Memphis Basketball: Penny Hardaway's Tigers already moving on to Tennessee

Just minutes after Memphis completed its promising 94-76 victory over UAB Saturday, coach Penny Hardaway was looking exactly one week into the future. 

"Coach just told us about it," freshman Tyler Harris said in the post-game press conference. "It's going to be a game, one of the toughest games of the year for us."

Harris was talking, of course, about the Tigers' colossal matchup with No. 7 Tennessee the following Saturday. 

Although he's only a freshman, the guard already has a grasp of the bitterness that comprises the rivalry between the Volunteers and Tigers.

It would be impossible for a player from Memphis to ignore it. 

"I know a lot about it. I'm a Memphis kid," Harris said. "I was there in 2008 when it was No. 1 vs. No. 2, and I see a lot of things on social media about Memphis-Tennessee. So yeah, I'm aware of it."

While this season's edition of the clash may not have the same national significance as 2008, it certainly hasn't lost any of its meaning for Hardaway and the Tigers. It's Hardaway's first crack at a team ranked inside the top 10 and a chance to claim the basketball crown of Tennessee in front of the nation on ESPN2.

After all, the coach knows the distaste that accompanies losing to Tennessee better than anyone. He played against the Vols twice in his college career, losing both times.

"They have always had a tough team," Hardaway said. "Not as talented, when I was playing, but always tough and knew what they were doing on both ends of the floor."

The part about not being as talented – that's not the case anymore, and Hardaway knows it. 

"It's going to be a problem," Hardaway said. "Right now they are ranked (seventh) in the nation, and they've already played Kansas and had Kansas beat. ...They are just relentless, they go for 40 minutes."

The Volunteers rank inside KenPom's top 20 teams in offensive efficiency, defensive efficiency and rebounds per game. They split the SEC regular-season title with Auburn last season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament before being upset by Loyola Chicago.

But Hardaway certainly feels better about the matchup than he did two weeks ago when Memphis lost two of three games on its trip to the AdvoCare Invitational in Orlando.

Hardaway feels good enough about it that he's giving his team two days off to study for final exams this week.

Memphis' previous schedule, which featured five teams ranked inside KenPom's top 100 and included Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, LSU and Yale, was the Tigers' study guide for the test on the court. 

"Tennessee is its own monster within itself," Hardaway said. "But playing those teams, there's not a 'wow' factor with how big they are going to be, how fast they are going to be, or how physical they are going to be."

Not even for 5-foot-9, 150-pound Tyler Harris, who is leading the Tigers in scoring and 3-point shooting this season. 

"We know it's going to be a big game, the crowds going to be into it," Harris said. "But we can't play any different. We have to stay within ourselves."

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