Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway said of Caleb Mills' knee injury: 'It's not good'

TULSA, Okla. — A pall hung over the Memphis Tigers after senior guard Caleb Mills left Thursday's game against Tulsa late in the first half with a gruesome knee injury. Following the Tigers' 78-75 win, coach Penny Hardaway was grim.

"We don't know for sure, but it seems like it's bad. It's not good," he said. "He didn't slip, it just gave out. He said it was his kneecap. When he went to go explode, I think that's when it happened. Whether it was his patella, whether it was kneecap dislocation."

Hardaway added neither he nor Mills has received an official diagnosis.

With less than 2:20 left in the half, Mills drove to the basket and planted his left foot on the court to go up for a shot. But his knee buckled, and he came crashing down. Clearly in agonizing pain, he was tended to for several minutes by Hardaway and members of the coaching staff.

Mills was carried off the court, and at halftime he needed help to get back to the locker room. He spent the second half with his leg propped up on a table near the Tigers' bench, then was wheeled out of the arena on a stretcher.

Mills became emotional in the moment and after the game.

"No matter how I try to think about the game, it's still hard to watch your brother down there," Hardaway said. "I mean, he was crying. He feels like his season is over. That doesn't sit well with the guys."

Senior point guard Jahvon Quinerly suffered a torn ACL during the 2022 NCAA Tournament when he was with Alabama. So when he saw Mills go down right in front of him, he knew it was likely very bad news.

"Just pouring a lot of love into him right now," Quinerly said. "Put yourself in his shoes, you know, that uncertainty before knowing exactly what it is, that's tough. I've been through it. It's very tough. So we're just pouring a lot of love into him and just hoping for the best."

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Hardaway couldn't help but think about his own knee issues, which included six surgeries during his NBA playing career, as well as similar injuries that others have suffered. Like West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler, who went down with a torn ACL in the NCAA Tournament against Duke in 2010. And like Louisville's Kevin Ware, whose broken leg during an NCAA Tournament game against Duke in 2013 made national news.

"It's hard. It really is hard," Hardaway said. "Because I thought about, I forget the young man's name (Butler) who was at WVU during the NCAA Tournament when Bob Huggins was there, and he knew that his season was over. Really good player, probably his best player. Then I thought about (Kevin) Ware for Louisville. How it affected Louisville right at the time. All that stuff went through my mind that quickly.

"The way (Mills) was screaming and the way he was hurting, you knew it wasn't good. To know that his college career could be over on that, that just — for a guy that had six knee surgeries on the same knee, man, it just hurts you."

The Tigers (12-2, 1-0 AAC) return to action Sunday (4 p.m., ESPN) against SMU (10-4, 1-0) at FedExForum.

Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or follow him @munzly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball's Penny Hardaway grim about Caleb Mills knee injury