DALLAS — Penny Hardaway's emotions were raw following Memphis basketball's 106-79 blowout loss at SMU Sunday.

Moments after watching the Tigers (18-8, 7-6 AAC) get manhandled by the Mustangs at Moody Coliseum, clapping and nodding his head as the final seconds ticked off the clock, the sixth-year coach acknowledged a lack of competitiveness and care from certain players on the team.

He declined to name names. But he admitted there came a point in the game that he leaned more on true freshman Carl Cherenfant and walk-on guard Joe Cooper (who made his season debut Sunday) because they were willing to play with more effort.

"It’s a BS game, man. It’s frustrating. It’s very frustrating," Hardaway said.

When asked what the most frustrating part was, he was blunt.

"(Expletive) losing like this. Y'all saw the same game we saw, right? This is terrible, man," he said. "This is not competing at all. I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s not competing. I just don’t understand why it’s not competing. Every game we’re playing is for our life — to make it to the NCAA tournament. That’s how I view coming into every game."

Hardaway continued his critique of the Tigers during the postgame radio interview with play-by-play man Dave Woloshin.

"No toughness," he said. "Really embarrassing. That's all I can say — very embarrassing."

A month ago, Memphis was 15-2 and off to a 4-0 start in conference play. It was up 20 points at home against South Florida on Jan. 18, then proceeded to lose to a Bulls team that is currently in first place in the AAC standings.

Hardaway said that's where things went off the rails for the Tigers, who went on to lose four games in a row. They steadied themselves with three straight wins but now have lost back-to-back games, including the 27-point loss to SMU. It's their most lopsided loss since getting beat 80-40 on Jan. 22, 2020, at Tulsa.

Hardaway reiterated the problems are not a team-wide issue. He said there are plenty of players who are giving everything they have whenever they step on the court. The ones who aren't, however, have been exhibiting a lack of effort for a while — even when times were good.

"It’s been the same guys all year, man," he said. "I don’t know what it is. We were winning, they were unhappy. We’re losing, they’re unhappy. We’re just trying to fight around a lot of stuff."

David Jones said he also believes some members of the Memphis roster are not pulling the same direction as others.

"I don't know, maybe because they don't care about basketball. About winning or losing. I don't know," Jones said. "I really don't pay attention to anything like that, because all I want to do is win. When the game comes, I just be focusing on basketball and to win the game. I don't focus on anything else going on besides that."

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Jones, who scored 33 points in the loss, said he came to Memphis to get to the NCAA tournament for the first time in his career. The former DePaul and St. John's standout believes that's the missing piece of his college career. But, where an at-large bid once seemed like a forgone conclusion, the only path to a third straight March Madness appearance is likely landing the automatic berth that comes with winning the conference tournament next month in Fort Worth, Texas.

"It makes me feel horrible. I came to Memphis to win. I've been losing basically my whole career in college. I was trying to make a good run, go to the (NCAA) tournament," he said. "We had a Final Four team. We still can do it, though. We've just got to go and win the (AAC) tournament. I feel horrible, though, because I feel like we let the city of Memphis down. They were behind us, 10 toes, and we didn't respond well.

"I just want some guys to follow me. To play as hard as I play every day. I try to just play hard. I'm not with the talking. I don't like to do too much talking. I just like to play hard, and I'm hoping some guys follow me through that."

Memphis has five more games left in the regular season, starting with Charlotte at FedExForum on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPN+).

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: Penny Hardaway rips players after Memphis basketball's blowout loss