A day after Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway sounded off on the media with an expletive-filled rant following the Tigers’ 70–62 loss to SMU, he issued an apology to his players, the fans and the university.
“Memphis ... Tiger Nation, I love you,” Hardaway said. “I let my emotions get the best of me last night and that's not the way you handle situations.
“I bleed blue and I'm fighting always for my school, for my city and for my players. We know there is adversity right now but it’s not going to stop us from working hard. We are going to make you guys proud, we’re going to win and we are going to get through this together ... to my players, let’s keep fighting on. We are 901 strong.”
Memphis (9–8, 3–4 American Athletic Conference) dropped its third consecutive loss and its eighth loss in its last 12 games. The loss on Thursday also gave the program its worst record through 17 games in a season since the 2004–05 National Invitational Tournament team under former Tigers coach John Calipari.
When Hardaway was asked by reporters if he had faith he could get the job done as the Tigers head coach, he did not hold back.
“This media gets f---ed up sometimes when it comes to me,” Hardaway said. “We don’t have our full roster, y’all know we don't have our full roster. Stop asking me stupid f---ing questions about if I feel like I can do something.”
Memphis returns to action on Sunday when the Tigers go on the road to face Tulsa.
