Sparse crowd gives Tigers unique test
NEW ORLEANS – Seconds before tipoff of the Tigers’ 83-79 win over Tulane on Sunday, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway opened the door of the visitor’s locker room to a surprise. He had guests waiting for him. Chris and Sarah Markwell, as well as Stewart and Leslie Gabb, Memphis fans who made the trip to Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans, waited over an hour for the coach to walk down the narrow hallway.
“Make sure you get my good side,” Stewart Gabb said jokingly as they anticipated the door opening.
When Hardaway finally appeared, he stopped, shaking hands and thanking the group for coming while knowingly creating a candid photo opportunity for each person.
When Hardaway ran onto the floor, both couples nudged each other and looked around in excitement. It’s not often visiting fans get a chance to talk to their team’s coach moments before the start of the game.
The scene was Hardaway’s first taste of perhaps the most unique environment in conference play.
Hardaway once visited Tulane as a player, but the state of the Green Wave’s program is different now. Nowadays, Tulane is 4-12, and the support for the program is at a low.
The announced attendance of 1,105 for the game was hardly the case. As the Tigers’ coach shouted instructions to his team in the first half, his voice echoed. The stands opposite of his bench were barren.
“(The players) are not used to coming into a gym where there are no fans,” Hardaway said. “It was a big day for New Orleans because you had the Saints playing, so I’m sure a lot of the fans went to the football game.”
But in many ways, as senior guard Jeremiah Martin pointed out, the near-empty building actually made the game enjoyable for the Memphis players. It felt intimate, as if a handful of the Tigers’ most dedicated fans were viewing a private scrimmage.
“I felt like we had a couple of busloads coming down and we had some donors come with us on our plane. So, I knew that we would have more fans than them,” Hardaway said.
“It definitely feels different,” Martin added. “Because we usually get 14,000 for every game. It’s usually packed and there’s a lot of noise.”
The gathering of Memphis fans behind his bench far outnumbered pockets of Tulane supporters spread across the gym.
Martin suggested that Tulane might have been discouraged by the hometown showing at the beginning of the game, and perhaps that was the reason for the Green Wave’s slow start.
But after Mike Dunleavy’s team stormed back from an 18-point deficit in the second half, the Memphis fans made even more noise, willing the team to stave off the dramatic comeback.
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“It felt like we were at home,” senior Kyvon Davenport added.
By the time Memphis’ postgame chatter and locker room celebration wrapped up, Tigers fans still hadn’t left the arena. Some waited for Hardaway in the hallway again, children hurled shots at the Tulane basket, and assistant coaches Tony Madlock and Sam Mitchell talked with fans on the sideline.
Included in the mix of those who stuck around were the Markwell’s and Gabb’s, who also waited 30 minutes before the game for the arena staff to let them in.
Which is why, it the personal interaction between the Tigers and their fans that made the trip to New Orleans well worth it.
“No doubt,” Martin said. “Especially when the team wins, too.”