How Memphis basketball got ‘revenge’ vs Temple, and what Penny Hardaway wants to clean up

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When Memphis basketball walked off the court in Philadelphia 24 days ago, it was the lowest point of the season.

The Tigers, who went in as significant favorites, had just lost — and they’d done so in embarrassing fashion. Temple outrebounded Memphis 49-25, and coach Penny Hardaway said afterward that the Tigers would “grow from this.”

Sunday’s meeting at FedExForum provided Memphis (20-4, 10-1 AAC) with a chance to get a version of revenge, and — though it wasn’t exactly pretty — the Tigers earned a 90-82 win to finish their story with Temple (14-9, 6-4) this season and move on to the rest of their conference schedule.

“The guys were definitely aware that this was a revenge game,” Hardaway said.

It wasn’t a straightforward game in any sense. Memphis was without starting point guard Tyrese Hunter, who missed the first game of his career (college and high school) with a lingering knee injury. Dante Harris started in his place and was excellent, scoring a season-high 14 points in 29 minutes.

And Memphis flipped the rebounding disparity, beating Temple 26-24 on the boards.

“We came out, did what we had to do,” said center Dain Dainja, who had 18 points and eight rebounds. “Now it’s next game.”

The loss to Temple came just a couple of weeks into conference play and raised concerns that this team might be headed for the same kind of drop-off that doomed last season’s team, which was ranked No. 10 in the country in January before losing four straight games and ultimately missing out on the NCAA Tournament. But these Tigers bounced back from that loss by winning seven in a row, including Sunday’s game against the Owls.

Memphis has a one-game lead on UAB in the AAC standings, with a March 2 date in Birmingham looming as the biggest game left on the AAC’s regular-season schedule. The Tigers crushed UAB at FedExForum during the seven-game run, and though they’ve shown vulnerability, they’ve won all but one game.

Sunday’s game was a slog in the first half, with both teams struggling to…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/memphis-basketball-got-revenge-vs-013642335.html

Author : The Commercial Appeal

Publish date : 2025-02-10 01:36:00

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