SEATTLE — Penny Hardaway has a good idea of what has to happen for Memphis to get over its recent postseason hump. Making it a reality once again proved difficult for the seventh-year coach.
The fifth-seeded Tigers fell to Colorado State 78-70 in the opening round of the men’s NCAA tournament Friday at Climate Pledge Arena, another early exit for a storied program that has failed to advance to the Sweet 16 since Hardaway took over at his alma mater in 2018.
“We want to make deep runs in March, and we haven’t done that yet,” said Hardaway, whose team won the American Athletic Conference tournament after finishing atop the regular-season standings. “It doesn’t matter what happened the night of those games. I haven’t gotten it done yet. Just got to get better. I understand that’s going to be the subject. Just got to grow from it and just keep getting better, and that’s what I’m doing.”
This marked Memphis’ third appearance in the NCAA tournament under Hardaway, who was a four-time NBA All-Star as a player. The Tigers lost in the second round to Gonzaga in 2022 and in the first round to Florida Atlantic the following year before missing the tournament last season.
This time, it was Kyan Evans and 12th-seeded Colorado State that sent Memphis home early, with the sophomore guard catching fire in the second half to help the Rams turn a five-point halftime deficit into a comfortable win.
Memphis was playing without guard Tyrese Hunter, the first-team All-AAC selection who injured his foot in the semifinals of the AAC tournament. Hardaway said the Tigers “obviously” missed Hunter — their third-leading scorer — and the coach made several mentions of the team’s tough injury luck over the past two seasons.
“You’ve just got to keep recruiting,” he said when asked how the Tigers can get past the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament. “You’ve got to get the guys here that care. You’ve got to have the luck of not having any injuries. You’ve just got to keep getting better. I understand that that goes along with this.
“I fully understand what the postseason is all about, and it’s just really unfortunate for us that we haven’t been able to get over the hump for various reasons. … The first year, didn’t finish the game against Gonzaga. The second year, lost at the buzzer, and then this year, we lose and then you don’t have Tyrese. I know how it’s viewed, and I just have to continue to get better and keep growing.”
Despite Hunter’s absence and PJ Haggerty’s cold shooting, Memphis appeared to be in control while taking a 36-31 halftime lead. But Evans found his rhythm in the second half and Colorado State found an answer for Dain Dainja, the senior forward who had carried Memphis over the first 20 minutes.
The Rams tied the game at 48 five minutes into the second half, then went ahead by 10 at the 8:38 mark after Evans made a pair of 3-pointers in a little over a minute.
Evans finished with a season-high 23 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range.
“Whatever Kyan was feeling tonight, I just want to feel that one time — because I haven’t felt like that,” Colorado State coach Niko Medved said. “Kyan, he’s just one of those guys. He’s an unbelievable competitor. He’s a live-it hoops guy. He learned a lot last year playing behind another great point guard. Watching his development this year has just been special. He comes in every day. He soaks it up, and he’s aggressive. He really believes in himself and what he can do, and I agree — I thought he really controlled the game … really brought us a swagger, and he just really had a special game.
“He’s really had a special conference season for us. He’s been one of our leaders and he’s playing at a high level right now and he’s just got a really, really bright future. Bright present, too.”
Nique Clifford and Jalen Lake each added 14 points for the Rams.
Dainja led Memphis with 15 points in the first half, picking up Haggerty’s slack as the nation’s third-leading scorer made only three of his first 10 attempts. But Colorado State held Dainja scoreless over the game’s final 12 minutes. He finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes.
“They packed it in, just like Coach said,” Dainja said. “So I was really just looking for my teammates. We got some open looks. We just couldn’t knock ’em down.”
Said Medved: “Dain Dainja’s a load. He’s really hard. I thought we did a little bit better job in the second half of kind of taking his real estate, not allowing him to catch it where he wanted, bringing a little bit of help earlier to him when he put it on the floor.”
Haggerty finished with 18 points, but six of them came via a pair of 3-pointers in the final minute, by which point Colorado State was salting away the victory.
Hardaway said this season-ending loss is harder for him to swallow than last season’s. He drew a parallel between Hunter’s injury and the one that sidelined guard Caleb Mills late last year.
“You’ve got to have some luck, and when Tyrese went down, we knew it was going to hurt because he’s a guy that’s been here before,” Hardaway said. “You need as much experience as you can.”
