At his media availability today Memphis Tiger’s head basketball coach revealed that during the Christmas break he and the coaches had installed a “new” offense

Taking advantage of a week break between games Coach Hardaway installed an offense he stated he’s had “for at least a dozen years”. Called the Lion’s Set, the new offense allows more of his big men to be closer to the basket, which he hoped would provide more opportunities for offensive rebounds.

Coach Hardaway explained that the offense they had been using earlier had been installed by Coach Toppert, but he hadn’t been as familiar with it. This made adjusting “on the fly” difficult. Having a week between games gave him an opportunity to put this offense in. Coach Hardaway felt the previous offense had his big men too far away from the basket, which allowed teams to pack the paint.

Penny also explained that he hadn’t used this offense before because in his first season he had a team of seniors, and they utilized an offense similar to the previous season’s under Tubby Smith. Last year the team had mostly freshmen and he was concerned this offense wouldn’t fit with their experience level. Now he feels comfortable installing it having a mix of younger and older players. Penny added that for the first time this season he has all of his defenses installed.

Penny did add that outside pressured “from people not on the staff” had an effect on the team early in the season. He thinks the “bad loss to Tulsa” was something they needed to bring them together. During his availability Deandre Williams echoed Penny’s sentiments on the new offense and felt it was better for the team overall. Williams felt that when adversity has hit the team during games, the players would lose focus instead of having a “get to the next play mentality”. Deandre said that as one of the older players on the team he was learning patience playing with a young roster, but felt the talent was obvious.

The Tigers will test this new offense and their defense Tuesday December 29 at 6 p.m. against the USF Bulls.