Memphis basketball finalizes 2024-25 non-conference schedule

Penny Hardaway’s club now knows its full non-conference slate for the 2024-25 season.

The Tigers’ non-conference schedule will round out with a home game against Ohio on Nov. 15, as first reported by college basketball bracketologist Rocco Miller.

Memphis has faced off with the Bobcats just one time in school history on Dec. 5, 2012, where it won 84-58 inside FedExForum. This will be the second all-time meeting between the two programs.

Other home dates for the Tigers include matchups with Ole Miss (Dec. 28), Mississippi State (Dec. 21), Missouri (Nov. 4), Louisiana Tech (Dec. 4) and Arkansas State (Dec. 8). Memphis will also play Clemson (Dec. 14), Virginia (Dec. 18) and UNLV (Nov. 9) on the road, and San Francisco in a neutral-site contest inside the Chase Center (Nov. 21).

Additionally, Hardaway’s team will take on back-to-back national champion UConn in the first round of this year’s Maui Invitational on Nov. 25. It’ll then play Michigan State or Colorado on Nov. 26 and North Carolina, Auburn, Dayton or Iowa State on Nov. 27.

Memphis will also meet North Carolina (Oct. 15) and Alabama (Oct. 28) in two preseason exhibitions. The former is a part of the inaugural Hoops for St. Jude Tip Off Classic at FedExForum, which will also feature Alex Simmons’ Lady Tigers facing South Carolina. The latter will be inside Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Both scrimmages are open to fans.

Memphis—currently ranked No. 24 on barttorvik.com—has obviously dealt itself a massive hurdle by putting together this non-conference slate. But Hardaway and Co. assembled a roster this offseason that could be talented enough to get the Tigers over the hump, including nine new scholarship players via the transfer portal.

PJ Haggerty (6-foot-3) averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game for Tulsa last year, which helped him earn the AAC Freshman of the Year award.

Tyrese Hunter (6-foot) averaged 11.1 points and 4.1 assists for Texas in 2023-24. He also won the Big 12 Freshman of the Year award at Iowa State in 2021-22, and is 6-3 in NCAA Tournament games.

Colby Rogers (6-foot-4) scored 16.4 points per contest while shooting 40.9% from 3-point range (7.1 attempts per game) for Wichita State. PJ Carter (6-foot-5) averaged 9.5 points and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 41.5% from the field and 40.3% from 3-point range in 31 appearances for UTSA.

Moussa Cisse (7-foot) and Tyreek Smith (6-foot-8) averaged a combined 3.1 blocks per game last year for Ole Miss and SMU respectively. Dain Dainja (6-foot-9) averaged 6.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in limited minutes for an Illinois team that made the Elite Eight last season.

Nick Jourdain (6-foot-9) started 25 of 32 games for the Tigers in 2023-24, and put up 6.5 points and 4 rebounds per contest. He is Memphis’ only returning scholarship player.

The Tigers also welcome Baraka Okojie—a sophomore transfer guard from George Mason—Jared Harris—a 4-star high school guard—and Bouna Kebe—a junior college forward from Gillette (Wyoming).