"Somebody calling me 'soft' is disrespectful to me": Memphis player admits Penny Hardaway "triggered" him in Mississippi State game

Penny Hardaway's Memphis Tigers came out with a renewed sense of purpose on Saturday against No. 16 Ole Miss. The 87-70 win was a direct response to Hardaway calling out his team's softness following a loss to Mississippi State last week.

"They’re saying our whole team is soft," the coach said. "We are."

Hardaway's critique struck a chord, especially with senior center Moussa Cisse, a former Ole Miss player.

"I don’t know why it triggered me. But I’m a competitor," Cisse said. "Somebody calling me 'soft' is disrespectful to me. So I take that to heart. Too bad we didn’t see that (against Mississippi State), but the next team is going to pay for it. Nobody’s going to call me 'soft' again."

Cisse responded with a dominant game, recording his first season double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds. He also blocked three shots and played with an edge that was noticeably absent a week prior.

Against the Bulldogs at FedExForum, he appeared for just 12 minutes and did not make much of an impact except for grabbing five rebounds.

Penny Hardaway knew that Cisse, and the rest of the Tigers, needed to show more fight after the surprising Mississippi State loss, their third defeat of the season.

"The only discouraging thing is that I didn't feel like we fought as hard as we could have from the very beginning," Penny said after the game (0:29). "This one loss is not going to define who we are because it's about the entire season ... it's the same way we lost the other two games, and we have to be better."

Penny Hardaway's Memphis defeats Ole Miss to finish nonconference play strong

Penny Hardaway's comments following the Mississippi State loss proved to be a major catalyst for his team against Ole Miss on Saturday. They responded with a solid performance, defeating the Rebels 87-70 to finish nonconference play on a high note.

With the win, the Memphis Tigers improved to 10-3 overall. Colby Rogers, a senior guard, led the team with a season-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

"In our day, that was normal," Rogers said after the game. "But in today’s time, you’ve got to pick your moment. Because we didn’t fight last week, I had every right to come in pissed off and doing what I did."

Sophomore guard PJ Haggerty, the team's top scorer, added 17 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Penny Hardaway's team will play Florida Atlantic on Thursday to begin their American Athletic Conference play.