The University of Memphis men's basketball team (16-4, 6-1) beat the UAB Blazers (12-8, 5-2) in a key conference rivalry matchup on Sunday, 100-77.
Here are some key takeaways from the Tigers' dominant win in a striped-out FedEx Forum:
Memphis is still the team to beat in the AAC.
This Memphis squad, ranked 24th in the nation (and rising), wasn't picked to win this sad rendition of the AAC in the preseason. But ever since the Tigers' impressive performance in Maui, Memphis has been the team to beat in their league.
Memphis' impressive nonconference résumé began to space Penny Hardaway's team from the rest of the abysmal conference. Still, Sunday's dominant win over preseason AAC favorite UAB is "where we show separation between the rest of the league and us," according to Hardaway.
Penny deserves his flowers.
Just three days prior to Memphis' statement win against the Blazers, the home team came out flat offensively against a poor Wichita State team, totaling 20 turnovers and only 6 assists. Although the Tigers used a late run to seal the win against the Shockers, the damage was done. Tiger fans saw what they saw, and it was not pretty.
In his postgame radio interview, Hardaway said that he had been coaching his team the wrong way and planned on running the offense through the hands of star guards PJ Haggerty and Tyrese Hunter to reduce turnovers.
Many were skeptical, but the Tigers' performance Sunday afternoon against UAB showed that Hardaway has figured out his offense.
One of the biggest criticisms fans have for Hardaway is that he hasn't developed as a coach, which is blatantly false.
Hardaway is honest with himself and his roster, a quality not all coaches possess. Sure, he's not perfect, but it is unfair to criticize Hardaway for his failures but not credit him for his success.
Despite what some Memphis fans will tell you, UAB is a rivalry game.
Memphis has developed a basketball rivalry with UAB, which is good.
Developing rivalries can be tricky in a conference where no one has the resources or fanbase the Tigers do. However, Memphis has its second AAC basketball rivalry, the previous being with FAU.
In the postgame presser, I asked Haggerty if the fact that UAB was ranked ahead of his squad in the preseason poll created a will to run up the score.
Haggerty's answer: "It wasn't really personal...might have been a little personal."
Late on Sunday evening, Blazer star forward Yaxel Lendeborg posted a snarky, sarcastic comment on his X regarding Dain Dainja's career day: "Congrats on the best game of your career bro! I’ll see you.
For many reasons, animosity is building between these teams and fanbases. It is encouraging that even in a weak conference, Memphis fans will always care enough to establish a rivalry with any fanbase that cares as much as they do.
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