Injury Bug Hits Memphis in Tonight’s Game Against Charlotte

Memphis will be short-handed going into tonight’s contest against Charlotte. The Tigers are expected to be without three rotation players due to injury against the 49ers, who are currently second place in the AAC with an 11-2 conference record.

With these injuries, what is the outlook of the rotation heading into tonight’s game?

The Injuries

Reserve guard Jayhlon Young, backup big Jordan Brown, and backup wing Jayden Hardaway are expected to miss tonight’s game due to injury.

Young has been dealing with an ankle injury and was a game-time decision against Charlotte, according to Penny Hardaway. The junior transfer from UCF missed Memphis’ games against Temple, Tulane, and North Texas before returning to action against SMU. After playing just one minute in the blowout loss to the Mustangs, he is expected to miss another game for the Tigers.

Brown is expected to miss tonight’s action with an undisclosed injury. The 2022-23 Lou Henson Award winner stepped away from the team for nearly two months back in December. He returned to game action in Memphis’ loss to UAB in late January. The senior center averages 4.6 points and 2.9 rebounds for the Tigers, playing in just 13 games.

Hardaway is also expected to be out for tonight’s game due to an undisclosed injury issue. He has played in every game this season but one, where he was unavailable in Memphis’ home loss to Rice (1/31) due to a right-hand injury. The older Hardaway brother has been one of Penny Hardaway’s first options off the bench this season, playing 12.6 minutes per contest.

Projected Rotation w/ Injuries

PG: Jahvon Quinerly

SG: David Jones

SF: Nae’Qwan Tomlin

PF: Nick Jourdain

C: Malcolm Dandridge

Bench –

F Jonathan Pierre

G Carl Cherenfant

F Jaykwon Walton

F Ashton Hardaway

Postgame Comments

A change was expected to the Tigers’ rotation after comments made by Penny Hardaway on the team’s effort level.

“When you see the guys who are on the floor Wednesday, those are the guys that are bought in,” Hardaway said. It will be interesting to see how the minutes will be distributed in tonight’s game against Charlotte.