The Early Word: Tigers tip off, Huff has the stuff and JJJ wants a new jersey
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Bon appetit, Memphis! It’s Monday, Nov. 4, and Downtown Dining Week starts today and runs through Sunday. Don’t expect every offering to cost $20.24 though. The program is switching gears from the price-matching-the-year model so more restaurants can participate, and now some meals may cost even less. In this day and age, a meal for less than $20 is a real bargain, right?
We’ve been talking about Memphis Tigers basketball for months, but the season finally tips off today for the men’s and women’s teams. Coach Alex Simmons’ women will play Mississippi Valley State at 11 a.m. at FedExForum, and Coach Penny Hardaway’s men play Missouri at 7 p.m., also at the ’Forum.
If you’re watching from home, you can flip the channel back and forth and also catch the Memphis Grizzlies’ away game against the Brooklyn Nets. Here’s hoping Ja Morant and Co. get revenge after our last terrible match-up with Brooklyn. For more on what’s coming up, check out This Week in Memphis.
The Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team will open its season tonight with a match-up against Missouri at FedExForum. And with a new year comes new hope that maybe this will finally be the season that Coach Penny Hardaway’s team makes it to the Sweet 16. The Tigers haven’t made it that far in 14 seasons and never once under Hardaway. As our own Geoff Calkins says, any other coach would likely be facing a “win-or-else” season, but Hardaway is a Memphis icon and gets cut a little slack.
New Memphis Grizzly Jay Huff proved his worth to the team on Saturday night with a powerful two-handed dunk over Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey. That showy basket — which announcer Pete Pranica dubbed “Huff Stuff” — came in a game that ended with a 124-107 win for the Grizz. But it wasn’t only the Huff show. There were 35 assists, most of them from Scotty Pippen Jr. and Ja Morant, and for only the third time in franchise history, four different Memphis players recorded a double-double. (The last time that happened was way back in 2008.) At the game, Jaren Jackson Jr. fan Casi Spear got a chance to show off the JJJ jersey that she spent 40-plus hours knitting by hand. After fashion maven Jackson saw it, Spear may need to make another one.
Plus, residents speak out with political yard signs, MPD cameras may stop street takeovers and two kinds of football had a bad weekend.
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Bianca Phillips
Bianca Phillips is a Northeast Arkansas native and longtime Memphian who’s worked in local journalism and PR for more than 20 years. In her days as a reporter, she covered everything from local government and crime to LGBTQ issues and the arts. She’s the author of “Cookin Crunk: Eatin’ Vegan in the Dirty South,” a cookbook of vegan Southern recipes.
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