STARKVILLE, MS — Jayden Reid quietly took a seat in front of a small group of reporters after his 26-point night in Memphis basketball’s 75-58 exhibition win over Mississippi State.
Reid’s teammate, Rihards Vavers, then slid a copy of the box score in front of him. He leaned forward intently, then let the room know exactly what the outcome meant both for him and the Tigers.
“We’ve been working since June,” Reid began. “Everybody had a lot of questions about us. You know, ‘What are we going to look like?’ We just wanted to come out and make a statement. Not only me personally but as a team.
“Just come out there, step on their necks and stay on their necks all 40 minutes.”
No one had to tell Reid that it was merely a preseason game. That the result is completely inconsequential with regard to Memphis’ chances of making the NCAA Tournament. He understands that.
No matter. In the Tigers’ minds, there was a lot riding on how Oct. 23 played out.
Memphis is coming off a miserable 13-19 season — the worst for the program in 56 years. Hardaway and his revamped roster needed to show a new day has come. They needed to show that the Tigers belong in the spotlight. They needed to show that they are capable of putting them there.
“We wanted to prove a point,” Reid said. “Just that this team is nothing to overlook. We’re all here. We want to put on for Memphis basketball. You know, Memphis basketball deserves the spotlight. We’re here to try to get Memphis back on the right track.”
This was a step in that direction.
Reid was one of four Memphis players in double figures, as Nemanja Popovic put up 12, Luke Almodovar had 11 and Vavers accounted for 10.
The Tigers committed just nine turnovers (and had 13 assists); Mississippi State turned it over 15 times. Hardaway’s squad was 9 of 20 (45%) from the 3-point line and led for 38 minutes, 40 seconds, with its biggest lead stretching to 19 points in the second half.
Hardaway said he recognized early that he could address making the most of opportunities like the one against Mississippi State without fearing that it might backfire.
“We have those conversations all the time,” he said. “So, this team, I knew I could push the right buttons to talk about, ‘Hey, these are opportunities to showcase yourself against a P4 team in a great conference.' And they did so.”
Memphis has another exhibition game — against Arkansas (7 p.m. CT, Oct. 28, ESPN+) — before starting the regular season against Iowa State (6 p.m. CT, Nov. 2, FS1) at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com, follow him @munzly on X.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What Jayden Reid, Memphis basketball wanted to prove in exhibition win