Penny Hardaway Blames Memphis' Loss To Ole Miss On Toothache After Chris Beard Coaches Circles Around Him

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Memphis' loss at Ole Miss over the weekend was a painful one, literally, for Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway as he revealed on his weekly radio show he was dealing with an excruciating toothache on the sideline.

Memphis held a seven-point lead at halftime and a four-point edge with four minutes left in the contest, but ultimately fell 80-77 in Oxford. While Memphis looked like the better team for the majority of the contest, when it got done to crunch time the Rebels simply looked like the better-coached team despite having less talent on the floor.

Why? Because that damn toothache, according to Hardaway.

"I'm like God, not today, not the Ole Miss game," Hardaway told listeners after saying the ache started while eating pizza at dinner on Friday. "The entire game, I'm trying to focus, but my mouth is just killing me," he continued before explaining he underwent a two-hour surgery shortly after the game.

Penny Hardaway used a toothache as an excuse for Memphis' loss at Ole Miss. (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images)

Hardaway didn't appear to mention anything about the toothache during his postgame press conference, but after hearing criticism from Tigers fans over the weekend he was sure to mention it during Monday's 'Penny Hardaway Radio Show.'

While anyone who has ever dealt with a toothache can attest there are few things in life more painful and annoying, this is the sort of thing Hardaway could have chosen to keep to himself after how disastrous the final handful of minutes were for Memphis on Saturday.

David Jones, Memphis' leading scorer who scored 22 against Ole Miss, didn't have a single shot attempt in the final 5:50 of the game. Then you have the highly questionable game-tying shot attempt by Jahvon Quinerly, which came out of a timeout before an Ole Miss free-throw attempt on the other end with six seconds remaining.

Hardaway is royalty in Memphis and can essentially do no wrong, but frustration from fans after the Tigers' loss just an hour away in Oxford was loud on social media, and understandably so.

One coach didn't appear to have things figured out while the other, Chris Beard, very much looked like the coach who led Texas Tech to the national championship game in 2019.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the PGA Tour, LIV Golf, and all other happenings in the world of golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.