In the aftermath of a 13-point home loss just before Christmas, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway made a decision to return to “old-school practices” every day.That meant sprints on Christmas night. Some “choice words all week for a lot of guys,” Hardaway said. Seven days later, Memphis blew out then-No. 16 Mississippi by 17 points.”It paid off,” Hardaway said.Now, No. 21 Memphis (10-3) rides that momentum into Boca Raton to take on Florida Atlantic (7-6) in both teams’ American Athletic Conference opener on Thursday.For Hardaway, Memphis opens its conference schedule on exactly the right step after being “as hard on them than I’ve ever been all year.””Just an unbelievable run, to be 10-3 after this schedule,” Hardaway said. “Every game was grueling, every game was fatiguing, every game was hard. Just kudos to the players for fighting hard every game to be 10-3.”The Tigers could be in for quite the shootout at FAU. Florida Atlantic has scored the second-most points among AAC teams with 84.8, but the Owls have allowed the most points at 77.5.It also does not help FAU that it has not played since Dec. 21. As a result, first-year Owls coach John Jakus has focused on conditioning to gear up his guys for Thursday while emphasizing a balanced attack.”Certainly we can shoot the three, but I don’t want our season to be dictated by whether that shot goes in or not,” said Jakus, whose team features four players shooting at least 38 percent from long range. “We’ve got to control some of the other things, so that becomes a bonus and not something we have to count on.”