Memphis basketball is not guaranteed a spot in the American Conference tournament.
It’s a harsh reality for the Tigers (12-15, 7-7), who are the defending regular-season conference champions and the defending league tournament title winners.
Memphis is assured of four more games — starting with Wichita State (18-10, 10-5) at FedExForum Feb. 26 (8 p.m. CT, ESPN2) — but that’s it right now. The Tigers are tied with Temple for seventh in the conference standings. Both were one game behind Charlotte and Tulane prior to games set for Feb. 25, and they’re both a half-game ahead of North Texas and FAU (tied for ninth).
The prospect of his team not advancing to the American tournament (set to begin March 11 in Birmingham, Alabama) is not one coach Penny Hardaway has entertained. He is still aiming for a top-four finish, which would afford Memphis a double-bye into the quarterfinal round on March 13.
“I never once thought about not making the tournament. If you don’t get a triple-bye (the reward for a top-two finish), just get into the tournament — anything can happen,” Hardaway said. “You don’t want to be playing three and four games, but you’re in the tournament. Anything can happen, and we’ve seen teams do that.
“So, I’m just going to stay positive about it. I haven’t looked at it like, ‘Man, we might not make the tournament.’ You just can’t keep losing games at home. You’ve got to win your games at home and you’ve got to go fight like hell on the road.”
Here are three things we’re keeping an eye on ahead of tip-off against the Shockers.
How Tigers’ first meeting with Wichita State went
The Shockers punched Memphis in the mouth Jan. 24 en route to a 74-59 victory.
After the Tigers scored the game’s first four points, Wichita State scored 29 of the next 33. Paul Mills’ team went into halftime up 40-22.
Memphis won the second half 37-34. It did so largely without leading scorer Dug McDaniel, who was dealing with concussion-like symptoms after colliding with a screener on defense. The Tigers were also without second-leading scorer Sincere Parker, who missed the game with an ankle issue.
The 59 points in that game are the fewest for Memphis in a loss this season and the fewest since scoring 55 in a win over Temple on Jan. 14. Kenyon Giles and Karon Boyd put up 14 apiece for the Shockers.
It was also the final game Hasan Abdul Hakim appeared in for the Tigers. The forward was dismissed Feb. 18 for repeated violations of team rules.
Aaron Bradshaw injury update
Aaron Bradshaw, the Tigers’ 7-foot forward, scored 10 points and had nine rebounds in the first game against Wichita State.
His status for the rematch, however, is uncertain after he suffered a left elbow injury in Memphis’ loss at South Florida on Feb. 19. Bradshaw played only the first 48 seconds of the team’s loss to UAB on Feb. 22 before having to come out.
“It’s a day-to-day thing, because if that thing gets hit or he gets sandwiched in between someone or it gets bent back, that could cause him to leave the game again,” Hardaway said during his weekly radio show on Feb. 23. “We just don’t know. We’ve just got to hope when he goes out there (and) he doesn’t get put in an awkward situation with his elbow.
“We just have to hope he’s strong enough to sustain. Darrell Turner, our head trainer, is going to put him in a brace instead of taping it up, to see if that helps.”
Wichita State basketball scouting report
The Shockers have won eight of their past 10 games. The two losses during that span came against Tulsa and South Florida, the only teams currently ahead of Wichita State in the standings.
But Mills’ squad has not exactly been dominant. The Shockers are just plus-5 in average scoring margin in their three most recent wins. Their average margin of victory in the four wins before that was 14 points per game.
Giles leads Wichita State with 21.1 points per game in American play, which is the second-best mark in the conference behind East Carolina’s Jordan Riley.
Memphis basketball score prediction vs. Wichita State
Wichita State 84, Memphis 71: There’s no reason to believe the Tigers will halt their tailspin until it actually happens. Memphis lost the benefit of the doubt long ago.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at [email protected], follow him @munzly on X.
