Memphis basketball surrendered 22 offensive rebounds at Temple. Penny Hardaway promises it won’t happen again.

Temple simply wanted it more than the No. 18 Memphis from the jump.

There is no other reason why the Owls secured 49 rebounds compared to 25 for Memphis. No other explanation for Temple grabbing 22 offensive rebounds – nearly matching the Tigers’ total rebounds on the offensive glass alone.

Memphis’ lackluster effort on the boards proved costly as Temple beat the Tigers 88-81 inside the Liacouras Center on Thursday night. Coach Penny Hardaway knows that can never happen again if Memphis (13-4, 3-1 AAC) wants to avoid what it did last year — fumble with a good non-conference resume en route to missing out of the NCAA Tournament.

“We can’t play another game like this again,” Hardaway said on Memphis’ postgame radio broadcast. “It was a kick in the ass. Every team in this league comes out and crashes the glass on us. If we don’t do something about it, every game will be tough. It doesn’t have to be hard.”

One could point to Memphis’ big men to ease its rebounding deficiencies. They certainly could have done their part as Dain Dainja (5), Moussa Cisse (3) and Nick Jourdain (3) combined for 11 total rebounds. Dainja didn’t get a single one in the first half.

But Hardaway sees his backcourt as the path to better activity on the glass. PJ Haggerty, who scored a team-high 21 points, led Memphis’ guards with 4 rebounds in 36 minutes. Tyrese Hunter secured 2 boards in 37 minutes. Colby Rogers got none for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, Temple guard Shane Dezonie had a game-high 13 rebounds (8 offensive). Owls leading scorer Jamal Mashburn Jr. had 5 boards, as did freshman Aiden Tobiason. Quante Berry and Zion Stanford each grabbed 3 rebounds. Adam Fisher’s club scored 19 second-chance points against the Tigers.

“The guards are the biggest part of rebounding because the guards on (the other) team rebound. They’re the ones crashing because they feel like our guards won’t box out,” Hardaway said. “We show these guys after the fights, ‘Hey, you’re not boxing out. You’ve got to start boxing out (or) it’s going to be a problem.’ Now you’re giving up so many offensive rebounds to Temple – a team that doesn’t have as much talent as you, but has just challenged you to beat you.

“It’s very disappointing. It doesn’t make sense to me at all.”

The Tigers have now been overtaken in three consecutive games. North Texas claimed the rebounding battle over Memphis 30-21 earlier this month. East Carolina also outrebounded the Tigers on the glass 40-36 last Saturday.

Memphis got away with it in both of those cases, but the straw finally broke the camel’s back in Philadelphia. What is currently a trend could quickly become a fixture if the Tigers aren’t careful, and Hardaway can only do so much to help them.

“It has to be player-driven, no matter what happens,” he said. “It must be a collective energy to win the match in the right way. And that is with physicality and toughness.”

Memphis’ ego is noticeably bruised after suffering its first conference loss, but its NCAA Tournament resume isn’t all that damaged. Temple ranked No. 123 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) before tipoff, so it’s just one Quad 2 loss for the Tigers. However, Memphis’ next 11 games are against projected Quad 3 and 4 opponents, so it’s a very dangerous line going forward.

The American Athletic Conference (AAC) ranks no. 10 in the country, according to KenPom, but Hardaway knows that every other AAC team is usually at its best when it plays Memphis. It is their biggest game of the year – their Super Bowl – after all. The seventh-year coach hopes Thursday’s game taught Memphis how to treat the rest of its conference schedule accordingly.

“Everyone’s best game comes to us and we know it. But that’s what happens when you’re being chased,” he said. “I don’t care what game we play. I don’t care what happens. If we’re not tough from this point forward, every game is going to be tough.”

Memphis plays a Quad 4 game at Charlotte on Sunday (2 p.m., ESPN2). Hardaway promises Memphis fans at least one thing heading in.

“We never give up — and I know you should never say never — 22 offensive rebounds again. It just can’t happen. It’s very embarrassing,” he said.