Penny Hardaway takes aim at media, says depleted Memphis Tigers men's basketball team playing hard despite losses

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Hardaway lashes out at the media.

The media criticized the Memphis team without a full roster, and the coach got angry. (0:46)

The time is 11:31 PM.

Following Memphis' third straight loss, a 70-62 home defeat to SMU on Thursday night, coachPenny Hardaway sounded off during his postgame news conference, telling the assembled media to "stop asking me stupid f------ questions."

One reporter asked Hardaway if he had lost faith in his ability to get the job done at Memphis and if he was embarrassed by the team's performance.

I think the one thing I can say to the media is that they get kinda f---ed up when it comes to me. We don't have a full roster. We don't have our full roster. Hardaway said to stop asking him stupid questions if he feels like he can do something.

I feel like I can do whatever I want to do if I have my roster like they did. I'm not embarrassed about nothing, my boys are playing really hard. Y'all need to act like we have four rookies starting. We have 17- and 18- and 19-year-olds out here trying to learn how to play against older guys. Come on, man. Don't disrespect me, bro. Don't do that. I work hard. I work too hard for that. I only do work when articles about me are written. Kids are on the floor. Young kids are on the floor.

Memphis, which opened the season ranked 12 in the AP poll, dropped to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the American Athletic Conference. Since opening the season with five straight wins, the Tigers have lost eight of their last 12 games.

It looked like Hardaway had built a roster that was ready to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament. The team that won the NIT brought back three starters, added a couple of impact transfers and landed two of the top five recruits in the country.

The pieces have not fit as expected in the preseason. In the last several weeks, there have been documented issues and injuries, including DeAndre Williams missing his fourth game in a row.

Three freshmen, a sophomore transfer and a junior were 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 The five seniors started.

It is what it is. I like to stay in character. "We're hurt, man," Hardaway said. Our roster is so thin that we can't help the young guys get through this. They are having to learn on the fly. It's hard.

Memphis missed out on the NCAA tournament after winning nine of its next 10 games, but it did win the NIT title. The Tigers have 11 games left in the regular season, but they are running out of time to turn things around.

We have to be tougher as a group. Hardaway said that we need to stop feeling sorry for ourselves when things aren't going well. We're not fighting right now. This isn't a team from Memphis. We aren't fighting hard enough for the whole game.