Where Memphis basketball sits in AP Top 25 after loss at Temple, win at Charlotte

Memphis basketball remained in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 for the fourth consecutive week despite splitting back-to-back road games at Temple and Charlotte.

But the Tigers (14-4, 4-1 AAC) still moved down to No. 24 because of its loss in Philadelphia. They were No. 18 in last Monday’s poll.

Temple dominated the glass in its 88-81 victory over the Tigers last Thursday, grabbing 49 rebounds compared to Memphis’ 25. That includes 22 offensive boards—just three short of the Tigers’ total rebounding. Memphis trailed the Owls for the entire second half.

The Tigers rebounded the ball much better at Charlotte, winning that tally 42-28. Memphis also held a 22-point lead with five minutes to play, but the 49ers then finished the game with 19-6 run to make the final score 77-68. The Tigers greatly hindered themselves with 16 turnovers too. All eight Memphis players committed at least one.

Coach Penny Hardaway isn’t particularly thrilled over Memphis’ struggles with closing out games, but he isn’t surprised either. North Texas never trailed Memphis by more than 7 points when the two met at FedExForum on Jan. 5. Six days later—in the same building—East Carolina erased an 18-point deficit to tie things up with just over a minute to play against the Tigers.

Memphis’ American Athletic Conference (AAC) competition is obviously less imposing than its non-conference schedule where it earned the bulk of its nine combined wins in Quads 1 and 2. But what the AAC lacks in talent, it makes up for in physicality, according to Hardaway.

“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,” he 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.”

Advanced metrics don’t exactly sympathize with Hardaway’s theory, since most dropped Memphis after it both won and lost this week. The Tigers are currently No. 38 in KenPom, No. 42 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) and No. 47 in Bart Torvik. That’s 10 spots down in all three computers from where they ranked before beating ECU by 4 points.

Other human polls are still kinder to Memphis, though. CBS Sports personality and Grind City Media host Gary Parrish ranks the Tigers No. 17 in his Top 25 and 1. Field of 68 host Jeff Goodman puts Memphis in the same slot in his top 25.

Sunday’s win at Charlotte began a stretch where the Tigers play 11 straight games against projected Quad 3 or 4 opponents. Memphis gets a Quad 4 opportunity vs. Wichita State at home Thursday (6 p.m., ESPN2).