Penny Hardaway said Monday there was plenty of blame to go around following Memphis basketball’s momentum-stunting loss at Wichita State.
Speaking during his weekly radio show at Brookhaven Pub & Grill, the seventh-year coach said it seemed to him the players treated Sunday’s 84-79 overtime defeat like they didn’t care whether they won or lost.
Hardaway also accepted responsibility for his decision-making during a crucial sequence at the end of regulation.
“That’s probably the worst I’ve ever finished a game,” said Hardaway. “That’s all on me, the way that I finished that game.”
Down 71-69 with 16.1 seconds left in the second half, Wichita State’s Ronnie DeGray III went to the free throw line with a chance to tie things up. Hardaway said that’s when he told Memphis’ leading scorer PJ Haggerty to take the ensuing in-bounds pass and make something happen.
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But Haggerty struggled to get open immediately. Nervous about a 5-second violation, Hardaway called timeout – something he said he didn’t intend to do.
In the huddle, Hardaway drew up a play, then second-guessed himself.
“At the last minute, I changed the play,” he said.
When play resumed, point guard Tyrese Hunter got the ball in to Haggerty, who took the ball past half court and immediately handed it off to Colby Rogers with 9.7 seconds left and counting. With tight coverage from DeGray, Haggerty couldn’t get open. So, with 4.5 seconds to go, Rogers tried to make a play. The former Shocker, with Xavier Bell guarding him, took off for the right corner and attempted an off-balance 3-pointer that missed.
“It should’ve been as simple as letting (Haggerty) get the ball and then just staying out of the way,” said Hardaway. “So, that’s all on me. And Colby chose to shoot that shot on his own. That’s just what he felt like he had to do at the last minute. We trusted him.”
Wichita State – which trailed by as many as eight points (with 12:05 left in the game) – took advantage in overtime. The Shockers got big shots from several players in the extra period, but perhaps none bigger than Bijan Cortes’ 3-pointer over 6-foot-11 center Moussa Cisse that put them up 78-77 with 1:10 left.
“We made a switch that we shouldn’t have switched on. It happens,” Hardaway said. “We just kind of handed them that one.”
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Memphis gets a week to recover and prepare for FAU (15-10, 8-4), who visits FedExForum on Sunday (1 p.m., ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU).
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at [email protected], follow him @munzly on X, and sign up for the Memphis Basketball Insider text group.
