MEMPHIS, Tenn. — There aren’t many moments on and off the court when Memphis Tigers guard Dee Dee Hagemann isn’t all smiles.
“No matter what I’m doing, no matter how serious the situation might be, I feel like I need to crack a joke just to lighten it up a little bit”, said Hagemann.
She arrived at Memphis after she was named to the 2023-24 All-Big Ten Second Team while averaging 12.3 points and 5.2 assists per game.
” As far as my coaching career, she may be the best point guard I’ve ever had, especially from a production standpoint. Just for Memphis in general, to have somebody of her caliber come here. I think it says a lot about where we’re going as a program,” said Tigers head coach Alex Simmons.
But it hasn’t been all joy for Hagemann during her tenure as a Tiger, before the season she was deemed academically ineligible.
” It was hard. I felt like I was, you know, trapped in a little box. I couldn’t really show my full personality,” said Hagemann.
” During that period you never know how a player is going to react when they’re practicing and going through the hard stuff just like everybody else, but the only thing they’re not getting to do is what everybody comes to college do is play basketball on game day. She was mature enough to know that she had other goals than just playing the game”.
After nearly six months from the time she’d played in a game, Hagemann’s moment came December 18th when Memphis hosted No.18 Tennessee.
Hagemann scored 19 points along with four assists, three rebounds and two steals in her debut.
” I feel like Memphis contacted me at the lowest part of where I was. And I can’t can’t be more excited to be here. I feel like they have been on the road with me on my struggle and then that they get to see me, you know, shine”.