Penny Hardaway on Memphis’ sluggish conference play: ‘The AAC just fights to the death.’

Penny Hardaway knows Memphis basketball isn’t where it was a month ago.

He sees the Tigers (14-4, 4-1 AAC) aren’t as energetic or attentive. He can tell they’re playing with less intensity and more indifference. But he gets it too.

After all, it’s hard to get excited about facing a swarm of Quad 3 and 4 opponents throughout American Athletic Conference (AAC) play immediately after running through the nation’s fourth-best non-conference slate, according to KenPom. That’s why—at least for now—Hardaway will take whatever wins he can get.

Does eking out single-digit victories over the likes of North Texas, East Carolina and Charlotte help the No. 24 Tigers’ public image, especially with the latter two foes sitting outside the top 185 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET)? Of course not.

Did those too-close-for-comfort wins—coupled with a loss at Temple that saw Memphis allow 22 offensive rebounds—improve the Tigers’ standing in metrics like the NET or KenPom? No, they clearly didn’t. In fact, they’re currently No. 38 in KenPom and No. 42 in the NET. That’s 10 spots down in both computers from where they ranked before beating ECU by 4 points earlier this month.

Hardaway’s resolve is strong, however, and he believes Memphis’ is too.

“I’ve kind of put myself in this bubble of being the best team in March, even though we’re harshly judged for what we do. [We’re] the only team in the [Associated Press] Top 25 that’s probably gonna get judged that way because they don’t respect our conference,” he told reporters after the Tigers’ victory at Charlotte on Sunday. “I’m trying to be the best team—no matter who we play—in March. If we’re as good as we need to be in March, then it doesn’t matter who we play. We’ll be ready. Right now, it’s tiny steps in little increments of us doing some things great and then doing some things bad. That’s just gonna happen right now. We’re just gonna keep trying to wash away all the bad stuff, and keep building off the good stuff.”

Memphis certainly underwent a mix of good and bad against the 49ers. It led by as many as 22 points, and for more than 37 minutes. It also struck a nice balance in its rotation, as Hardaway deployed eight Tigers for at least 13 minutes each. It even outrebounded Charlotte 42-28 and shot 40% from 3-point range.

The Tigers committed 16 turnovers, though, which is two more than their already-bad average of 14. Each Tiger gave the ball away at least once too. Charlotte also outscored Memphis 19-6 in the last five minutes to trim the final score down to 77-68—a far-cry from what the other 35 minutes looked like.

Hardaway, while perplexed, isn’t surprised. North Texas never trailed Memphis by more than 7 points. East Carolina erased an 18-point deficit to tie things up with just over a minute to play against the Tigers. Temple led Memphis for the entire second half last Thursday. So, the seventh-year coach expects AAC teams to hang around.

“It’s weird, because the teams that we played in non-conference were more talented—with way more talent. But the AAC just fights to the death, man. They don’t give in,” Hardaway said. “This is a bare-knuckle conference. If you don’t play hard, anybody can beat you on any given night. It’s not like that in every conference. We feel like every night is a matchup of just fighting, not really more about basketball. So in the non-conference, it wasn’t as physical. In our conference, it’s more physical.”

Hardaway still recognizes Memphis needs to be better, though. The turnovers must come down as the rebounds go up. Memphis has to start winning by 15 or 20 points instead of 5 or 10 if it wants to rise in the computers once again, which would give it a higher chance at earning a top-5 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Hardaway’s been trying to instill good habits during practice, whether that’s been through drills, pushups or running 17s. He’s starting to take action on the court too with his aforementioned lineup changes.

George Mason transfer guard Baraka Okojie, for example, didn’t play against Charlotte despite logging 10.6 minutes per game this season. Midseason transfer guard Dante Harris, meanwhile, is seemingly absorbing most of Okojie’s role after playing 22, 17 and 14 minutes in his last three outings. Hardaway confirmed to Tigers play-by-play man Dave Woloshin postgame that Okojie’s absence was a healthy scratch.

“We don’t have time for feelings right now,” he said. “Baraka will be OK. He’ll be ready for his moment when he gets it.”

Memphis hosts Wichita State on Thursday (6 p.m., ESPN2).