Tulsa to Face Iowa State in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Semifinals

GAME #4 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (2-1) vs. IOWA STATE CYCLONES (1-2)
Date/Time:	Friday • Nov. 17 • 6 p.m. CT
Site:	HTC Center (3,212) • Conway, S.C.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 4th year Iowa State – Steve Prohm (Alabama '97), 3rd year
TV:	ESPNU (Alvaro Martin and Deb Antonelli)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tied 2-2
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team will continue play at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach at 6 p.m. (CT) on Friday, Nov. 17, when it will face Iowa State in the semifinals at HTC Center. The game can be seen on ESPNU.

Tulsa is coming off an 81-74 wire-to-wire win over Western Michigan in the opening round on Thursday night. Curran Scott led four players in double-figures with a season-high 17 points and the Golden Hurricane (2-1) shot 50-percent while limiting the Mid-American Conference favorites to just 36.7-percent shooting.

TU dominated in the paint, where it outscored the Broncos 40-24.

Meanwhile, the Cyclones (1-2) bounced back from a pair of losses to start the season with a 104-98 win over Appalachian State on Thursday. The Cyclones return just five letterwinners from last year's team that won 24 games and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

Iowa State returns just 17.9-percent of its scoring and 20.6-percent of its rebounding. The Cyclones were picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 this season.

Iowa State and Tulsa have evenly split four previous meetings and this will be the first contest between the two since 1976.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 107th season of basketball and fourth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will continue play in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach against Iowa State at 6 p.m. (CT) in the event's semifinals on Friday, Nov. 17 at HTC Center in Conway, S.C. The winner will advance to Sunday's championship game against either Boise State or Illinois State at 6:30 p.m. (CT).
• Tulsa and Iowa State have split four previous meetings. This will be the first meeting between the two since 1976.
• Head coach Frank Haith returns to the Puerto Rico Tip-Off, where his Miami Hurricanes defeated Marist, VCU and Providence to win the inaugural tournament in 2007.
• Tulsa is coming off an 81-74 win over Western Michigan on Thursday night. Curran Scott led four players in double-figures with 17 points and the TU defense held the Mid-American Conference favorites to just 36.7-percent shooting.
• Junior Etou leads the team at 15.7 ppg and he has scored 45 points in two games this week.
• A year after adding 10 new players to the roster, Tulsa returns eight letterwinners and four starters from last season's team. In all, Tulsa returns five of its top six scorers and 72-percent of its offense from last season.
• Etou led the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg) last season. He was named preseason second-team American Athletic Conference in a vote by the league's head coaches prior to the 2017-18 campaign.
• The 2017-18 schedule will see Tulsa face up to 12 opponents that participated in the postseason last year, with four of those matchups coming at home. Last season, Iowa State participated in the NCAA Tournament.
• TU has posted 34 league wins since joining The American, which is tied for the third-most behind SMU (44) and Cincinnati (41).
• Tulsa was picked to finish eighth in The American Preseason Poll. TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in all three previous seasons under head coach Frank Haith.

Notes
The Game
• Tulsa continue play at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach against Iowa State at 6 p.m. (CT) at HTC Center in Conway, S.C. The winner of Friday's matchup will advance to face either Boise State or Illinois State at 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, Nov. 19 in the championship game.
• The contest can be seen on ESPNU with Alvaro Martin and Deb Antonelli on the call.
• Friday's game can be heard in the Tulsa area on Big Country 99.5 FM with Bruce Howard and former Hurricane player J.R. Rollo calling the action. The game also can be heard on tulsahurricane.com or by using the TuneIn app.

The Series
• Friday's contest will mark just the fifth meeting between the Hurricane and Cyclones, with the programs evenly splitting the previous four contests.
• TU won the last game in the series, 88-65, back on Dec. 11, 1976, in Ames, Iowa.
• TU coach Frank Haith is 2-0 all-time against the Cyclones, winning both matchups in 2012 while at Missouri.

Scouting the Cyclones
• Iowa State returns just five letterwinners from last year's squad that went 24-11 and won the Big 12 Conference Tournament to earn the program's sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.
• The Cyclones have seven newcomers on the roster and bring back just 17.9-percent of its scoring and 20.6-percent of its rebounding. Iowa State was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 this season.
• Iowa State started 0-2 on the season with losses to Missouri and Milwaukee before holding off Appalachian State on Thursday evening, 104-98, for its first victory of the campaign.

Last Time Out
• Tulsa shot 50-percent and limited Mid-American Conference favorite Western Michigan to just 36.7-percent shooting en route to an 81-74 win on Thursday night to open play in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach.
• Curran Scott led TU with a season-high 17 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He hit 7-of-8 attempts at the free-throw line.
• TU also got 15 points from Junior Etou and 11 points from freshman Elijah Joiner, who also had seven rebounds.
• The Hurricane dominated inside against the bigger Broncos, outscoring Western Michigan 40-24 in the paint.
• TU never trailed in the contest.

TU Through Three
• Through three games, Tulsa is averaging 79.3 ppg and is shooting 50-percent from the floor.
• The TU defense has limited opponents to 40.6-percent shooting and just 33.3-percent behind the arc.
• Junior Etou and DaQuan Jeffries have been extremely efficient on the offensive end for TU. Etou is shooting 63.0-percent by connecting on 17 of his 27 attempts, while Jeffries has connected at a 70.6-percent clip (12-of-17) thus far.

Offense Shines In Exhibition Wins
• Tulsa improved to 66-2 all-time in exhibition games, including a run of 37 consecutive victories, with wins over Northwestern Oklahoma State (96-65) and Missouri S&T (113-56) prior to the start of the 2017-18 season.
• TU put up impressive numbers in the wins as the team averaged 104.5 points and shot 56.6-percent from the floor, including 46.9-percent from behind the arc. Tulsa also recorded 46 assists to just 21 turnovers and out-rebounded its two opponents by a combined total of 99-46.
• Five players averaged in double-figures during exhibition play, led by Junior Etou's 17.0 ppg. Joining him were Corey Henderson Jr. (16.0 ppg), DaQuan Jeffries (12.5 ppg), Curran Scott (12.5 ppg) and Geno Artison (11.5 ppg).
• TU made 20 3-pointers in the win over Missouri S&T (the program's regular-season record for a game is 18), with half of that total coming from Henderson (6) and Artison (4).

Haith Enters Fourth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fourth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 60-41 record and made a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 265-170 in his 14th season.
• Haith has led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of 20-win seasons and postseason appearances (2015 NCAA Tournament, 2016 NIT) during his first three seasons.
• With a win over No. 9 Wichita State in 2015-16, he led TU to its first win over a top-10 squad since 2000. Later that season, TU won at No. 16 SMU for its first road win against a top-16 program since 1981.

Haith in Exclusive Coaching Company
• Head coach Frank Haith is the only active Division I coach to take teams in four of the Power 6 conferences to the NCAA Tournament. Haith guided Tulsa (The American) to the Big Dance in 2015, Missouri (SEC) in 2013, Missouri (Big 12) in 2012 and Miami (ACC) in 2008.
• In addition, Haith is one of just 20 active coaches that have taken at least three different teams to the NCAA Tournament.
• Haith will face three other coaches on that list this season when TU matches up against Tubby Smith (Memphis), Kelvin Sampson (Houston) and Bruce Weber (Kansas State).

Tulsa's Success in The American
• Since joining the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2014-15 season, the Golden Hurricane has posted 34 league wins, which is tied with Temple for third-most in the circuit.
• Only SMU (44 wins) and Cincinnati (41 wins) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 34, which tops UConn (30) and Memphis (27) along with five other conference programs.
• TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in each of Haith's three seasons. The Golden Hurricane was picked to finish eighth in the conference prior to the 2017-18 season.

Etou Named Preseason Second-Team American Athletic Conference
• Senior forward Junior Etou was named preseason second-team American Athletic Conference in a vote by the league's head coaches.
• Last season, Etou led the Golden Hurricane in scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg) and was the only player to start all 32 games. He was even better in conference play as he averaged 13.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg.
• Etou scored in double-figures 18 times with six games of at least 20 points, including a career-high 31 points against ECU, and produced four double-doubles.
• He led the team in scoring 12 times, rebounding 17 times, steals eight times, assists five times and blocks twice.

Look Who's Back
• Tulsa returns eight letterwinners, including four starters, and 72-percent of its offense from last season's team.
• Returning starters include senior forward Junior Etou (32 starts), sophomore forward Martins Igbanu (17), junior guard Sterling Taplin (30) and senior guard Jaleel Wheeler (29).
• Other returners include junior forward Geno Artison, senior guard Corey Henderson Jr., sophomore guard Lawson Korita and junior forward Alex Foree.
• In all, Tulsa returns 68.8-percent of its minutes, 66.9-percent of its rebounding, 79.8-percent of its assists and 65.5-percent of its steals.

New Faces
• Along with the eight returning letterwinners, Tulsa has five newcomers, four of which made their debut in the season opener against Lamar.
• The newcomers eligible for 2017-18 are sophomore guard Curran Scott, junior guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries, freshman guard Darien Jackson and freshman guard Elijah Joiner. Sophomore forward Jeriah Horne will sit out the season after transferring from Nebraska.
• Scott redshirted the 2016-17 season after transferring from Charlotte, where he averaged 10.3 ppg as a freshman in 2015-16. He practiced with the Golden Hurricane last season.
• TU's four newcomers have totaled 86 points (28.7 ppg), led by 31 points (10.3 ppg) from DaQuan Jeffries.

Tulsa Enters 20th Season at the Reynolds Center
• After hosting the first TU men's basketball game on Dec. 29, 1998, the Golden Hurricane will play its 20th season in the Donald W. Reynolds Center this year.
• Tulsa has posted an overall record of 227-71 (.762) in its 19+ seasons, including a 1-1 mark this season.
• The building has seen 41 sellouts and 1,798,234 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.

TU Adds Three in the Early Signing Period
• Tulsa has signed three student-athletes — Chris Barnes, Peter Hewitt and Zeke Moore — to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period.
• All three signees are enrolled at junior colleges and will have three years of eligibility at TU.
• Barnes is a 6-foot-4 guard from Compton, Calif., who played his freshman season at UTEP. He appeared in 16 games for the Miners after earning all-conference honors as a senior at Compton HS. He is redshirting this season at Angelina College.
• Peter Hewitt is a 6-foot-10 forward from Mountain View, Calif., who redshirted last season at UC Davis. He currently plays for Las Positas College and he has helped the team average 99.0 ppg and start 3-0 this season. Hewitt was a three-year letterwinner at Saint Francis High School and led the Lancers to a pair of West Coast Athletic League titles.
• Zeke Moore is a 6-foot-7 guard from St. Louis, Mo., who played his freshman season at Saint Louis. He saw action in 29 games and averaged 5.3 points and 2.0 rebounds before transferring to Southwest Illinois CC, where he is redshirting this season. Moore was a standout at Riverview Gardens HS for his father, head caoch Gerard Moore, and he averaged 21.1 ppg as a senior.

Season Tickets Available Now
• Season tickets for Tulsa's full home schedule are on sale now.
• A four-game Mini-Plan also is available, which features four American Athletic Conference matchups (Jan. 3 vs. UConn; Jan. 13 vs. Wichita State; Feb. 1 vs. SMU; March 4 vs. Temple).
• Additionally, discounted group tickets are available to groups of 15 or more and fans also can purchase an All-Sport FlexBook, which allows flexibility in attending games for basketball, football and ticketed Olympic sports.
• Fans can purchase tickets in person at the TU Athletics Ticket Office in the Reynolds Center or by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688).

Next Up
• Tulsa will face either Boise State or Illinois State at 4 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the championship or third-place game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach.

Tulsa to Face Iowa State in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Semifinals

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Players Mentioned

Geno Artison

Junior Etou

Alex Foree

Corey Henderson Jr.

Jeriah Horne

Martins Igbanu

Darien Jackson

DaQuan Jeffries

Elijah Joiner

Lawson Korita

Curran Scott

Sterling Taplin

Jaleel Wheeler