Feb 8, 2020; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Memphis Tigers head coach Penny Hardaway during the first half against the South Florida Bulls at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Memphis head coach Penny Hardaway was not pleased with ESPN college basketball analyst Mark Andrews who cracked a joke about Tigers’ player DeAndre Williams.

Andrews made a joke about Williams, who is 26, age. Andrews said, “only 39 years away from Medicare.” When Hardaway heard what Andrews said, he was not pleased.

“Every time we have a telecast, these commentators are talking about his age in a negative fashion, I think that’s so bad,” Hardaway said. “I think it is unfair how they always talk about his age during the games. I hate that for DeAndre. It was brought to my attention about Stetson Bennett, the quarterback at Georgia is 25 years old. I didn’t know he was that old, because they would never say it. So, what’s the difference? To me, it just has to be fair across the board.”

Actually, Hardaway is wrong. Bennett’s age has been brought up several times. But Hardaway would go on to talk about Williams’s story, which few may not know about.

“He got tricked by some guys to leave his high school to go to a virtual school,” Hardaway explained. “Stayed there to play basketball, was promised he was gonna get these different scholarships. He did not get the scholarships and the guys just left him hanging. Found out that none of the accreditation would carry over for him to get into college. He has to go to night school and work until he got his credits back up to go to college. Didn’t get into college until 21 years old.”

Williams may be in line for AAC Player of the Year. He is averaging 17.3 points and 7.9 rebounds per game and shooting 54 percent from the field.

{New York Post Sports}

About Stacey Mickles

Stacey is a 1995 graduate of the University of Alabama who has previously worked for other publications such as Sportskeeda and Saturday Down South.