Memphis is already turning heads, and the numbers say it loud: the Tigers picked up 97 voting points in Monday’s Associated Press poll, the most of any unranked team, after opening the 2026-27 regular season with back-to-back wins over two betting favorites.
That start came against Iowa State and VCU, with Memphis entering both games as the underdog. The Tigers were picked to lose by 15.5 points against Iowa State and by 2.5 against VCU, yet they walked away 2-0 and now head to No. 22 Vanderbilt for their third straight game against a team receiving AP votes.
Jayden Reid was a big reason why. He earned American Conference Player of the Week honors after averaging 29 points, four assists and two and a half steals across the two victories. Reid also hit a major milestone against VCU, scoring the 1,000th point of his college career.
1K ✅ JR reaches 1,000 points for his career! #GoTigersGo | @jaydenreid0 https://t.co/tQiyhnc3Tn
- Memphis Basketball (@Memphis_MBB) November 7, 2026
Reid has been the engine, and then some. He put up 58 points over the two games and delivered the winning baskets in both.
Memphis has gotten scoring help around him - Luke Almodovar had 18 against Iowa State, Rihards Vavers scored in double figures in both games, and Tylik Weeks added 17 against VCU - but the offense has still bogged down when opponents key in on Reid. The Tigers have had trouble getting the ball out of his hands late.
“I feel like I gotta do a little bit better job once they start loading up on me, just making my teammates better,” Reid said Saturday.
That’s one of the clearest next steps for this group. If Reid can turn those late possessions into cleaner looks for everyone else, Memphis won’t have to lean so hard on its star guard to finish games.
The effort has flashed, too, and that’s another piece Memphis has to bottle up. One first-half loose-ball scramble against VCU captured exactly the kind of play Penny Hardaway wants more of: Maxim Logue hit the floor first, then Almodovar tracked it down and found Vavers, who drew a foul and free throws. The crowd at FedExForum responded immediately.
“That’s winning basketball,” Hardaway said afterwards. “Those are the plays we talk about all the time.” He added that those clips would be shown on video boards around the team’s facility as a reminder.
“We didn’t do that the entire game and it almost cost us,” Hardaway said.
That’s the tension with Memphis right now. The Tigers have shown they can hang around and survive when shots aren’t falling, but they still haven’t put together 40 minutes of the kind of hustle that turns a good start into something more stable.
Defense remains the biggest concern. VCU hit seven of its first 10 3-point tries and finished above 50% from deep, with late rotations repeatedly leaving Memphis scrambling to recover.
That followed an Arkansas exhibition in which transition defense and backdoor cuts caused similar problems. Different opponents, same issues.
The early metrics back up the eye test. KenPom has Memphis 48th in adjusted offensive efficiency and 104th defensively. It’s a tiny sample, but giving up 82 points per game is not the kind of number that usually travels well.
There’s also more help on the way. Memphis has won these first two without Nemanja Popović, who still has four games left in his six-game NCAA withholding period. In the exhibitions, Popović averaged 14 points on 11-for-16 shooting, and his scoring and passing should give the Tigers another weapon when opponents start throwing extra bodies at Reid.
The schedule isn’t giving Memphis much room to breathe. Vanderbilt beat Bellarmine and Wake Forest by a combined 69 points and has allowed just 49 points per game through two contests. The Commodores were listed as a 16.5-point favorite Monday evening.
After that, the Tigers come home to face No. 10 Louisville on Sunday, closing out a brutal opening stretch.
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Memphis gets an early chance to see where it stands when it heads to Nashville on Nov. 10 to face Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym. The Tigers are 2-0 after a recent win over VCU, and this one brings a different kind of test, with a road setting and a quick turnaround from the opening stretch of the season.
Tipoff is set for 6:15 p.m., and the game will be available nationally on SEC Network+ streaming. For a Memphis team trying to keep its unbeaten start intact, this is the sort of November matchup that can reveal a lot before the schedule really starts to tighten. [Read more 🡒]
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What stands out most is how little room the Tigers have given opponents to settle in. Little Rock shot just 28.1 percent, a number that reflects the kind of pressure Memphis has brought early in the year, and the Tigers also won the battle for bench points and interior scoring. For a team trying to build on a rare fast start, the next question is whether this mix of toughness and balance can keep holding up once the schedule gets a little less forgiving. [Read more 🡒]
Marcus Stokes Is Giving Memphis A Real Award Season Story
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For a Memphis program that has leaned on his production, the award watch now adds another layer to the finish line. The winner will be revealed live on ESPN on Dec. 11 during The Home Depot College Football Awards, and Stokes has done enough to make sure the Tigers have a real reason to keep an eye on that stage. [Read more 🡒]