Penny Hardaway, along with Memphis basketball, left Sunday as a champion.

The Memphis Tigers earned a 75-65 victory over the Houston Cougars in the American Athletic Conference basketball tournament, knocking off the top-rated team in the nation by the Associated Press to take the first AAC championship tournament win in school history. Senior guard Kendric Davis led the charge with 31 points in 38 minutes played in the championship game, keeping up with his statement in a Saturday conference.

“I play with a chip on my shoulder,” Davis said. “(Tulane guard Jalen Forbes) was talking crazy to coach at home, and we ain't get it done. I was thinking about it like ‘man, we ever get a chance again, I'm going at it.'

“Something about me went ‘I don't like talking. Let's just hoop.'”

Senior forward DeAndre Williams added 16 points and 13 rebounds in the crucial win. Houston guard J'wan Roberts led the Cougars with 20 rebounds.

The Memphis basketball faithful rallied in support of the fifth-year Tigers head coach, who played for four seasons with the Tigers before he was selected with the third-overall pick by the Golden State Warriors in 1993.

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The theory that Hardaway needed five-star recruits to win with Memphis basketball was all but put to rest for one fan.

The Tigers earned one five-star commitment in combo guard Mikey Williams in the 2023 class. Memphis collected the top basketball recruiting class in the nation after two five-star recruits, center James Wiseman and forward Precious Achiuwa, committed and enrolled with the Tigers in 2018.

The Purdue Boilermakers barely hung on as they took down the Penn State Nittany Lions for the team's first Big Ten tournament title since 2009.

Led by now-Detroit Pistons guard Jaden Ivey, Purdue made it to the Big Ten tournament finals in 2022 before falling to the Keegan Murray-led Iowa Hawkeyes in the final round. Center Zach Edey, who scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Sunday's win, tacked on 12 points and 14 rebounds in the Boilermaker loss.