Penny Hardaway is not expecting an easy game for his Memphis basketball team when it hosts Charlotte Wednesday.

"... unless you go out there and do what you need to do," the Tigers' coach said during his weekly radio show Monday.

What does Hardaway mean by that?

"You can't take plays off," he continued. "You've got to be very attentive. You have to be together."

These are things that have become problematic for Memphis (18-8, 7-6 AAC) recently. Without naming names, Hardaway ripped some of his players after Sunday's 106-79 loss at SMU for giving up the fight during that game. He said there are too many Tigers who don't have "the care factor" he expects from every member of his roster.

As a result of that, some players who have either been seldom used or had never played in a game previously got significant playing time. Freshman Carl Cherenfant played more than 16 minutes. Junior Jonathan Pierre played almost 12 minutes. Joe Cooper (making his Memphis debut) played just under 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, starters Jaykwon Walton and Malcolm Dandridge were on the floor for 10:54 and 16:42, respectively.

In reference to what Hardaway listed as the keys to getting more playing time against Charlotte (17-8, 11-2), he said, "I feel like we’re gonna get a bunch to go out there and do that."

Here are three things to keep an eye on ahead of Wednesday's (7 p.m., ESPN+) contest.

Has Memphis basketball fixed rebounding, defense issues?

The Tigers were out-rebounded 40-29 in the blowout loss to SMU. The Mustangs grabbed 17 offensive boards and scored 23 second-chance points. Memphis also turned the ball over 19 times, which led to 27 points for SMU.

Hardaway said approximately half of Monday's practice was spent focusing on boxing out and transition defense.

"Our practices are all about who wants it the most now," he said. "It's about the grind of what we have to do to win the game. Because if we box out and get back in transition defense, none of this happens in this streak that we're going on right now.

"You just don't have guys committed to that. We're seeing guys actually go to the basket, but they're not finding someone to hit. We're losing the battle too many times on the offensive end, offensive rebounds."

Has Penny Hardaway figured out which Tigers are dependable?

If there are some Tigers Hardaway can't count on anymore, there are still some he can.

David Jones and Nae'Qwan Tomlin combined to score 50 points and grab 13 rebounds versus SMU. They were a combined 18-for-30 from the field (5-of-12 on 3-pointers). The rest of the team was 9-for-26 from the field against the Mustangs.

Pierre, who emerged in recent games as a reliable scorer, continued his good work, hitting a pair of 3-pointers (on three attempts) to put up six points.

Charlotte scouting report

Memphis being on its rebounding game is going to be a big key against the 49ers because coach Aaron Fearne has Igor Milicic roaming the paint.

PENNY HARDAWAY: Coach knows the Memphis basketball team he thought he had is gone for good

Milicic is 37th in the nation in defensive rebounding percentage (25.5%). He averaged 8.6 rebounds per game overall, while also averaging 12.8 points per game. Milicic is a true dual-threat, because he is Charlotte's primary 3-point shooting threat, connecting on 36.9% of his 111 attempts beyond the arc.

Leading scorer Lu'Cye Patterson (14.8 points per game) also shoots well from long range, hitting 34.4% of his triple tries.

Memphis basketball score prediction vs. Charlotte

Charlotte 76, Memphis 73: The Tigers have lost the benefit of the doubt.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball vs. Charlotte: Score prediction, scouting report