Memphis suffered a second straight loss Sunday afternoon against former head coach Josh Pastner and UNLV. The loss dropped them to 1-2 on the young season, and it’s the first time they’ve been under .500 since the 2020-21 season, when they lost to Western Kentucky and VCU early in the year.

The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead before the Runnin’ Rebels went on a run to take the lead, and they never looked back. UNLV led for 37:55 of game time, and Memphis struggled to get much going offensively. 

On the other side, Pastner’s team shot 50 percent from the field, scored 30 points off turnovers and won the rebounding battle 36-32. Memphis now turns its attention to Purdue, which enters the week as the Associated Press’ No. 1 team in the country.

Here are three takeaways from Memphis’ loss against Tulane.

The bigs continue to struggle

The bigs were an issue again Sunday afternoon, and Aaron Bradshaw, Thierno Sylla, Simon Majok and Tariq Ingraham combined for 18 points and 14 rebounds. Defensively, the bigs didn’t do a great job protecting the paint, and the Runnin’ Rebels finished with 50 points in the paint.

Penny Hardaway moved Bradshaw, who started both exhibition games and the first two regular-season games of the season, to the bench for this matchup, and he finished with only four points and one rebound in 10 minutes of action. The Ohio State transfer has looked unplayable through three games, and it’ll be interesting to see how Hardaway uses him moving forward.

Simon Majok led the group with nine points and seven rebounds in 12 minutes off the bench. Most saw Majok as a developmental player when he signed, but it looks like he will now play a much larger role for the Tigers this season.

It’s been reported that Tariq Ingraham, who committed to Memphis on September 11, has struggled with conditioning since arriving on campus. Hardaway said earlier in the season that he wasn’t in game shape, and it looks like that’s still the case as he only played four minutes against the Runnin’ Rebels. 

While he didn’t play much, he played well and brought some physicality to the court in his limited minutes. With back-to-back games this weekend at the Baha Mar Championship, Memphis needs as many bodies as possible, and the Tigers would benefit from more minutes from the Rider transfer.

Shots weren’t falling

Hardaway’s team shot only 42.4 percent from the field and 23.5 percent from deep Sunday against UNLV. Memphis has struggled to knock down shots through three games, and Hardaway’s group ranks No. 188 in three-point percentage and No. 250 in two-point percentage, according to KenPom. 

After having guys like Kendric Davis, David Jones and PJ Haggerty, it’s unclear if Hardaway has a guy on this roster that can go get a bucket. Dug McDaniel fits the bill as the team’s go-to scorer, but he’s shooting 27 percent from the field and only 20 percent from deep.

The Tigers made a change to the starting lineup before Sunday’s game, and it will be interesting to see if they make more changes before playing Purdue. Sincere Parker, who leads the team in scoring, came off the bench Sunday afternoon, and he’ll be a player to watch in the Bahamas this weekend.

Defense has struggled in back-to-back games

After allowing Ole Miss to shoot 52 percent from the field and 62 percent from three, Memphis struggled to come up with stops against a UNLV team that entered the game averaging over 91 points per game.

The Tigers knew that Pastner’s team would try to put up points, but the concerning part of the game was that it came from the supporting cast. Dravyn Gibbs-Lawhorn and Naas Cunningham both entered the game as two of the three leading scorers for UNLV, but they combined for only eight points on 23 percent from the field. 

Howie Fleming Jr., Issac Williamson and Tyrin Jones combined for 64 of the team’s 92 points. Fleming Jr. recorded 21 of his 25 in the first half, while the two freshmen took over in the second half. 

Hardaway said before the season that his team would rely on its defense, but they’ve shown very little on that end of the court over the last two games. The schedule only gets tougher, and four of their next six opponents rank inside the top 20 in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.