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RECAP: Memphis pulls off season-opening comeback to beat Missouri

(Image Credit: Memphis Athletics)

Penny Hardaway’s seventh season got off to a hard-fought, but ultimately good start Monday night.

Memphis won its season opener against Missouri 83-75 inside FedExForum. The Tigers, who recently parted ways with SMU transfer forward Tyreek Smith, now have their first win of 2024-25 after losing their two exhibitions against No. 9 North Carolina and No. 2 Alabama last month. This one, however, actually counts.

Hardaway’s club now looks to start 2-0 with a road date at UNLV on Saturday (5 p.m., Mountain West Network).

Memphis shot 45% from the field and 40% from 3-point range. It also outrebounded Missouri 37-30 while recording 16 assists, 14 forced turnovers, 13 offensive boards, 8 steals and 3 blocks. The Tigers led Mizzou for the final 10 minutes and 34 seconds of the contest.

Dennis Gates’ team, meanwhile, shot 46% overall and 29% from deep. It also put up 16 assists, 11 steals, 10 offensive rebounds and 2 blocks while forcing 16 turnovers. Missouri, which shot 64% from the free throw line, led by as many as 14 points in the first half and 13 in the second half.

Here are a few takeaways from Memphis’ comeback victory.

Clunky offense strikes again in first half

Memphis’ offense looked like a very unfinished product in the preseason, and this trend continued to start Monday night.

The Tigers shot just 35% from the floor and 4-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half. Memphis’ porous attack made life on defense much harder, as Missouri went into halftime with a 55% clip. Mizzou also scored 12 fastbreak points compared to just 2 for Memphis.

Trent Pierce, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, led Missouri with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the opening period. Colby Rogers, meanwhile, kept Memphis within striking distance with 7 first-half points.

Stingy defense gets Memphis back in it

The Tigers came back to life the only way Hardaway knows how.

The 52-year-old has always called himself a defensive coach, and his team lived up to that mantra in the second half. Memphis forced 6 turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the final period, which helped it cultivate a 7-0 run in less than two minutes to retake the lead with 10:34 to play.

Memphis never relinquished its lead afterwards, outscoring Mizzou 51-33 in the second half and forcing 11 total turnovers in that same span.

Second-half Haggerty does it again!

PJ Haggerty put on another terrific showing down the stretch.

The 6-foot-3 guard, who scored a measly 3 points in the first half, did what he’s done each time since first donning a Tigers uniform. Haggerty dropped 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting in the second half, and also sunk all nine of his free throw attempts coming out of the locker room. No team—big or small, ranked or unranked—has denied him thus far, and it’s hard to imagine one doing so any time soon.

He ultimately led all scorers with 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists for the game. Tyrese Hunter, Moussa Cisse and Rogers also came up big with 14, 14 and 10 points respectively. Cisse, a 7-foot center, also blocked two shots.

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