Despite a dismal nonconference slate for Coach Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers, Wednesday afternoon was the start of a new season as the Tigers welcomed North Texas to the FedEx Forum to jumpstart the new season on a solid note. Coming into the conference slate for Memphis, the margin of error for Memphis is next to none as they failed to get anything going in terms of NCAA Tournament caliber wins in the nonconference part of the 2025-2026 season. North Texas provided an opportunity for Coach Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers to open the American slate with a statement win that, despite the struggles in the nonconference, the Tigers were still the team to beat in the American. 

Memphis won both the regular season and the American Tournament last season, blazing a trail in the American, and they set out to do the same this season, starting with North Texas on Wednesday afternoon. Memphis opened the conference slate as a double-digit favorite over North Texas and would try to establish dominance from the opening tip. 

Memphis raced out to an early lead but would see the lead cut to 16-10 at the under-8 media timeout of the first half. At the final media timeout of the first half, it was the Memphis Tigers holding on to a 19-14 lead over North Texas. Memphis would end the first half by extending the lead over North Texas to 28-18. 

Memphis would go a full 18 minutes with the lead in the first half. Dug McDaniel led the way in scoring for Memphis with seven points in the first half. 

As the second half rolled around, the Memphis lead got cut to 32-24 with 15:30 to play. At the under-12 media timeout of the second half, it was Memphis leading North Texas 45-34 with 10:03 to play. Memphis managed to add a little distance at the under-8 media timeout by extending the lead over North Texas to 52-36 with 7:58 remaining in the game. At the final media timeout, North Texas had put together a 7-0 run to cut the Memphis lead to 54-46 with 3:47 to play in the game. With 1:04 remaining, North Texas would call a timeout as the Tigers led 57-48. 

Zach Davis led the way in scoring for the Tigers with 12 points on Wednesday night. 

Memphis was just too much for North Texas on Wednesday afternoon as the Tigers opened American play with an ugly win and ended up pulling away late in the second half. Memphis did what they had to do on Wednesday to earn a confidence win. There’s no way around it; Wednesday’s win over North Texas was ugly, and it should not have been that way. This team has an identity crisis that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later to avoid a complete disaster of a season. 

Memphis will head to Houston on Saturday to take on a Rice team that got dominated by Tulsa by 49 points on Wednesday morning. Tip-off for the Tigers and Owls is slated for 2:00 on ESPN Plus.