MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Tigers women's basketball held their first open practice Tuesday night in front of fans as part of their summer finale as the team gets set for the second year under head coach Alex Simmons.
The Tigers finished the 2023-24 season with a 13-17 overall record.
The team won five of their final six games of the regular season to secure the No. 8 seed in the AAC Tournament before getting bounced in the second round by East Carolina.
Memphis enters the 2024-25 season without their leading scorer from last year in Madison Griggs, but they do have eight players from last year returning and six seniors or fifth years on the roster.
Considering these factors and a summer Simmons said she's proud of, there is a lot of hope and excitement for the season ahead.
"Going from last year to this year, the expectations have risen, the level of accountability has risen and our performance and how hard we go has gone up drastically," Simmons said. "This summer was probably one of the hardest summers that some of our players have probably had, but I think at the end of the season we'll be thankful for it."
Simmons also said they spent a lot of the summer being intentional and slowing things down, which she thinks will help them progress further in the long run.
The Tigers are set to play two games in FedExForum this season against top tier opponents in Louisville and Tennessee.
"We're not going to cake our schedule," Simmons said. "In order to see what you're ready for, you've got to be thrown into the fire, so I wanted to do that as quickly as possible. It's not necessarily going to define us, but it's going to let us know where we are at that time in the season."
The games will be the first regular season matchups played in FedExForum for the women's basketball team since the 2014-15 season.