Memphis coach Penny Hardaway views this season as a play in two parts.
The first act — in which the Tigers captured the American Athletic Conference regular-season title — was a resounding success.
“We did something special,” Hardaway said.
As for the second act, well, that is about to begin.
The No. 1 seed Tigers (26-5) will take on eighth-seeded Wichita State (19-13) in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament on Friday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas. The winner will advance to the semifinals on Saturday, and the final is set for Sunday.
Hardaway said his team — which is ranked No. 16 in the country and has won five games in a row — needed to rise to the moment after a great regular season.
“A successful season for me with this team would be Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Final Four moving forward,” Hardaway said. “For me, first stage, very successful. Now, next stage happens.”
The Tigers will face a hungry Wichita State team that is coming off a 73-68 win over South Florida on Thursday in the second round of the tournament. It marked the second win in the past three games for the Shockers.
Corey Washington will try to stay hot for Wichita State after scoring a team-high 21 points in the win over the Bulls. Bijan Cortes added 20 points.
This will be the third meeting of the season between Memphis and Wichita State.
Memphis won the first matchup 61-53 on its home court on Jan. 23. In the rematch, Wichita State got revenge on its own court with an 84-79 overtime upset of the then-No. 14-ranked Tigers on Feb. 16.
Wichita State coach Paul Mills said he expects another difficult test.
“One, everybody has a chip on their shoulder (this time of year),” Mills said. “And two, they’re a good team. So that’s what you’re going to do this time of year — you’re going to play good teams.
“I place zero weight on the fact that we were able to win at home. It’s kind of what you hope to do is be able to win at home, especially in conference.”
PJ Haggerty leads Memphis with an average of 21.2 points per game on 49.1 percent shooting from the field, including 41.8 percent from 3-point range. Tyrese Hunter is second in scoring at 14.1 ppg, and big man Dain Dainja is third at 13.7 to go with a team-high 7 rebounds per contest.
Xavier Bell led Wichita State with an average of 15.1 points per game in the regular season but will look to bounce back from a frustrating performance on Thursday. He finished with six points against South Florida and made only one of six shots from the field.
Washington (13.4 points per game), Justin Hill (11.2) and Quincy Ballard (10) also averaged double-digit scoring during the regular season for Wichita State.
Dainja said he and his teammates would need to be ready.
“This conference is really underrated,” he said. “It’s a lot of talent in this conference. Our mentality just has to be whoever we play, we’ve just got to get up.”
