Heart and soul of Tigers
The ascension of Alex Lomax: Going behind the scenes with the Memphis basketball leader’s supporting cast.
Alex Lomax was lost.
Too passive. Too many turnovers. Too many bad shots.
Clearly frustrated, the junior guard and hometown star was wilting 10 game into the season when most in the program expected the opposite. Borderline unrecognizable, even to some of those closest to him. Certainly, a far cry from where he stands now, six weeks later, as the Tigers' “heart and soul,” so labeled by teammate D.J. Jeffries. Lomax had been low before. “I had nothing at one point growing up. I know what it feels like to go home to nothing,” the 21-year-old Lomax said.
This was unfamiliar territory. Never before had the decorated high school star and celebrated son of Memphis' Binghampton neighborhood struggled so mightily for so long. At one of his lowest points and in desperate need of a reset, Lomax leaned on some familiar faces.
In doing so, he was reminded of how far he's come, how his advanced perspective is one of his greatest assets and how much help the right person's opinion can be.
As a result, both he and the Tigers (12-6, 8-3 AAC) have flourished. Having won six of their past seven games and in position for the AAC Championship, with a home game against Tulane (9-9, 4-9) on Wednesday (7 p.m.), Memphis' reversal of fortune was sparked by what its catalyst found when he went soul-searching.
A timely text and 'the queen of Binghampton'
Lomax called it a heart-to-heart conversation. Amber Rainey called it a come-to-jesus meeting.
It had been a while since the two had spoken – too long, as it turned out, according to Lomax – so Rainey wasn't sure whether her text message would sit well or not. After all, it was sent after the Memphis basketball team let another secondhalf lead slip away, in the heat of the moment.
Watching from home, Rainey saw very little resembling the player she'd coached when Lomax began stealing the show as a 5-year-old at Lester Community Center in Binghampton.
Missing was the confidence that came from being talented enough to play up an age group. Absent was the innate decision-making ability Lomax had wielded throughout his career, first at Lester Middle School and later at East High.
Rainey wasn't the only person impressed by Lomax's athletic ability before he burst onto the Memphis scene.
“He was small, but he was just so tough,” said Lamarcus Golden, the cousin of Memphis coach Penny Hardaway, who began coaching Lomax, along with Hardaway and the late Desmond Merriweather, when he was in the sixth grade at Lester.
“We saw glimpses and flashes. We said, ‘Man, this kid is going to be good.'
“That's pretty much when Penny fell in love with him.”
But Rainey wasn't seeing that in Lomax as the season started. Missing was the Lomax who set himself apart from others his age, because, she said, “he ran on his tiptoes and I didn't have to teach him to look up and dribble.” So, she was a little surprised when Lomax responded so quickly to her text message, which wasn't so much a request, rather an order.
"Call me when you can," the text read.
And then there was the last straw for Rainey.
“I saw him do one crazy play where he was right at the goal, about to make a layup, but he turns and throws it to Lester (Quinones)," said Rainey. "They were (winning), but he kicks it out to Lester who missed the shot. I just couldn't take it anymore. Blowing lead after lead, so I was like, ‘Nah, wait a minute.' "
“He can say it was a heart-to-heart, but I was getting on him," she added. "Sometimes, everybody needs a kick in the rear.”
For more than an hour, Rainey peppered Lomax with rhetorical questions meant to snap him out of the funk, reminded him of certain things she believed he had forgotten and instructed him to go back to being himself.
"She let me know what was on her heart and it got me back to thinking about the old days," Lomax said.
Intentional or not, the conversation with Rainey had a two-pronged effect. It also prompted Lomax to connect with someone else he was close with growing up in thebinghampton neighborhood.
Even before he was introduced to Rainey, Lomax was taken under another woman's wing. He credits Lester Community Center assistant director Alice Davis for helping mold him both as a player and a person.
Davis is known as “Ms. Jeanita” and affectionately referred to as “the queen of Binghampton.”
Davis, whose battle with COVID-19 in recent months has so far prevented her from attending any Tigers games this season, maintains a consistent dialogue with Lomax.
"Ms. Jeanita, that was like my mom when I was growing up. She took care of me. She means so much to me," he said. " ... I've got to do everything I can for her.
“Those two females kept it strong for me. They helped me get back to the old ways. That's one of my ultimate goals is making them two proud.”
An unfamiliar friend
Perspective is one thing. Confidence is something else entirely.
And Lomax's swagger had taken a hit.
After a stellar high school career under Hardaway at Memphis East, Lomax was steady in his first two seasons with the Tigers as he was reunited with his former coach.
He was forecast to turn a corner this season but Lomax failed to elevate his game. In his first eight games, he averaged 4.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.8 turnovers.
What followed was a toxic cocktail of harsh criticism and self-doubt.
“During that stretch, it was a lot of different things going through my head,” he said.
For instance, Lomax was preoccupied by issues with family. His social life – both friends and those he considers more than friends – had become a distraction. All of which exacerbated his struggles on and off the court.
So Lomax went back to basics, simplifying his surroundings and getting out of his own way. And, it worked. He put the Tigers on his back to spark a come-from-behind win over South Florida on Dec. 29.
"That's the Alex I'm used to seeing, since the Lester Middle School, East High School days," Hardaway said. "That's the way he used to will our teams to win."
After a 1-point loss at Tulsa following a 19-day layoff, Lomax righted the ship again, leading Memphis to 20-pluspoint wins over Wichita State and East Carolina. The latter prompted a rallying cry from an unfamiliar source.
Antonio Anderson was a standout guard at Memphis from 2005-09, and, like Lomax, was referred to as the team's "glue guy." He helped lead the Tigers to the 2008 national title game — averaging more than 10 points in the NCAA tournament that season — and is sixth place on the school's all-time assists and steals lists.
Anderson, now the boys basketball coach at Lynn English High in Massachusetts, was moved enough by Lomax's performance against the Pirates to declare him on social media “the BEST defender” at Memphis since himself.
“You can tell Penny and the coaches have that trust in him,” said Anderson. “I just wanted to reward him. He gives it his all. Takes charges. Diving on the floor. Just toughness. You can only love someone like that.”
The Tigers have won six of their past seven games. During that stretch, Lomax is averaging 9.4 points, six assists and 2.1 steals.
Lomax and Anderson have never met in person, although Lomax later appeared on Anderson's “Beale Street Bullies” podcast via Zoom, but a vote of confidence from a voice of authority only lifted Lomax's spirits.
“That's like an all-time Tiger great,” he said. “He's recognizing me, especially during the time when I had been getting a lot of negativity about me. That was like the monkey off my back. It let me know that there are people who notice the right things I do. The good plays I make. Maybe sometimes that's all you need to start getting back to doing better things.”