Memphis looks to bounce back vs. Arkansas State

Memphis will play its first home game Wednesday, facing Arkansas State, after the Tigers lost two of their three games in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls, S.D., last week.

Penny Hardaway's team (1-2) followed a win over St. Mary's in the season opener with losses to Western Kentucky and VCU.

In the 70-59 defeat to VCU on Friday, Memphis shot only 35.1 percent from the field, 26.1 percent from 3-point range and committed 19 turnovers. This came after the Tigers shot well from beyond the arc against Western Kentucky in a 75-69 loss, making 9 of 20 shots from there. But they shot only 18 of 46 inside the 3-point line.

"We are not there yet, but we're going to get there," Hardaway said.

"We have been working so hard. Everyone is buying in. We have no selfish players on the offensive end, and we should be one of the better defensive teams in the country. We get in this tournament and things go south, but now you have to learn from it."

Hardaway is looking for more consistency out of his potential top scorers -- Landers Nolley and D.J. Jeffries. Against Western Kentucky, Nolley led the team with 25 points, but Jeffries scored only six. In the loss to VCU, Jeffries had a team-high 17 points but Nolley only five.

Boogie Ellis has emerged as the Tigers' leading scorer, averaging 16 points a game.

Arkansas State (0-2) is coming off losses to Marshall and Morehead State. Caleb Fields is averaging 17 points per game for the Red Wolves after his career-high 22 in the 69-61 loss at Morehead State on Sunday.

The Red Wolves finished 16-16 last season. They lost nine of their final 10 games, eight by 10 points or less. They missed about a month of preseason drills because of COVID-19 issues.

"I think our approach this year has been no matter what's been put in front of us, we've just got to deal with it head on," Arkansas State coach Mike Balado said.

"We know there's going to be a lot of adversity this year. Learning, coming in every day and getting 1 percent better, just dealing with any adversity that comes our way. We just want to go out and be the best that we can be."

--Field Level Media