NASSAU, Bahamas — Dug McDaniel knew the secret was out. 

Sitting on Thursday night with his teammates inside a conference room — a makeshift locker room, in this case — at the Baha Mar Convention Center in the Bahamas after Memphis’ 80-71 loss to No. 1 Purdue in the Baha Mar Hoops Championship, the point guard felt compelled to speak up. 

“I was telling the guys … ‘We basically told on ourselves,’” McDaniel recalled saying before coach Penny Hardaway walked in. “‘We can play hard for 40 straight minutes. We did it tonight.’”

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While no true competitor wants to hear about moral victories, the Tigers (1-3) may gladly take this one after everything that occurred leading up to it.

Memphis was only four days removed from losing by 14 points at home to UNLV on Nov. 16, a performance that prompted Hardaway to publicly question his team’s effort for at least the third time since the start of preseason in late October. Virtually no one thought the Tigers would keep it close against Purdue. Many believed they’d mail it in after the Boilermakers (5-0) delivered an expected early knockout blow.

But the Tigers struck first Thursday. And they never stopped fighting.

When freshman center Simon Majok grabbed an early miss from McDaniel and put the ball in the basket less than five minutes after tipoff, Memphis had jumped out to a 9-point lead.

Purdue — an NCAA-title-contending team led by All-American point guard Braden Smith and star big man Trey Kaufman-Renn — responded. But the Tigers went into halftime only down by 1 point and never trailed by more than 10 in a game in which they led for nearly 16 minutes.

On top of being overmatched on paper, Memphis was also shorthanded — with starting center Thierno Sylla not making the trip to the Bahamas due to what Hardaway said was a “personal” matter, and wing Hasan Abdul Hakim staying back with an undisclosed illness. 

Still, Hardaway’s team used contributions from a variety of players to compete with the Boilermakers for the majority of the game.

Led by McDaniel’s 18 points, six assists and six rebounds, Memphis had four players finish in double figures and eight score at least three points. Everyone who stepped on the court for the Tigers played with an intensity the team hadn’t displayed consistently through its first three games.

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“I told those guys, ‘We can’t go (backward). We can’t go away from this,’” Hardaway said. “‘If you play this hard for the rest of the year, you could go undefeated until the NCAA Tournament — you could. … There’s no going back from this. You can’t go backwards.’”

Memphis’ veteran players, especially McDaniel and wing Zach Davis, made sure the Tigers arrived in the Bahamas earlier in the week with their sights set on what was ahead — not what had already happened.

McDaniel even admitted that he and his teammates “embarrassed” themselves and “let the city down” with their showing against UNLV. The senior Kansas State transfer had just 6 points on 1-of-10 shooting and six turnovers in that game.

Davis, a senior South Carolina transfer wing, wasn’t much better. He had 6 points and five fouls in 18 minutes. 

So for McDaniel and Davis to hold the team accountable, they knew they first had to meet their own standard.

“This trip right here (has been) a good team-bonding trip,” said Davis, who scored a season-high 11 points to go with three assists and two rebounds against Purdue in his first start as a Tiger. 

“We’ve spent a lot of time with each other, understanding each other (when it comes to) different aspects (in which) we didn’t know each other. … We all got together yesterday (Wednesday) and said we were just gonna put everything (out there) and just go compete for the whole 40 minutes.”

Majok, an 18-year-old originally from South Sudan who just arrived in the United States in September, had 7 points and five rebounds in what was also his first start. Tariq Ingraham, a Rider transfer big man who Hardaway had said was still working his way into game shape after joining the Tigers late in the offseason, had 10 points in 20 minutes. Even William Whorton, a South Dakota State transfer forward who wasn’t expected to be a part of the rotation, played six minutes.

That trio was key in allowing Memphis to only be outrebounded 37-34 and tied in points in the paint 38-38 against a Purdue team known for its size and physicality.

Majok and Ingraham were on the floor in pivotal second-half stretches the Tigers used to never truly go away. They fell behind by 7 points multiple times in the final 13 minutes, but managed to have a 3-point lead with 7:01 to go.

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“They prepared the same way the guys that have played heavy minutes prepared,” McDaniel said. “So with the things they did out there, we weren’t surprised. We expect that from there if we’re gonna be out there on the floor.

“And they understand that, as well. … I was excited and happy that they understood what was at stake and brought that energy.”

Though Purdue made more shots than Memphis down the stretch to pull away, the Tigers made the Boilermakers earn the victory — for all 40 minutes.

It wasn’t until Purdue center Oscar Cluff made two free throws with 10 seconds left that the result was clear.

“With the team we’ve got, there’s a lot of self-motivation,” McDaniel said. “We’ve got a lot of guys fired up for something bigger than basketball. … We all have our personal motivations in mind.

“But, at the end of the day, all the personal goals we want to achieve (can) happen from winning. And we all understand that. So each night, we should want to give max effort.”

Well, the Tigers have now shown they can do just that. 

But with a Baha Mar Hoops Championship consolation game against Wake Forest on Friday (6 p.m. CT, CBS Sports Network) in the Bahamas — and No. 6 Louisville, Vanderbilt, Baylor and Mississippi State on the schedule next month — they’ll have to soon prove they will.

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Again. And again. And again.

“We’ve shown the world that we can compete against anybody,” Davis said. “So, from here on out (expect) nothing less.”

Up next

Wake Forest (3-2) is coming off an 84-83 loss to No. 15 Texas Tech on Thursday night in the Bahamas. Wing Juke Harris had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Demon Deacons in the loss. Wake Forest dropped from ninth to 30th nationally in 3-point defense after allowing the Red Raiders to hit 12-35 from the behind the long-distance line.