Penny Hardaway Pleads 'I'm Not A Loser' With Memphis Basketball Officially Spiraling

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The Memphis Tigers are down, and down bad, but head coach Penny Hardaway wants fans to know that he is not a loser.

Two weeks ago Memphis hoops was riding high sitting at 15-2 on the season with the team's two lone losses coming to Villanova and on the road at Ole Miss. This looked like a team that if things fell the right way for them then a Sweet 16 appearance would be its floor.

Fast forward 14 days after Memphis' last win against Wichita State on January 14 and the Tigers have gone from a darkhorse title contender to a team spiraling out of control.

Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers are struggling in a major way. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images)

Memphis gave up a 15-point halftime lead at home to South Florida on January 18 and followed that up with back-to-back losses on the road to Tulane and UAB. In an incredibly underwhelming American Athletic Conference going on a losing streak is a no-no, and everyone involved with Memphis knows it.

After his team's loss to South Florida, Hardaway said his team had "so many things going on" that were taking away from the common goal of winning basketball games. After the team's loss at UAB on Sunday afternoon he didn't sugarcoat things.

“I don’t think everyone’s pulling the rope in the same direction,” he said. “Guys are feeling like they can do it individually, by themselves, because they’ve done it where they’ve been. Obviously, we see that’s not true.”

“I’m not a loser,” Hardaway continued. “I’ve been down before. We’ve just got to stop making excuses, man. I have to coach better, and they have to play harder.”

While Memphis still boasts a resume that his NCAA Tournament worthy, that reality could change in a hurry with another couple of losses against mediocre teams in the AAC.

Not only do the Tigers have a lack of momentum and togetherness going against them, they only have two legitimate opportunities to add to their tournament resume from this point forward with a home and away slate against Florida Atlantic.

Hardaway can plead that he's not a loser all he wants, but if Memphis stumbles a couple more times over the final 11 games of the regular season, loser is the exact word his critics will use against him.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.