jeffries in the middle, James Wiseman on the right.

The biggest concern for West Memphis football coach Billy Elmore prior to last week's game against Pine Bluff may have been making sure his team wasn't overfed.

Memphis defensive coordinator Chris Ball sat down to watch film of the Houston-Tulane game a week ago and wondered if he would have to abandon his game plan – a strategy developed over months.

Penny Hardaway and his staff are attempting to top the short-notice recruiting job from the spring with their Class of 2019. Memphis has three commitments in the Class of 2019 with big targets still up on the board. Here’s who Hardaway is after and more.