Penny Hardaway knew he had to make changes after Memphis—despite a 15-2 start—missed the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 2020-21.
The biggest point of emphasis for the seventh-year coach? Character.
”After last year’s debacle…I went into the summer going, ‘We gotta go out and get character kids that fit our system,’” he said on 92.9 FM ESPN’s “Jason & John” show Thursday. “If they’re good on top of that, then fine. But we really needed character, and we needed guys to fit the system.”
Don’t be mistaken. Hardaway still landed plenty of talent like a superstar scorer in PJ Haggerty, another high-level point guard in Tyrese Hunter, a sharpshooter in Colby Rogers and a gifted post-scorer in Dain Dainja.
The difference, however, is those four couple their astonishing skills with astonishing attitudes. As such, them and the rest of the Tigers are delivering in a big way this year.
Memphis—ranked No. 21 in the Associated Press (AP) Top 25—owns seven Quad 1 and 2 wins in its first 11 games, which currently tops the rest of college basketball.
Haggerty, a 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore, leads the way with 22.4 points (No. 7 in Division I), 5.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.1 steals per game. His 21-point second half catapulted the Tigers to victory at Virginia Wednesday night after they trailed by 9 points at halftime.
Haggerty’s on-court play clearly resembles what Hardaway wants from a premier player, but his overall approach personifies the culture Memphis’ headman desired to build this offseason.
”His care factor is out of this world. He just ultimately wants to win, and he listens,” Hardaway said. “Anything I ask him to do, he’s gonna do it…He wants to know, ‘What do I need to do better? How can I help more?’ When we start getting that buy-in from guys that are really good, it makes it much easier to coach.”
Hardaway also realized he needed to put his foot down, and stick to his own principles. Compromising to make others happy is no longer an option at his program.
Hardaway consistently calls defense and aggression Memphis’ specialty. He wants his teams to relentlessly press opponents at half-court and generate offense via turnovers, so it’s about time he acquired coaches and players who completely fit that vision for once.
”I didn’t play the style that I knew that would help us win [before]. I kinda went with what everybody else wanted, and tried to improvise a little bit. That’s why it was never really as sharp as it could’ve been,” he said. “There’s been players that I recruited, that have come here that weren’t really about playing that way that I didn’t know. It was just the talent, but they didn’t wanna give me all they had on that area.
”So this summer, I went and got the guys that I knew. I talked to them specifically, ‘Do you know who we are? Do you know how we’re gonna play? We’re a disruptive team, and this is what I need you to do.’ And that’s the type of the team that we finally put together—a disruptive team. Everybody was on board from the beginning…It’s like harmony.”
Memphis (9-2) has earned every bit of praise it’s garnered this season. Not a single taste of victory came easy throughout the past two months.
The Tigers have played seven games away from home—all but one of them being against a Quad 1 or 2 opponent. They’ve also beaten three AP Top 25 teams (No. 11 UConn, No. 20 Michigan State and No. 25 Clemson), and three preseason conference champions (Ohio, UConn and Louisiana Tech).
Haggerty’s individual spotlight isn’t the only one growing either. Hunter (15.6 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 48.6% from 3-point range), Rogers (12.5 points on 39.4% 3-point shooting) and Dainja (11 points and 6.7 rebounds) are all having their finest campaigns too.
So—with Memphis returning to FedExForum to face Mississippi State and No. 17 Ole Miss in its next two games—Hardaway believes the Tigers have also earned the 901’s support and attendance, starting with Saturday’s meeting against the Bulldogs (11:30 a.m., CBS).
Why? Because they care.
”This team has a care factor for the city. They wanna make us proud. They wanna make the city proud. What a better way to show that the city responds to that by coming out against a really good Mississippi State team,” Hardaway said. “It makes a huge difference when a team comes into the building, and sees a standing-room-only crowd. That intimidates them. That gets the juices going in your team. So, we need the entire city to come out, man.
”We really need to get [FedExForum] packed out because the guys deserve it, the city deserves it and we’re winning. I want all of us to feel that energy on Saturday.”