Penny Hardaway had flashbacks when he saw Memphis’ weather forecast for this weekend.
The 901 is currently expecting 4-6 inches of snowfall on Friday, according to a winter weather briefing from NWS Memphis. The report tells Memphians to “expect considerable disruptions to daily life,” including “dangerous or impossible driving conditions.” Any potential snow or ice likely won’t melt until Sunday—approximately 24 hours after Hardaway’s Tigers host East Carolina at FedExForum on Saturday (1 p.m., ESPN+).
Memphis played a home game against South Florida in the mist of wintery conditions last season on Jan. 18, 2024, which the Tigers lost 74-73 after blowing a 20-point halftime lead. School officials didn’t release the contest’s turnstile attendance because of the weather. But the arena was noticeably bare throughout the evening, as the university advised fans to not attend pregame. Hardaway—vividly recalling his rough experience driving to FedExForum that night—admitted to reporters Wednesday that the game probably shouldn’t have gone on.
“I just remember driving to the game. My car was sliding everywhere getting to the game and I was like, ‘Damn, we’re gonna play a game?,'” he said. “It shouldn’t have been played, honestly, because we barely got to the game…None of us should’ve been out on the street…It was literally cars just sliding off the side of the road going straight, and going over and crashing on the side. I made it through that, and got on the expressway and got off on Lamar [Ave.] and then kinda had to slide again and made it to the arena and we played that game. I just can’t believe we played that game.
“So, when the snowstorm started to show up on the forecast for Friday, I was like, ‘Bro, let’s not go through this again.'”
No. 19 Memphis (12-3, 2-0 AAC) is on its way to the NCAA Tournament with 10 wins in Quads 1 and 2 (No. 1 in Division I). Its lead guard PJ Haggerty is the No. 5 scorer in college basketball with 22.2 points per game, and ESPN’s Joe Lunardi says the Tigers would be a No. 4 seed in March Madness if the regular season ended today.
Last year’s Memphis team was also cruising with a 15-2 record and a No. 10 ranking in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25 before its winter-storm clash with USF. Hardaway, largely for those reasons, felt he couldn’t justifiably cancel the game—a decision he soon regretted.
“No pun intended, it was a perfect storm for South Florida because no fans were there. We were up 20, and I think we got so relaxed because it was so quiet in there,” he said. “We were rolling—No. 10 in the country—and then that second half was the worst second half that I’ve ever been a part of as a Tiger coach or player…Man, it just turned into a nightmare.”
Memphis eventually missed the Big Dance for the first time since 2020-21 after going 7-8 in its last 15 games, beginning with its loss to South Florida. Senior forward Nick Jourdain—the only returner from that team—doesn’t want this year’s club to experience similar ice-cold misery when it welcomes the Quad 4 Pirates to town this weekend.
Better yet, the Clifton, New Jersey native isn’t looking forward to the snow at all. It just doesn’t hit the same as it does up north.
“Here in Memphis, we can’t handle the snow.” Jourdain said. “The whole city’s gonna shut down.”