Memphis Basketball is the reigning American Athletic Conference champion. As the league changes around them, they plan on starting their title defense with a tough non-conference schedule.
There are a lot of challenging games on the slate for Penny Hardaway’s team. There are road games at SEC opponents, home games against more power conference foes, and one of the more prestigious tournaments of the holiday season.
Considering the state of the AAC – which lost the likes of Houston and Cincinnati to the Big 12 – Memphis would do well to win a lot during non-conference play.
How will Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers handle a challenging non-conference schedule in 2023-24?
Memphis’ non-conference schedule includes seven guaranteed games against teams that played in either the NCAA Tournament or NIT a year ago. That number could grow, based on what happens in the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The Tigers have a lot of work to do during the offseason and early season after losing star Kendric Davis, as well as DeAndre Williams and Alex Lomax. The status of incoming freshman Mikey Williams remains unclear after he was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon.
Hardaway cleaned up in the transfer portal, though, bringing in Jordan Brown from Louisiana and Caleb Mills from Florida State. Just when it seemed like the reloading was over, Memphis nabbed Jahvon Quinerly from Alabama, too.
Will Memphis take home another AAC crown? Will they go to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive year?
It all starts with the non-conference schedule. Let’s take a closer look.
Regular Season Games
In-season tournaments and challenges are not included in this category.
November 6 vs. Jackson State
Memphis’ first game isn’t particularly daunting. Mo Williams did his best to turn around Jackson State in his first season and follow in the rebuilding footsteps of football counterpart Deion Sanders. Williams succeeded, guiding the Tigers to a SWAC regular season title despite a losing record overall. With a lot of returnees, the Tigers could be positioned to win the SWAC again, but they still shouldn’t pose a big challenge at Memphis, as long as those Tigers can contain former Ole Miss starting point guard Daeshun Ruffin.
November 10 at Missouri
Four days after a relatively easy-looking home opener, Memphis steps up the competition drastically by traveling to take on Mizzou. Dennis Gates validated his hiring and then some during his first season with the Tigers (so many Tigers in these games!), taking his team to the Top 25 and an NCAA Tournament berth, where they were upset by Princeton in the Second Round. Mizzou lost a lot in the offseason, none bigger than Kobe Brown, but return Nick Honor and brought in Caleb Grill and Connor Vanover from the portal. They will likely hang around the bubble all year and will be tough at home, where they lost just three times in 2022-23.
November 17 vs. Alabama State
The first non-Tigers on the schedule, the Alabama State Hornets found themselves on the opposite end of the SWAC last year as Jackson State, going 8-23 overall and 6-12 in conference play. These teams played at FedEx Forum last year, with Memphis winning by 22. Alabama State benefits from the return of Isaiah Range after the guard flirted with transferring and the Hornets should be better, but not “take down Memphis in Memphis” better.
December 2 at Ole Miss
Ole Miss was awful last season. Then, the Rebels flew gasoline on its fire by bringing in Chris Beard as head coach after he was fired from Texas under ugly allegations. But Beard is proven on the court and got to work straightaway in the transfer portal, bringing in Jamarion Sharp, Moussa Cisse, and Allen Flanigan to add to returnees Matthew Murrell and Jaemyn Brakefield. The Rebels could improve dramatically.
December 6 at VCU
Out goes Mike Rhodes, in comes Ryan Odom. Out goes Ace Baldwin Jr., who followed his coach to Penn State, and in come Sean Bairstow and Max Shulga, who followed their coach to Virginia Commonwealth. It’s an offseason of big change for the Rams and they might not have themselves quite together by this point of the season. This program will be competitive – it always is – but they lost nearly 90 percent of their minutes from a year ago. It might need to time grow.
December 10 at Texas A&M
Last year was a big one for Buzz Williams’ team, which finished second in the SEC. They managed to land a No. 7 seed for the NCAA Tournament, only to get wrecked by Penn State. They may be able to win the SEC in 2023-24, returning virtually their entire rotation from a year ago: Wade Taylor IV, Julius Marble, Tyrece Radford, Henry Coleman III. They lost at Memphis last year by a measly four points – there’s a good chance they’ll return the favor in College Station this winter.
December 16 vs. Clemson
Clemson enters the season with Brad Brownell on the hot seat – just as he’s’ seemingly been on for a decade. The Tigers were very close to making the NCAA Tournament last year, but ultimately ended up atop the NIT bracket, where they made a hasty exit. Losing Hunter Tyson is tough, but returning PJ Hall and Chase Hunter is huge. And while Joseph Girard III showed warts at times at Syracuse, he’s a reliable floor general. Clemson should be a bubble team again this year, making this an intriguing battle of Tigers.
December 19 vs. Virginia
The Cavaliers are not in the same place they’ve been in recent years. They’re trying to find the next core after virtually all of the players from the team’s most successful era have moved on. Tony Bennett isn’t one to be doubted, however, and reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Year Reece Beekman will make life difficult for Memphis’ best scorers.
December 23 vs. Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt opened its season last year against the Tigers, playing them close to a nine-point loss. It ended up being a decent year for the Commodores, who made it to the NIT and advanced to the quarterfinals. Entering Year 5, pressure is on for Jerry Stackhouse to turn two straight NIT trips into his first NCAA Tournament berth. The departures of Jordan Wright and SEC Defensive Player of the Year Liam Robbins hurt, though reeling Tyrin Lawrence back from the transfer portal was huge. Still, it’s hard to envision Vandy breaking through this season.
December 30 vs. Austin Peay
After that gauntlet of a non-conference schedule, Memphis gets to end 2022 with a home contest against Austin Peay. The proud Governors program has been a mess in recent years, ditching coach Nate James after just two seasons in the offseason. Last year’s most notable moment was a brawl. The new coach is Corey Gipson, who went 22-11 in his lone season at Northwestern State. The Governors lost almost everything from a year ago, perhaps to its benefit, as scorer Demarcus Sharp followed his coach to Austin Peay. A transfer addition who may not make an impact on the court is Hansel Enmanuel, who has gone viral for playing with one arm.
Other Contests
Memphis only has one special contest of note during non-conference play – largely a result of playing in the AAC – but it’s a doozy.
November 22-24: Battle 4 Atlantis (in Nassau, Bahamas)
Every year, eight teams go down to the Bahamas to play in a glorified ballroom. It’s annually one of the best college basketball events of the non-conference season.
Tennessee won the most recent iteration of the tournament, whose biggest winners are Baylor and Villanova with two titles apiece. Memphis participated in 2012, losing its first two games before salvaging seventh place. They would’ve participated in 2020, but that event didn’t take place.
(In a fun twist, the Memphis women will also be competing in their respective Battle 4 Atlantis this November.)
Memphis’ first game in the tournament will be against the Michigan Wolverines, giving Hardaway a chance to go up against another playing legend, Juwan Howard. The Wolverines disappointed last year and then saw a major exodus, including Jett Howard, Hunter Dickinson, and Caleb Love. This may be Howard’s least talented team in his five years in Ann Arbor.
From there, Memphis’ next opponent could either be Arkansas or Stanford. While both lost plenty from a year ago, the Cardinal seem content to be a mediocre major conference program, while Eric Musselman is turning the Razorbacks into a regular juggernaut. If a win is imperative, Stanford is the better matchup.
The programs Memphis could brush up against in its last day in the Bahamas are North Carolina, Texas Tech, Villanova, and Northern Iowa. The latter presents itself as the easiest opponent, but the Tar Heels and Wildcats are both fascinating, coming off disappointing seasons and looking to get back into high gear quickly under their still new-ish coaches.
The Memphis Tigers’ challenging non-conference schedule starts against Jackson State on November 6.