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What did Penny Hardaway said after the exhibition win over Mississippi State?
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- What did Penny Hardaway said after the exhibition win over Mississippi State?
(USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect)
On Friday, Memphis won its first exhibition of the preseason in Starkville against Mississippi State. The Tigers started both halves extremely hot and won the game by 17 points.
While it's the first preseason game of the year, it's the second time Penny Hardaway's team has seen a different team after they hosted Jacksonville State on October 18 for a secret scrimmage.
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Against the Bulldogs, Memphis shot 50.9 percent from the field and 45 percent from deep and held Mississippi State to just 41.4 percent from the field.
Four of Hardaway's five starters finished in double figures, and point guard Jayden Reid led the team with 26 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Here's what Hardaway said after the exhibition.
What stood out from the stat sheet:
Hardaway was asked what stood out from the team's box score, and he immediately pointed out the defensive stats. The Tigers held Mississippi State to 41.4 percent from the field and 18.2 percent from deep.
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Hardaway said that it's impressive to do that on a road, especially against a team that is coming off a loss and would want to do a better job on the offensive end of the court.
"The percentages we held them to defensively coming into their building," Hardaway said. "To be able to come in here and be aggressive from the beginning defensively because defense travels. I'm really impressed with that."
Hardaway said the next thing that jumps out to him is the turnovers and assists. He was happy that his team tuned the ball over only nine times, but he said he would like to see more assists from his group.
"We only had nine turnovers," Hardaway said. "They pressed us really well. That was only a little small segment. We had 13 assists. We want to get 20."
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The Tigers went into the exhibition looking for a win:
Exhibitions are interesting because a lot of coaches go into them differently. Some go into the game with the sole focus on learning and figuring things out about the team in different situations, but that wasn't the case for Hardaway.
He said that he wanted to win the exhibition and start building excitement and confidence in this team ahead of the regular season.
"In the past, I would've played 10, 11 or 12 guys just to see who was who, but today I came in to win," Hardaway said. "We really came in to win the game. We didn't come in and just try to see who was who. We knew we wanted to get this attitude and this swag established early. This Memphis toughness, and we knew tonight would be a night to do that."
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This team being more defensively connected than previous teams:
Hardaway has stressed the importance of defense throughout the offseason, and it looks like this group has the potential to be one of his better defensive teams. Hardaway was asked if he thinks this team is more connected defensively than previous teams, and he said he does.
"I do feel that way because it fell naturally for this guys," Hardaway said. "You don't have to press the entire game to change the game. They're communicating. They're in the gaps in half court. When we have to press after free throws, which we did and with dead balls, they know how to press without giving up an easy bucket."
Hardaway compared this team to the 2022-23 team that featured Alex Lomax and Kendric Davis. That team finished the season ranked No. 38 in defensive efficiency and ranked in the top 50 in several defensive categories.
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"This team is very connected defensively," Hardaway said. "Kind of like it was when I had Alo and Kendric Davis on the same team. That team was connected as well. It's a very connected team defensively, and I like that."
