"I failed at a lot of things and it frustrated me": Penny Hardaway reflects on initial Memphis struggles and plans to go further in March Madness

Penny Hardaway has had plenty of success in the regular season as coach of the Memphis Tigers. However, bringing that to the NCAA Tournament has been challenging, and Hardaway attributed those struggles to one particular area.

In an exclusive interview that Field of 68: After Dark uploaded to its YouTube channel on Saturday, Hardaway, who is 143-65 at the helm of his alma mater, pointed out what has held Memphis back, especially in the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers have been to two, only making the second round once, in his first six seasons.

"My culture was never really good, up until this year, and I failed at a lot of things, and it frustrated me, because I thought that it was going to be better and the criticism was warranted," Hardaway said. "All I did was just trying to suck it up and go, 'OK, you know what you can do.'

"I went out and got a staff that I was very comfortable with, and that allowed me to be me, and with the allowing me to be me and rallying around me, it's allowed me to not be as stressful and stressed out while learning on the job."

Penny Hardaway, Memphis return to AP Top 25 poll

Last week saw Penny Hardaway and the Memphis Tigers (10-3) outside of the AP Top 25, falling out after after losses to Arkansas State on Dec. 8 and Mississippi State and Dec. 21.

They have since bounced back with a key 87-70 victory over then-No. 16 Ole Miss on Saturday. As a result, the Tigers returned to the rankings, landing at No. 21.

Memphis is averaging 79.1 points on 45.7% shooting from the field and 40.2% from beyond the arc, beating opponents by a slim margin of 3.5 points per contest.

PJ Haggerty leads the way with 22.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Tyrese Hunter stands out as the best 3-point shooter with 38 triples made on a success rate of 45.2%, while Colby Rogers provides 12.8 ppg on 40.3% shooting from deep.

Penny Hardaway and the No. 21 Tigers will prepare for their American Athletic Conference opener, facing Florida Atlantic (7-6) in Boca Raton at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday.