What's the first thing Penny Hardaway will address after Memphis' loss at LSU?

BATON ROUGE, La. — Penny Hardaway walked off the court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Tuesday night knowing exactly how his Memphis team will start its next practice.

“Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding,” the first-year coach said definitively following the Tigers’ 85-76 loss to 22nd-ranked LSU. “Basically, boxing out.”

It was, by far, the most disappointing aspect of his team’s first road game of the season. Would Hardaway have preferred to shoot fewer than 30 three-pointers? Sure. Would he have liked a stronger finish to the first half that saw LSU go on a 10-2 run and his Tigers shoot 1-for-4 with two turnovers inside the final two minutes? Of course. Would he rather have his players not miss quite as many layups? Absolutely.

But, more than anything, Hardaway believes the glaring deficiency that needs to be nipped in the bud posthaste is an inside game that was overmatched against LSU. Will Wade’s club out-rebounded the Tigers 37-32 and outscored them 48-30 in the paint.

“We have to be relentless on the glass,” Hardaway said. “We have to box out. That hurts you. We didn’t turn the ball over and we won the free throw game (14-12). But, boxing out.”

Despite leaving Baton Rouge with a 14-13 advantage in offensive rebounds, Memphis couldn’t help but feel like it lost that battle. Emmitt Williams and Kavell Bigby-Williams combined for nine of LSU’s offensive boards.

“The main thing we tried to do was come in and take away their offensive rebounding,” Hardaway said. “But (Williams and Bigby-Williams), they’re great offensive rebounders. Even though we had a game plan and knew what to do, they imposed their will on us.

“But, for us to be as close as we were in the rebounding game – with this team, as small as we played – it says a lot about the fellas.”

Guard Jeremiah Martin said he would return to Memphis looking on the bright side.

“Coach warned us all week that they were big and athletic,” he said. “And it was a challenge. But it’s something we can build off of. I think it was a great test for us in the beginning of the year.”

“We’ve got guys that are capable of (being rim protectors),” Hardaway said. “They just have to buy in. We can create a rim protector, for sure.”

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