Penny Hardaway makes his feelings known as PJ Haggerty, Memphis bag multiple AAC season honors

The Memphis Tigers led by coach Penny Hardaway trounced the South Florida Bulls 84-68 on Saturday evening to claim the AAC regular season championship outright. With the win, the Tigers also clinched the No. 1 seed in the upcoming AAC Tournament.

On Tuesday evening, Hardaway and his team swept most of the major AAC honors on offer. The charismatic Tigers coach was named the AAC Coach of the Year while talented guard PJ Haggerty was named the conference's Player of the Year.

PJ Haggerty has thrived under Penny Hardaway and has averaged 21.2 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game this season. Tigers forward Dain Dainja was named the AAC Newcomer of the Year after averaging 13.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Haggerty, Dainja and guard, Tyrese Hunter all made the All-AAC first team.

During his weekly news conference before the AAC Tournament, Hardaway credited the team for playing their part in the AAC awards sweep by the Tigers coach and players (Start at 3:15).

"That's what winning does," Penny Hardaway said. "That's what sacrifice does. That's putting others before yourself and that's what this team has done. Tyrese probably could have scored more, probably could have been more selfish. Dane could've scored more and been more selfish and PJ is getting double-teamed or triple-teamed all night and he takes the majority of the shots because he's our guy that we lean on.

"He has been present all year in those areas and the rest of the team has to accept their roles in making this work. So, it's a beautiful thing when the team gets rewarded because it's all of our success at once. Because it's not just the guys that got the awards that did it alone, we did it together."

Penny Hardaway reacts to winning Coach of the Year Award

Before Penny Hardaway won the AAC Coach of the Year award on Tuesday, the last Memphis Tigers coach to win the award was Josh Pastner in 2013 when the team still competed in Conference USA.

During his weekly news conference, Hardaway revealed his joy at winning the award.

“Because I’m in my seventh year and I’ve seen (other coaches win it) for six years in a row,” Hardaway said. “So, I took that personally and wanted to achieve that as well as team things. If they gave it to someone else, it would be OK, because I’m a total team guy, bro.”

During his seven-year tenure as coach of the Tigers, Penny Hardaway has a 129-62 record and a season-best 26-5 this season ahead of the AAC Tournament and March Madness.