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 and Tim Buckley.

It took just 75 seconds for Jayden Hardaway and Nae’Qwan Tomlin to be seen standing near the scorer’s table.

Memphis coach Penny Hardaway switched up his team’s starting lineup against SMU on Sunday. But only a little over a minute into what was a 106-79 loss for the Tigers (18-8, 7-6 AAC) to SMU, he’d already decided to make tweaks to the group that was on the floor at Dallas’ Moody Coliseum.

The elder Hardaway rolled out a first five of Jahvon Quinerly, Jaykwon Walton, David Jones, Nicholas Jourdain and Malcolm Dandridge — a lineup that the Tigers had used in 12 games before their most-recent game — against the Mustangs. It hardly mattered, though, with those players not even being out there long enough to attempt a shot before two of them (Dandridge and Jourdain) were pulled.

The Tigers proceeded to play 13 guys in the blowout loss. Ten of them played for at least 10 minutes. 

It continued a trend that’s been present for most of Hardaway’s six years as coach but has been more apparent throughout the team’s past nine games — a stretch in which it’s gone just 3-6.

“We were trying to get somebody to box out,” Hardaway said after Sunday’s game. “I mean, (SMU was) just getting every rebound. You’re just trying to find bodies that can get rebounds — box out and rebound. … If you start the game not boxing out, then you don’t deserve to stay on the floor. It’s not about subbing a lot of bodies — it’s about trying to find people that want to fight and have a care factor for Memphis.

“I’m not trying to play 15 people a game. We’re trying to figure out who wants it the most.”

In the Tigers’ past nine games, Hardaway has played 10 or more players eight times and played 10 or more players at least five minutes each five times.

It’s a relatively unorthodox practice in college basketball — and it’s one that’s garnered criticism from fans and media members. 

Those who oppose the idea of routinely playing a 10-man rotation and subbing players in and out frequently in games believe that the lack of consistency doesn’t give those on the court enough time to gel.

But Hardaway again defended his decision to go deep into his bench during his weekly Penny Hardaway Radio Show on Monday night.

Hardaway claimed that the players who are at the top of the pecking order in terms of minutes haven’t been rebounding or defending at a level that’s acceptable.

“People get up in arms about how many guys I play,” he said Monday. “Well, the six or seven guys that are in the rotation usually are the guys that aren’t rebounding or aren’t really the best defenders. So now you’ve gotta choose offense or defense. And right now, we want to go to war.

“We want to fight every possession. So now it’s gonna take for us to play more guys. Because if these (initial) guys aren’t doing it, you’ve gotta bring guys off the bench that are going to do it. And I think that’s where the team is. I’ve been there. But the team is saying now, ‘Hey, let’s not worry about names. Let’s just put five guys out there that are just gonna fight the entire time. And whoever comes in after that, let’s go from there.’ That’s where we are.” 

And as for what Memphis’ rotation might look like when the team takes on Charlotte on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+, 98.9 FM) at FedExForum?

Hardaway didn’t say. 

But he did state one thing definitively.

“(When) you see the guys on the floor Wednesday,” Hardaway said, “those are the guys that are bought in.”

More from your Insider:

Hardaway believes he’s been ‘a target,’ received unwarranted ‘negativity’

In a season where his team has gone from being ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 poll to out of the NCAA Tournament picture entirely in a span of a month, the Tigers’ coach feels he’s been a punching bag of sorts.

Their season off the rails, there is no telling where the Tigers go from here

With five regular-season games remaining, Memphis and coach Penny Hardaway have lost six of their last nine.

Martin: Sick of watching this Memphis basketball team? So is Penny Hardaway.

What once was the most promising season of Hardaway’s era has turned into the most miserable one – one that fans and players alike seem to be counting down the days on.

Memphis suffers embarrassing road loss to SMU

This one appeared to be over long before the final buzzer sounded inside Moody Coliseum.