Hardaway will take the win but wants to teach his Tigers to keep pushing
Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway gestures to his team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against North Texas, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Memphis. “Every game isn’t gonna be a blowout,” Hardaway said after the game. “(But), we just have to keep grinding and getting into practice and keep getting better and learning from these situations.” (Nikki Boertman/AP Photo)
Penny Hardaway knew something his players didn’t.
He tried to tell them the best way he could. But for one reason or another, the Memphis Tigers coach’s message wasn’t delivered.
Hardaway first saw the signs when he and his team landed back in Memphis in the early hours of Friday morning following their 28-point road win against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton on Thursday night to open American Athletic Conference play. His players, whether it was due to seeing the buzz on social media or elsewhere, were just a little too confident about how their path to an AAC regular season and tournament title would look.
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Memphis Tigers Memphis Tigers Basketball North Texas Mean Green Penny Hardaway AAC Subscriber OnlyIt’s GivingTuesday week! Will you join the celebration?
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Parth Upadhyaya
Parth Upadhyaya covers the Memphis Tigers men’s basketball team. A Raleigh, N.C., native and a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Hussman School of Media and Journalism, Upadhyaya is a longtime college hoops junkie. Prior to joining The Daily Memphian in 2022, he covered high school sports in western Pennsylvania for the Beaver County Times and Penn State football for the Centre Daily Times.
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