MEMPHIS, Tenn. — PJ Haggerty is settling into Memphis nicely. The Memphis basketball transfer guard enjoys walks through Tom Lee Park alongside the Mississippi River.
He has found favorite restaurants, especially Good Fortune, whose chicken wings he says are "fire for sure."
He's thrown the first pitch at a Memphis Redbirds game and signed autographs at the staple golf tournament, FedEx St. Jude Championship.
That was all during the summer, while getting ready for a highly anticipated Tigers basketball season (aren't they all?).
Now the calendar turns to the fall and it's time to do what the sought after guard was brought to Memphis for: winning. Its something that sits heavily on Haggerty's mind.
"I feel like with the team (Penny Hardaway) got now, we got great talent," Haggerty said. "I feel like we can for sure, go to the Final Four."
Memphis basketball, like it has the last few seasons, will look completely different than years past. Ten new scholarship players join returning senior Nicholas Jourdain. Their goal, wipe away the stain that was the 2023-24 season that ended with an early round bounce in the AAC Tournament.
Haggerty figures to play a major part. He is the reigning AAC Freshman of the Year after averaging 21.2 points, good for second in the conference, to go along with 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists. He was picked to be Preseason All-AAC First Team along with his new backcourt running mate Tyrese Hunter.
Haggerty's journey to Memphis started in Crosby, Texas. He was a three-star recruit out of Crosby High School, where he won Mr. Basketball as the Texas High School Player of the Year.
Texas, he said, made him tough.
"It grew up tough playing older in the Houston area, you got to be able to hoop, got to be able to do a lot of great things. It just like grew me as a basketball player," Haggerty said.
He graduated and went to TCU initially, but things "didn't go as planned." He played just six games as a freshman before redshirting the rest of the season. He transferred and found a new home in Tulsa.
"I just always had faith in myself and my beliefs in basketball," Haggerty said. "Just looking for a new start so I could just be myself again. And then I just kept my head down, worked hard every day, and then results showed, and then now we here."
Here, being Memphis, where Hardaway was one of the first coaches to reach out to Haggerty. The seventh year coach made Haggerty feel like he was interested in the guard's talents on and off the floor.
"He just had a plan for me. And usually you got a plan for somebody you're really like invested in a player," Haggerty said. "He just tells you like it is and it gives a lot of freedom. I'm the type of player that needs a lot of freedom."
The redshirt sophomore is ready for a season where he figures to be a focal point of the offense.
In years past, the Tigers have featured similar guards. In 2022-2023, Kendric Davis led the Tigers in scoring and assists before heading up a conference tournament run that ended in a championship. The following season featured David Jones, who led the conference in scoring and was an All-American honorable mention by the Associated Press.
Davis spent time in the NBA G-League before joining the National Basketball League in Australia. Jones is on a two-way deal with the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers.
Haggerty thinks he can have similar impact in his own way.
"Just come in, same energy, (but) do different things," he said. "At the end of the day, I just play to win. I don't really play for the stats, things like that. I just play to win, do what I got to do."
Chemistry has been it's own challenge for Tigers basketball, especially last season. It's natural to wonder if a roster full of entirely new players can put it together quickly. Hardaway has said that this team has had the benefit of being together longer by October, than it's counterpart the year before and thus, are closer.
Haggerty concurs. He can be spotted around town, usually with a teammate or two in tow at his favorite Memphis spots like Good Fortune or Smackers. Even though it's his second time transferring himself, he feels like his team is in a good spot in the togetherness department.
"I feel like after a month, it's just getting us knowing each other, hooping with each other, hanging outside of basketball," Haggerty said. "I feel like we all have gotten to know each other's personalities. So I think we're starting to click on and off the court."
They will have to "click" quickly. October 15, Tigers fans will get their first chance to see how well the team gels when the Tigers welcome North Carolina in the Hoops for St. Jude Classic. Just a couple weeks later, they will play a Final Four team in Alabama. Those games don't even count in the record books, but they are games Haggerty is excited for nonetheless.
He knows Tiger fans, like him, just want to win.