Though not quite Bobby Knight's chair moment, Penny Hardaway expressed his frustration at the end of Friday’s contest through a throwaway action of his own.
In the closing moments of ninth-seeded Memphis' loss to eighth-seeded FAU on Friday, the Tigers threw the ball away, only to get it back on the other end. Kind of. While it appeared Memphis had called a subsequent timeout, the officials ruled a tie-up, with the possession arrow pushing the ball back to the Owls.
FAU proceeded to hit the game-winning layup out of the ensuing baseline out-of-bounds play to down Memphis by a 66-65 final score.
A closer look at that end sequence revealed that the Memphis head coach Hardaway chucked a water bottle out of anger as the final buzzer sounded.
Since taking over as head coach of the Tigers in 2018, Hardaway has only made it past the Round of 64 once (last season) and has failed to make the NCAA Tournament altogether twice (though Hardaway did lead Memphis to the NIT Tournament title in 2021).
Memphis finishes the season 26-9 overall, albeit with an AAC Tournament Championship to their name. As for Hardaway’s long-term future as their coach, the Tigers have already made their decision on that one.
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