PRIME EXAMPLE
Bearcats show Tigers what they could be
Penny Hardaway walked slowly from the sideline onto the court at Fedexforum and stared. For a good 30 seconds.
He simply looked at his Memphis players from a distance, shaking his head as assistant coach Mike Miller delivered instructions during the final media timeout of the Tigers’ 69-64 loss to No. 25 Cincinnati.
And then, once the Tigers immediately committed a five-second violation trying to get the ball inbounds, Hardaway crumpled the piece of paper in his hand and stopped himself before flinging it to the ground in disgust.
Hardaway saw the team he wants Memphis to become Thursday night. One problem: They were wearing Cincinnati jerseys.
This much was certain after the Tigers turned a chance to get the first signature win of the Hardaway era into the
first three-game losing streak of the Hardaway era. Because after this latest setback, it was Hardaway who was jealous.
“We’re not accustomed to just outscraping somebody for the entire game,” he said. “That’s what they do.”
That wasn’t the only time he mentioned it, either. His postgame press conference started, ended and featured the same theme throughout.
“Once the culture is built the way it is at Cincinnati, at Houston, all these teams that are winning basketball games at a high level, they all believe in one thing: They want to win,” Hardaway said. “They don’t take themselves out of the game. They play good team defense. They scrap every second they’re out on the floor, and we really aren’t that team right now. But we will be.”
That last part is important because it’s obvious Hardaway’s first team at Memphis is going to be far less talented than his second team. But it’s not just a lack of talent that has the Tigers “stuck in the mud” these days, according to a frustrated Hardaway, and unable to beat the best teams on their schedule this season.
Memphis was more talented than Tulsa and South Florida last week, and they certainly weren’t less talented than Cincinnati Thursday night.
Not when senior Jeremiah Martin drained seven 3-pointers en route to another 26 points.
Not when the Tigers held Cincinnati without a field goal over the final 7:07 of the first half, a drought that included 13 missed shots in a row, and then forced two shot clock violations before the first media timeout of the second half.
Not when they built an 11-point lead after halftime. So what’s the difference right now? “You learn from teams that you play against and it’s like we got to go hard at them every time, relentless,” senior Mike Parks said. “That’s where we got to get to. We’re trying. That’s our ultimate thing. That’s our ultimate goal. We can do these plays and all that, but it’s about toughness. They were just a tougher team today."
And they didn’t become that way overnight.
For proof, all Hardaway had to do was look down the court at the Cincinnati huddle. Early in the second half, once Memphis took that double-digit lead, the Bearcats were yelling and screaming at one another during a timeout.
But this wasn’t a moment that occurred simply due to what happened Thursday. It was a moment borne from 13 seasons under coach Mick Cronin. Listening to him talk afterwards, it was as if he was reassuring Hardaway it won’t always have to be like it is now.
“We’re going to go down, (but) we’re not going quietly. The guys know how I am. I’m going to challenge them,” Cronin said. “I’m not going to sit there and watch the ball roll around on the ground. We’re not going to sit there and watch teams shoot layups.”
“It was a long time ago I was building this program," he continued. "We didn’t win a lot of games back in my first couple years in the Big East, but we gave everything we had. That’s how we built the foundation of our program. The minute I let that slip away, we’ll stop winning. Cincinnati basketball won’t be what it’s been. That’s what I had to build when I took the job over.”
That’s what Hardaway needs to build for this year's team. But more importantly, for the five-star recruits that arrive on campus next year.
Because talent can only take a team so far. They all need an identity.
And right now, Memphis doesn’t have one Hardaway likes. Cincinnati does.
“Every other team is just tougher,” Hardaway said. “They impose their will on us. They’re just tougher."
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto