Penny Hardaway admits there have been plenty of times he made things hard for himself as Memphis basketball coach. Now he is calmer and less stressed.

Memphis basketball was facing a gut-check game Sunday against Charlotte at Halton Arena ... which lost 88-81 at Temple on Thursday — Penny Hardaway’s team ended things on a high note.

Penny Hardaway sees it ... Its average margin of victory in the three wins (North Texas, East Carolina and Charlotte) is just 5.7 points. The Tigers were well on their way to changing that ...