The Memphis men's basketball team went 0-2 in the Baha Mar Championship with an 80-71 loss to No. 1 Purdue and a 69-68 heartbreaker against Wake Forest to fall to 1-4 on the season, their worst start since the 1996-97 season.
Although both results were not what the Tigers wanted, the team looked much improved from their 92-78 home loss to UNLV and look to be taking positive steps. Here are some takeaways from the two tournament games:
Better Than Their Record
The Tigers are not a typical 1-4 team, and they are playing much better than their record may suggest.
After their close loss to No. 1 Purdue on Thursday, who drubbed No. 15 Texas Tech 86-56 Friday night in the championship game, Penny Hardaway commended his team’s effort and how he wishes this would have happened sooner.
“I’m proud of the guys’ effort, but we don’t accept moral victories. If we played this hard all year, we’d be 3-1 instead of 1-3,” Hardaway said at the postgame press conference after Purdue.
The next night, the Tigers were controlling the game against Wake Forest, and had it all but wrapped up with a two point lead with 1.5 seconds remaining, until the Demon Deacons perfectly executed a full-court inbounds play for a buzzer-beater three-pointer by Myles Colvin.
That Wake Forest team is no slouch in its own right, as they have their own encouraging losses, a one point overtime loss to No. 7 Michigan in Detroit and a one point loss to No. 15 Texas Tech in the game before they played Memphis.
The Tigers proved they are capable of playing with this level of competition, but their next step is to prove they can win against this level of competition.
Late Game Execution is a Problem
With 7:01 remaining on Thursday, Memphis was up 64-61 on Purdue. With 6:58 to go against Wake Forest on Friday, Memphis was up 60-49. Yet both games resulted in losses.
Memphis lost the final seven minutes of both games by 12 points, simply getting out-executed down the stretch.
“We have a roster that can win,” Hardaway said after the Wake Forest loss. “We just haven’t figured out how to finish. And hopefully these losses hurt bad enough that when we get in those situations, (we do better).”
With more difficult games on the horizon that will assuredly force Memphis to win close battles, the Tigers will need to figure out their crunch time woes, and soon.
Dug McDaniel is the Alpha
Dug McDaniel was the star of the show for the Tigers in this tournament, and was named to the Baha Mar Championship All-Tournament Team.
McDaniel, after shooting a combined 4/18 in the two losses to Ole Miss and UNLV, averaged 21 points, 6 assists, and 5.5 rebounds in the two games.
He sees himself as a leader on this team and one that took some positives out of this weekend.
“(We played) the No. 1 team in the country, and we only lost by 9,” McDaniel said after the Tigers’ loss to Purdue on Thursday. “It made it more realistic for some guys. … This is the standard. And me being a leader and Zach (Davis) being a leader, we want to make sure we hold everyone to that standard — ourselves included.”
For a team that Hardaway suggested may have to win by committee earlier in the season, McDaniel laid claim to being the clear number one option on the roster this weekend.
Production from Unlikely Sources
Memphis played relatively short-handed in this tournament for a multitude of reasons, especially at the forward position.
Starting frontcourt player Thierno Sylla missed both games due to personal reasons, 6-foot-9 forward Hasan Abdul-Hakim missed both games due to an illness and to help matters, 7-foot-1 Ohio State transfer Aaron Bradshaw fouled out in nine minutes against Purdue and in eight minutes against Wake Forest.
Freshman Simon Majok, who has been the biggest surprise of the young season, filled in the gaps well in 28 minutes against Purdue and 21 minutes against Wake Forest. South Dakota State transfer William Whorton, who had yet to play a minute all season before this tournament, collected four points and six rebounds in 18 minutes against Wake Forest.
If the Tigers’ big man rotation continues to be as shaky as it is now, getting solid performances from unlikely sources will be essential in a couple games in the future.
What’s Next
The schedule lightens up for Memphis in its next two games, with mid-majors Southern Illinois and New Orleans visiting FedExForum on Wednesday and Dec. 3, respectively. Then, the Tigers enter the hardest stretch of their schedule, with four straight games against power conference opponents when they face Baylor, No. 6 Louisville, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State consecutively.
