The Memphis and Tennessee rivalry has reignited into one to watch at all times thanks to a testy back-and-forth between head coaches Penny Hardaway and Rick Barnes.
During Tennessee’s win over Memphis, things got heated in the final minutes as the Vols’ Jordan Bone and the Tigers’ Alex Lomax were issued double technicals for jawing a bit. It didn’t seem like much of anything at the time as the game ended without much further incident. But Hardaway made some remarks after the game making it sound like Tennessee was trying to potentially instigate a fight.
“I said [to referees], ‘The entire Tennessee team ran over to fight,’” Hardaway said after the game. “Their entire team emptied the bench to run over. They didn’t come over because it was a timeout.
“You could visibly see guys with their fists balled, talking trash to our guys. It was almost like a standoff. I was asking the referee why they were able to come across the line into our area and not get a technical.”
Hardaway also stood up for Lomax as the type of person who wouldn’t normally engage in trash talk.
Barnes took a subtle jab at Hardaway in return on Monday during an appearance on Vol Calls.
Rick Barnes to Voice of the #Vols Bob Kesling on tonight’s Vol Calls: "At any time Saturday did you ball your fist up and get ready to fight the other commentator?”
— Wes Rucker (@wesrucker247) December 18, 2018
Hahahaha.
The response from Barnes appears to have ruffled some feathers with Hardaway, as he made it personal with his latest comment to the Tennessee coach.
Penny Hardaway ended his chat with reporters like this ... "Rick Barnes ... Get the &*$% out of here."
— Mark Giannotto (@mgiannotto) December 18, 2018
I've never heard a coach talk like Penny just did about Rick Barnes.
It doesn’t sound like this one is going to be over for a bit. Stay tuned on this one...