Temple simply wanted it more than No. 18 Memphis from the jump.
There’s no other reason the Owls secured 49 rebounds compared to 25 for Memphis. No other explanation for Temple grabbing 22 offensive rebounds—nearly matching the Tigers’ total rebounding on the offensive glass alone.
Memphis’ lackadaisical effort on the boards proved costly, as Temple trounced the Tigers 88-81 inside the Liacouras Center Thursday night. Coach Penny Hardaway knows it can’t happen ever again if Memphis (13-4, 3-1 AAC) wants to avoid what it did last year—fumbling a great non-conference resume in route to missing the NCAA Tournament.
“We can’t go another game like this ever again,” Hardaway said on Memphis’ postgame radio broadcast. “It was a butt-kicking. Every team in this league is gonna come out and crash the glass on us. If we don’t do something about it, every game is gonna be tough. It doesn’t have to be tough.”
One might point towards Memphis’ big men to lighten its rebounding deficiencies. They certainly could’ve done their part, since Dain Dainja (5), Moussa Cisse (3) and Nick Jourdain (3) combined for 11 total rebounds. Dainja didn’t grab a single one in the first half.
But Hardaway sees his backcourt as the avenue to better activity on the glass. PJ Haggerty, who scored a team-high 21 points, led Memphis’ guards with 4 rebounds in 36 minutes. Tyrese Hunter secured 2 boards in 37 minutes. Colby Rogers didn’t notch any in 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, Temple guard Shane Dezonie snagged a game-high 13 rebounds (8 offensive). Owls leading scorer Jamal Mashburn Jr. had 5 boards, as did freshman Aiden Tobiason. Quante Berry and Zion Stanford grabbed 3 rebounds each. Adam Fisher’s club earned 19 second-chance points against the Tigers.
“The guards are the biggest part of the rebounding, because the guards on [the other] team are rebounding. Those are the ones that are crashing, because they feel like our guards aren’t gonna box out,” Hardaway said. “We’re showing these guys after games, ‘Hey, you’re not boxing out. You need to start boxing out [or] this is gonna be a problem.’ Now, you give up that many offensive rebounds to Temple—a team that doesn’t have as much talent as you, but just out-toughed you to beat you.
“That’s very disheartening. It doesn’t make sense to me at all.”
The Tigers have now been outrebounded in three consecutive games. North Texas claimed the rebounding battle over Memphis 30-21 earlier this month. East Carolina also outmatched the Tigers on the glass 40-36 last Saturday.
Memphis got away with it in both of those instances, but the straw finally broke the camel’s back in Philadelphia. What’s currently a trend can quickly become a permanent fixture if the Tigers aren’t careful, and Hardaway can only do so much to help them.
“It’s gotta be player-led, whatever’s going on,” he said. “It has to be unified energy on winning the game the right way. And that’s with physicality and toughness.”
Memphis’ ego is noticeably bruised from suffering its first conference loss, but its NCAA Tournament resume isn’t as damaged. Temple ranked No. 123 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) before tipoff, so it’s only a Quad 2 defeat for the Tigers. Memphis’ next 11 games are against projected Quad 3 and 4 opponents, however, so it’s walking a very dangerous line moving forward.
The American Athletic Conference (AAC) ranks No. 10 in the country, according to KenPom, but Hardaway knows every other AAC team is normally at its best when it plays Memphis. It’s their biggest game of the year—their Super Bowl—after all. The seventh-year coach hopes Thursday’s game taught Memphis to treat the rest of its conference schedule accordingly.
“Everybody’s best game comes at us, and we know that. But that’s what happens when you’re the hunted,” he said. “I don’t care what play we run. I don’t care what happens. If we’re not tough from this point forward, every game is gonna be tough.”
Memphis plays a Quad 4 game at Charlotte on Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN2). Hardaway promises Memphis fans at least one thing heading in.
“We’ll never give up—and I know you should never say never—22 offensive rebounds again. That just can’t happen. That’s very embarrassing,” he said.