A slew of difficult games in the first month of the new year has made the men's basketball team's dominance slip.
For the first time in Penny Hardaway's coaching career at Memphis, his team lost more games than they won during a calendar month. Hardaway admitted the losses have been from self-made mistakes and execution.
"It is never good losing," Hardaway said. "To me, it is the ups and downs of how a college season can go, but there is still a lot of basketball left."
The Tigers ended 2019 perfectly, ending Dec. with six wins and an upset against then-ranked Tennessee in Knoxville. Memphis had an average margin of victory of 18 points throughout six games. The Tigers also broke into the AP top-ten rankings.
The team began 2020 at 12-1 (1-0), but a difficult Jan. has shifted the momentum in the program and direction of the season. The Tigers end this month with three wins and four losses.
The year's opening loss to Georgia proved Memphis is not perfect - the Tigers committed 22 turnovers and did not score in the final four minutes.
The Wichita State loss proved there is some legitimate competition in the conference. It was a difficult road test, and both teams were ranked at the time.
The Tigers recovered and won on the road in Tampa to beat their struggling conference foe USF. Memphis put the Bulls away by four and kept their ranked status.
The Bearcats paid their first visit to FedExForum after winning the AAC Tournament there last March. However, the Tigers caught Cincinnati under-performing and won by 11.
The Tulsa game was a horrific performance by the Tigers. Precious Achiuwa scored one-fourth of the points for Memphis. But if the team only scores forty points, it becomes almost impossible to win.
The Tigers started well against SMU. However, the Mustangs roared back and took the lead late into the game. Memphis did not score for the final six minutes, and it proved costly in the end with a loss.
Following the fifth loss, player Boogie Ellis said the month has had multiple ups and down already.
"We are a young team so I feel like we are gonna be okay in the long run," Ellis said. "We are going to get better and come together as a unit and just keep getting better and trusting each other and playing for each other."
The final game in January was a trip to Orlando, and the Tigers were no longer ranked. Memphis would take care of their needs and win by two as the UCF Knights would suffer their ninth loss this year.
The previous seven months were above or at .500, yet the Tigers are still in far better position than this time last season. When Jan. concluded last season, Memphis was 13-8. Hardaway said the season will only get more difficult, and he hopes the team can win a lot more down the stretch.
"We are going to keep plugging away and hopefully we are going to continue to learn from what we are doing wrong," Hardaway said.
The Tigers enter February with a one-win streak and will play nine games. Of the previous seven months under Hardaway, no other month has had more than eight games. The shortest month could fly by with ease if there are wins - or feel like the longest one depending on where the team is going.
