Memphis basketball was projected to be one of the better teams this season, but it has been the opposite. Things did not get better for the program before their game against Utah State, as head coach Penny Hardaway announced that Hasan Abdul Hakim and Zach Davis had been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules.
Both players had been trying to find a rhythm this season, as Davis averaged 7.2 points per game and Hakim averaged 6.2 points per game. Davis scored 10 points in the team's loss against North Texas, and Hakim hasn't played for the team since Jan. 24.
Both were sent back to Memphis on Friday at the end of the week after they had been traveling with the team.
Memphis is currently 12-13 overall on the season and 7-5 in conference play. It's been up and down for the team, and Hardaway has been trying to get the most out of his players. At times during the season, it has worked, while other times, they don't look like they're fully prepared.
In their game against Utah State, they lost 99-75, but Hardaway claimed that their opponents were running up the score with a few emphatic dunks.
The score was 86-73 with less than two minutes left in the game, but Utah State scored 13 more points after that. Hardaway had pulled his starters with four minutes remaining in the game.
“You can’t do what they did, though. You can’t keep scoring the ball,” Hardaway said during a postgame interview. “We came out here to play this game — you’ve got to have more class than that.”
