NASSAU, Bahamas — The Memphis Tigers had turned into a punchline ahead of this one.
Less than a week removed from a blowout loss to UNLV at home Sunday, how much would they lose by to a No. 1-ranked Purdue team featuring two All-American-caliber players?
Twenty? Thirty? Forty?
But with the college basketball world watching, the shorthanded Tigers (1-3) showed what they were made of during an 80-71 loss to the Boilermakers (5-0) in their first game of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship on Thursday night in the Bahamas.
Though Memphis couldn’t quite pull off what would’ve been a massive upset, it displayed every bit of the “fight” coach Penny Hardaway said numerous times had been missing since the preseason.
“I’m proud of the guys’ effort, but we don’t accept moral victories,” Hardaway said Thursday. “If we played this hard all year, we would be 3-1 right now, instead of 1-3. So, we have something to build on.”
Led by point guard Dug McDaniel’s 18 points (7-of-15 shooting), six assists and six rebounds, the Tigers went toe-to-toe with the Boilermakers — and were even ahead with less than six minutes to go — for 34 of the 40 minutes of gametime.
Final stats from Memphis’ 80-71 loss to No. 1 Purdue in Game 1 of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship.
The Tigers forced the Boilermakers into 11 TOs and finished with 22 fastbreak points and 17 2nd-chance points but came up short of an upset after shooting 2-14 in the final 6:09. pic.twitter.com/SP7K0B0XBK
— Parth Upadhyaya (@pupadhyaya_) November 21, 2025
Despite shooting a modest 42.4% (25-of-59) from the floor and 21.1% (4-of-9) from 3-point range, the Tigers battled — on the defensive end, as well as on the glass and in the paint — against a Purdue team known for its physicality.
Hardaway’s group heavily limited the Boilermakers’ star duo of point guard Braden Smith and big man Trey Kaufman-Renn, while just narrowly losing the rebounding battle 37-34 and tying in points in the paint 38-38.
Smith, the preseason favorite to win National Player of the Year and a consensus first team All-American last season, finished with 5 points on 2-of-14 shooting to go with 11 assists. Kaufman-Renn had 12 points and 11 rebounds, but he played for only 27 minutes due to foul trouble before fouling out late.
Perhaps most importantly, though, Memphis withstood blow after blow from Purdue and never quit.
After the Tigers saw the 9-point lead they’d built less than five minutes into the game turn into a 7-point deficit by the 5:25 mark of the first half, they regrouped to go on a 14-5 run and trailed just 36-35 at halftime.
Then, a 5-0 burst by Memphis in the first 59 seconds of the second half made it clear that the Tigers weren’t going to easily go away.
During one three-plus-minute stretch in the second half, Memphis even forced Purdue — which was No. 1 in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom — to miss eight straight shots from the floor.
It was at the end of that span when the Tigers clung onto a 64-61 lead with 7:01 remaining.
But dry spells of their own on the offensive end never allowed them to take full control.
And, eventually, the Boilermakers found their groove.
Purdue made nine of its final 12 shot attempts to orchestrate a 17-7 run in the final 6:37 that helped it pull away in a game closer than most expected.
“I told (my players), ‘We can’t go back — we can’t go away from this,’” Hardaway said of his team’s effort. “‘If you play this hard for the rest of the year, you could go undefeated until the NCAA Tournament. You could.’”
Other notes
- Memphis entered Thursday’s game ranked No. 76 in KenPom and No. 77 in Bart Torvik, while Purdue was No. 4 in KenPom and No. 7 in Bart Torvik.
- Memphis was without Stephen F. Austin transfer center Thierno Sylla and Texas-Rio Grande Valley transfer wing Hasan Abdul Hakim. Sylla — who started in the Tigers’ first three regular-season games — didn’t make the trip to the Bahamas due to “personal problems” and Abdul Hakim didn’t because he “was ill,” Hardaway told reporters afterward.
- Abdul Hakim also missed Memphis’ first three games because of what Hardaway had described as “a really bad quad bruise.”
- After changing its starting lineup ahead of Sunday’s loss to UNLV, Memphis switched things up again against Purdue. Wing Zach Davis, forward Aaron Bradshaw and center Simon Majok all entered the first five alongside forward Ashton Hardaway and McDaniel, who also started versus the Runnin’ Rebels.
Up next
Memphis will face Wake Forest at 6 p.m. CT Friday (CBS Sports Network) in Nassau, Bahamas. The Demon Deacons (3-2) lost to Texas Tech 84-83 in the second game of the Baha Mar Hoops Championship on Thursday night in the Bahamas.
