Tulsa Plays Temple Today

TULSA BASKETBALL

Tulsa on the Road at Temple Saturday

GAME #16 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (8-7, 2-1 AAC) vs. TEMPLE OWLS (10-8, 1-4 AAC)
Date/Time:	Saturday • January 14, 2017 • 3:01 p.m. (CT)/4:01 p.m. (ET)
Site:	Liacouras Center (10,206), Philadelphia, Pa.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 3rd year Temple – Fran Dunphy (LaSalle '70), 10th year
TV:	ESPNews (Allen Bestwick and Tim Welsh)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads 5-1
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa I Temple

THE GAME . . .
•   The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (8-7) captured an 81-71 home win over the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday night.
•   Temple has an overall 10-8 record and 1-4 mark in AAC play . . . the Owls' non-conference wins included Florida State, West Virginia, DePaul and Yale.
•   Tulsa and Temple have played one common opponent this year, as Tulsa captured a 61-59 overtime home win vs.UConn, and Temple dropped a 73-59 decision at UConn on Wednesday.
•   This will be the only meeting in the regular season between the two teams.

THE SERIES . . .
•   This is the seventh meeting between Tulsa and Temple.
•   Tulsa leads the series 5-1, winning the first four games . . . the first meeting came in Philadelphia on Dec. 9, 1995 as Tulsa claimed a 64-60 win.
•   The two teams split the games last year with Temple winning at home by a score of 83-79 in overtime, and Tulsa claiming a 74-55 home win.
•   The Hurricane has a+10.6 win margin in the five victories, including a 17.5 margin in its last two wins in the series.

TULSA IN THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE . . .
•   Tulsa is in its third season as a member of the American Athletic Conference, after finishing its first year in second-place and placing in a tie for third-place a year ago.
•   Tulsa has an overall 28-11 record in its third season of American play.
•   Tulsa had league records of 14-4 in 2014-15 and 12-6 in 2015-16.
•   In the preseason coaches poll, Tulsa was picked to finish ninth in the league, while Temple was selected to finish in sixth place . . . Cincinnati was picked first in the preseason poll.
•   Tulsa has already claimed wins against two teams picked ahead of the Hurricane in the preseason poll, including UConn, picked second, and Memphis, picked 5th.

COACH HAITH GETS 50th WIN AT TULSA . . .
•   While capturing its American Athletic Conference-opening win over UConn this year, it was also the 50th win for Frank Haith as the Tulsa head coach.
•   Haith now has a 51-30 record in his third season as the Hurricane head coach.
•   In his first two years, Haith led Tulsa to over 20 wins both years, including 23 in his first year and 20 victories a year ago.
•   Haith averaged 21.5 wins in his first two years, while leading Tulsa to an NIT in 2014 and the NCAAs in 2015.

QUICK HITS . . .
• Tulsa is playing its 106th season of basketball.
• Tulsa features only three players on its roster that appeared in a game at TU prior to this season – Pat Birt, TK Edogi and Sterling Taplin.
•   Tulsa graduated 9 seniors after last year's 20-12 season and NCAA tournament appearance, including losing 81-percent of its scoring and 78-percent of its rebounding.
• Tulsa has 10 newcomers to its roster, including two juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen.
• Ten players have made their Tulsa debuts this season . . . they have accounted for 68.6 percent of Tulsa's total points, scoring 704 of Tulsa's 1,026 points thru 15 games.
• Tulsa has out-rebounded 9 of its 15 opponents this season, winning 6 of those games . . . among those 9 games, Tulsa has had 6 double-digit rebounding margins, including a high of 21 more than ORU.
•   After allowing 80+ points in the first two games (82.0 ppg), both losses, Tulsa held its next three opponents to 65.7 points per game for a difference of 16.3 points.
•   Tulsa has used 6 different starting lineups through 15 games this year

LAST TIME OUT . . .
•   Tulsa captured an 81-71 win over the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday night behind Junior Etou's career-high performance of 23 points and 13 rebounds.
•   With the score tied 69-69, T.K. Edogi's dunk off of a rebound with 2:02 on the clock gave the Hurricane a 71-69, beginning a 12-0 run.
• Tulsa led 43-36 at halftime, as Etou led Tulsa with 11 points and 8 rebounds.
•   After starting out the second half just 2-of-13 from the field, the Hurricane finished the half connecting on seven of their final 11 shots.     •   The Hurricane bench out-scored Memphis, 26-7, while also totaling a wide margin in second-chance points at 18-to-3 and a 41-fo-29 edge in rebounds.
•   Sterling Taplin added career-highs of 17 points and six assists to pace the Hurricane,
•   For the fourth straight game, Tulsa shot over 80-percent from the free throw line, as the Hurricane made 25-of-30 freebies.

JUNIOR HAS CAREER GAME . . .
•   Junior Etou, a junior who sat out last year after transferring from Rutgers, has been a key component to the Tulsa team.
•   Etou had career-highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds against Memphis.
•   His earlier career-high was 22 points, while knocking down 13-of-14 free throws, against Illinois State at the Diamond Head Classic.
•   Etou has raised his free throw percentage to 74 percent . . . after his 13-of-14 performance against Illinois State, his free throw percentage improved from .667 to a current percentage of .750.
•   In the last five games, Etou has connected on 90.9 percent of his free throws (30-of-33).
•   Etou averages 12.0 points and 6.6 rebounds to rank first on the team in both categories
•   The 6'8" forward is shooting 38-percent from three-point range, making 16-of-42 treys, while also shooting 49-percent from the field overall.
•   He has scored in double-figures in eight games this year and has three double-doubles.
•   Against Illinois State in the first meeting, Etou had 15 points, including a layup at 2:29 that gave Tulsa its first second-half lead, and added 3 rebounds.
•   Against OSU, Etou's layup with 0:40 on the clock tied the game at 67-67.
•   Etou began the year with a 20-point, 10-rebound performance against Jacksonville State.

AT THE LINE . . .
•     After the first 3 games, Tulsa was shooting just 55.2-percent from the free throw line (37-of-67).
•     In Tulsa's last 12 games, Tulsa is shooting 75.2 percent from the line (191-of-254), improving its season average from .552 to .719.
•     Tulsa has knocked down 82.8 percent of its free throws (96-of-116) over the last five games, and is connected over 80 percent in each of the last four games.
•     After the poor free throw shooting in the first three games, Tulsa went the next three games hitting 75.9 percent from the line (44-of-58), including 13-of-16 at ORU for a percentage of .813 in that third game.
•     Tulsa connected on a season-best .909 from the line (20-of-22) against Houston.

Tulsa Plays Temple Today

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Players Mentioned

Pat Birt

TK Edogi

Junior Etou

Sterling Taplin

Tulsa Plays Temple Today

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Players Mentioned

Pat Birt

TK Edogi

Junior Etou

Sterling Taplin

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