Tulsa Pulls Away from UCF for 75-60 Win

Sunday, January 24

Reynolds Center

2:00 p.m.

Tulsa

13-6, 5-2

UCF

10-7, 4-2

UCF

Tulsa

Tulsa Pulls Away from UCF for 75-60 Win

1/24/2016 5:11:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

Box Score | Postgame Quotes | Highlights | Postgame Press Conference

James Woodard and Brandon Swannegan led four Tulsa players in double-figures with 18 and 17 points, respectively, as the Golden Hurricane pulled away for a 75-60 win over the UCF Knights Sunday afternoon in front of 4,270 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa improved to 5-2 in the American Athletic Conference and 13-6 overall, while the loss for UCF was only its second league loss, as the Knights fell to 4-2 in league play and 10-7 overall.

Despite a size disadvantage that saw UCF's two big men average 7'3" and 312 pounds, to Tulsa's two big men standing 6'9", 226 pounds, the Hurricane had a 43-38 rebound advantage. Tulsa also had an 18-7 edge on the offensive glass and a 30-28 scoring advantage in the paint.

"I thought that was a really good win for us. I have a lot of respect for Central Florida, and they are off to a great start this year. We didn't shoot the ball well, but we did a lot of other things really good. We missed a lot of shots around the hoop and a lot of open threes, but obviously our offensive rebounding was outstanding," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

The Hurricane shot only 35-percent from the field, compared to 45-percent for the Knights. Tulsa forced 19 turnovers, while outscoring UCF 18-2 off of those miscues. On the other side, Tulsa had just a season-low five turnovers in the game.

Pat Birt and Rashad Ray each chipped in 12 points for the Hurricane, while Woodard added team-highs of 10 rebounds and six assists. Woodard's first nine points came on free throw. He didn't score his first field goal until nailing a three-pointer from the corner with 8:15 left in the game. Swannegan added eight rebounds, including seven on the offensive glass.

"Brandon had seven offensive rebounds, and Rashad Smith had five. We had 15 assists and only five turnovers, and you are going to have good production when you don't turn the ball over and get good shots. We got stops when we needed to from a defensive standpoint. It was just a really good win, and I thought that our guys play extremely hard and they deserve it,"
said Haith.

UCF trimmed Tulsa's five-point halftime lead to one point in the first three minutes of the second half, and the game stayed in single digits for the first 11:45 until Woodard's first trey of the game put the Hurricane ahead 53-42 at the 8:15 mark. The Knights cut the Tulsa lead back to eight points on an Adonys Henriquez with 6:37 to play. Swannegan's layup with 6:27 remaining put Tulsa back ahead 55-45, a double-digit lead that the Hurricane would not relinquish the remainder of the game.

In the game's first six minutes, the contest was tied three times before Shaquille Harrison's three-pointer broke a 10-10 tie at the 13:04 mark to begin an 11-2 run for 21-12 Tulsa lead with 10:26 remaining in the first half. The Knights went on a 7-2 run of their own over the next four-plus minutes to trim the Tulsa lead to four points, 23-19.

The Hurricane went scoreless for over three minutes before Birt's trey put Tulsa ahead 26-19. Tulsa had a nine-point lead, 32-23, with 1:34 left before UCF cut the Hurricane lead to four points by intermission. Tulsa took a 32-27 lead into halftime.

At the half, Tulsa was shooting just 27-percent from the field and 27.8 from three-point range, while UCF had a .478 field goal percentage. Birt led the Hurricane with nine first-half points, followed by seven from James Woodard, as all of his first-half points came from the free throw line.

Tulsa travels to face the Houston Cougars this Wednesday (Jan. 27) for a 7:00 p.m. game that will be aired on ESPNews. The Hurricane returns to the Reynolds Center next Saturday to host the Tulane green Wave in a 5:00 p.m. game.

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