Memphis return means a lot for city
Orion Maxwell had the scrapbook with him, in the grand lobby of Fedexforum on Wednesday night, and had a straightforward request: “Do you know how I can get this to Penny?”
Maxwell, 79, makes one of these for every Memphis basketball season. Pages of laminated clippings from The Commercial Appeal, from each Tigers’ game, bound together to form the story of that particular year.
And here, ahead of this first home game of this most unusual college basketball season, he was holding the 2019-20 version. A scrapbook full of pictures chronicling the initial excitement and the unfulfilled promise of Penny Hardaway’s topsyturvy second year as Memphis coach.
“I’ve been trying to give it to him since March,” Maxwell said.
It had been that long since there was a basketball game downtown. Since March 10, when the Memphis Grizzlies lost to the Orlando Magic. One day later, the sports world came to a halt. It’s only gradually returned, and doesn’t yet resemble what we lost.
So Wednesday it was time for the lights to turn on at Fedexforum again. The ushers were back on duty for the first time, and concession stands were open for the first time. That polarizing blue-and-gray Tigerstriped court was back, with no courtside seating and socially distanced benches. A couple of thousand fans were staggered throughout the three levels of the arena.
They watched the Tigers beat Arkansas State 83-54 to rebound from those two losses in South Dakota, and it all felt a little empty, and a little strange, and a little too much like one of those lifeless Memphis basketball
affairs during the Tubby Smith era.
But at least this was another milestone to scratch off the list of things that had gone away but not yet returned during this pandemic. At least there was another game to watch, to dissect and to distract from the reality created by this pandemic, and the reality Memphis created for itself after losing to Western Kentucky and VCU to begin the season.
The victory, unfortunately, seemed far more meaningful and symbolic for the city than it did for the Tigers.
Memphis cruised against an inferior opponent, exactly as it needed to after those disheartening setbacks last week. The Tigers moved the ball better, particularly when Arkansas State played a zone defense, but they still shot worse than 43% from the field.
Given what took place last week, there’s only so much goodwill that a performance like this can generate. The criteria for judging Hardaway is fairly obvious now anyways: If Memphis doesn’t return to the NCAA Tournament this year, with the roster it has in place, Hardaway will deserve to be criticized.
As has been mentioned in this column and elsewhere over the past few months, every successful Memphis basketball coach since Gene Bartow took the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament by Year 3. Losing two of three, combined with the lack of opportunities for marquee wins in what promises to be a disjointed season, left the Tigers with minimal margin for error the rest of the way.
“We needed a wake up call to see who we are,” guard Landers Nolley II said
Wednesday’s game, viewed within that context, was better than last week’s losses. It was important for Memphis, for Hardaway and the players, to see their plans work. To look happy on the court together. To laugh with one another, like when Moussa Cisse and Lester Quinones battled to see who could grab their 10th rebound first.
Cisse seemed to speak for the entire team when he discussed his South Dakota experience: “I got my (butt) kicked and I was like, ‘All right. I’m not gonna let that happen again.’ “
So far, so good. Based on the level of competition, though, nothing that took place against Arkansas State proved to be anything more than momentary reassurance.
Hardaway changed his starting lineup, inserting Damion Baugh and Boogie Ellis for Alex Lomax and Nolley in the backcourt. Nolley responded with 23 points off the bench; Quinones added 15 points, 10 rebounds and six assists; and Cisse had his first double-double.
But Hardaway also substituted for four of his starters before the game was three minutes old. Ellis and D.J. Jeffries were a combined 2-for-13 from the floor and accounted for only two rebounds and one assist.
Memphis pressed more and played at more of a helter-skelter pace, just as Hardaway promised when he said Tuesday he was going back to his coaching roots with East High, Team Penny and Lester Middle School. The Tigers also finished with more rebounds (49) and assists (21) than in any game last week.
But Memphis shot just 6-of-26 from 3-point range, unable to generate any consistent offense outside of the paint.
“It passed the eye test because of the energy, the energy we played with,” Hardaway said.
Still, it was impossible to know whether the Tigers actually had fixed what went wrong in South Dakota. Those answers can’t come until they face Auburn and move into conference play later this month (if COVID-19 testing allows all of this to happen).
For now, Wednesday night simply became a moment to reflect on how long it’s been since Fedexforum hosted a basketball game. It became the first of hopefully many winter nights featuring a smattering of fans safely watching the Tigers and Grizzlies downtown. It became the first chance Maxwell had to give Hardaway his annual scrapbook.
There he stood in Fedexforum’s grand lobby, clutching the scrapbook underneath one arm, as Dwight Boyd walked past. The former Tigers’ great and current director of player personnel could get this to Hardaway. So Maxwell approached and waited for Boyd to finish his phone conversation.
Then he showed Boyd the scrapbook. He didn’t need much of an explanation.
“Every year,” Boyd said with a smile, “he gives us one.”
Even this year.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto