Memphis basketball's Kendric Davis credits son for 'superpowers' and keeping him grounded
Kendric Davis tries not to think about any of it.
Not rewriting the record books. Not the personal accolades. Not his place in Memphis basketball history. None of it.
The Tigers’ star point guard admits it isn’t easy. Not when his charge up various AAC statistical leaderboards is a topic of almost every interview. Not when his name has become nearly synonymous with the league’s Player of the Week honor. Not when he can’t log on to social media without fans far and wide singing his praises or the university is blasting out a new graphic to advertise that Davis is a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award or a member of the Naismith Midseason Team.
When he is asked to explain how he manages to avoid the noise and focus on winning, all Davis has to do is look at his son.
“I feel like he gives me superpowers,” Davis said Friday as he held his 1 1/2-year-old son, Kendric Jr., close to him at the Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center. “He’s just my everything. I just love him to death.”
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Superpowers or not, Davis has lived up to his billing at Memphis.
He leads the AAC in scoring (21.8 points per game) and assists (6.1) and is the only player in the country to rank in the top 10 in both categories. After three seasons at SMU and a partial season at Memphis, he is already tops in league history in assists and made free throws. Davis is also 23 points away from becoming the conference's all-time leading scorer.
If Davis’ son (who some refer to as "Junior" or "K-2") is the primary grounding force, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway is a close second. In fact, Davis said having someone like Hardaway in his corner is one of the main reasons he chose to transfer to the Tigers.
“All the awards I’m getting, he (also) got, plus more,” Davis said. “Coach tells me, ‘As long as we win, the awards are going to come to you. You done already solidified yourself as one of the best in the country.’ So, I don’t really worry about the awards. I’m blessed to be in that conversation. (But) I just know if we win, it’ll take care of itself.”
Winning is something the Tigers (18-6, 8-3 AAC) must keep doing if they want a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. Memphis is on the March Madness bubble with seven regular-season games to play. Temple (14-11, 8-4) is next on the schedule (11 a.m. Sunday, ESPN2) and it represents yet another catch-22 game for the Tigers: a win does not get them off the bubble, a loss could be devastating to their postseason hopes.
“You know, March is coming,” Hardaway said. “You already know the bracketology group is looking and watching and waiting on slip-ups. And waiting for teams to get hot. So, we want to be one of those teams that they’re looking at to say, ‘OK, they’re a lock.’”
Memphis defeated Temple on Jan. 15 in Philadelphia on a last-second jumper by Davis. The Owls responded by getting a win at No. 2 Houston.
“So, we’ve got the utmost respect for them,” Davis said. “They’re great defensively. They’ve got great guards. We just know they match up well against us. But it’s a revenge game for us. We let our fans down at home (losing to Tulane last week) and we don’t want to do it again.”
If the Tigers are to pull off the season sweep against Temple, it is unclear whether they will do so with the help of injured players Malcolm Dandridge or Alex Lomax. Hardaway said Friday that Dandridge was "in the gym now, running on the floor," but still did not know when his senior big man would return for game action. He has been out with a sprained ankle since Dec. 13.
Lomax has missed the last seven games with a groin injury.
"I can strongly say that he'll be back before the (AAC) tournament," Hardaway said.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Kendric Davis: Memphis basketball star says son keeps him grounded
