Tulsa to Face Illinois State in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Third-Place Game

GAME #5 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (2-2) vs. ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS (1-2)
Date/Time:	Sunday • Nov. 19 • 4 p.m. CT
Site:	HTC Center (3,212) • Conway, S.C.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 4th year Illinois State – Dan Muller (Illinois State '98), 6th year
TV:	ESPNU (Rich Hollenberg and Laphonso Ellis)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 18-15
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team will close play at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach against Illinois State at 4 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the third-place game at HTC Center. The game can be seen on ESPNU with Rich Hollenberg and Laphonso Ellis on the call.

The Golden Hurricane (2-2) just missed out on a chance to play for the title with an 80-78 setback against Iowa State on Friday night in the second semifinal. Junior Etou led the way with 25 points, while DaQuan Jeffries hit nine of his 10 shots, including all four 3-point attempts, en route to a career-high 23 points.

Through two games of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach, the Hurricane is averaging 79.5 ppg, led by 20.0 ppg from Etou. Jeffries is averaging 16.0 ppg and has hit 12 of his 13 shot attempts during the event.

Meanwhile, the Redbirds (1-2) enter Sunday's matchup after an 82-64 loss to Boise State on Friday afternoon. Illinois State returns just five letterwinners and one starter from last year's team that went 28-7 overall and 17-1 in the Missouri Valley Conference to earn a share of the regular-season title. Keyshawn Evans leads the squad this season at 22.0 ppg, while Phil Fayne has added 17.0 ppg and a team-leading 6.7 rpg.

Tulsa leads the all-time series against Illinois State, 18-15. The programs were members of the Missouri Valley together from 1981-1996.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 107th season of basketball and fourth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will close play in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach against Illinois State at 4 p.m. (CT) in the third-place game on Sunday, Nov. 19 at HTC Center in Conway, S.C.
• Tulsa leads the all-time series against its former Missouri Valley Conference rival, 18-15. The teams split a pair of meetings last season and will meet again on Dec. 2 in Normal, Ill.
• 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 80-78 setback against Iowa State in Friday night's semifinal. Junior Etou and DaQuan Jeffries led the way with 25 and 23 points, respectively. TU went on a 14-0 run and shot 65.4-percent in the second half.
• Junior Etou leads the team at 18.0 ppg and he has scored 70 points in three 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, Illinois State participated in the NIT.
• 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.

The Game
• Tulsa will close play at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach against Illinois State at 4 p.m. (CT) on Sunday, Nov. 19, in the third-place game at HTC Center in Conway, S.C.
• The contest can be seen on ESPNU with Rich Hollenberg and Laphonso Ellis on the call.
• Sunday'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
• Sunday's contest will mark the 34th meeting between the Hurricane and Redbirds, with Tulsa holding an 18-15 lead in the all-time series
• The teams split a pair of games last season, with TU defeating Illinois State at home on Dec. 7, 2016, before the Redbirds took a neutral site win on Dec. 25, 2016, at the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.
• The teams were part of the Missouri Valley Conference together from 1981-1996.

Scouting the Redbirds
• Illinois State returns just five letterwinners and one starter from last year's team that went 28-7 and tied for first in the Missouri Valley with a 17-1 record. The squad defeated UC Irvine before a one-point loss to UCF in the NIT.
• The Redbirds opened the season with a road loss to Florida Gulf Coast before starting play in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach with a win over South Carolina. Illinois State lost to Boise State, 82-64, in Friday's semifinals.
• Keyshawn Evans leads the offense, which is averaging 73.7 ppg, at 22.0 ppg, while Phil Fayne has added 17.0 ppg and a team-leading 6.7 rpg. Evans is averaging 19.0 ppg at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Last Time Out
• Junior Etou led all scorers with 25 points, 19 of which came in the second half, and Tulsa went on a 14-0 run in the final period, but Iowa State held on for an 80-78 win in the semifinals of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Friday night.
• Tulsa shot 50.9-percent overall and a blistering 65.4-percent (17-of-26) in the second half. DaQuan Jeffries had a career-high 23 points and hit 9-of-10 shots, including all four of his 3-pointers.
• TU trimmed a 16-point deficit to two in the second half with its 14-0 run and got within a point, 72-71, with 1:12 left in the contest.

TU Through Four
• Through four games, Tulsa is averaging 79.0 ppg and is shooting 50.2-percent from the floor.
• Junior Etou and DaQuan Jeffries have been extremely efficient on the offensive end for TU. Etou is shooting 66.7-percent by connecting on 24 of his 36 attempts, while Jeffries leads the American Athletic Conference by shooting 77.8-percent (21-of-27) from the field thus far.
• Jeffries is shooting 92.3-percent (12-of-13) in two games of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Myrtle Beach.

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 60-42 record and made a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 265-171 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 118 points (29.5 ppg), led by 54 points (13.5 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 return home to face Central Arkansas (1-2) at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 25, at the Reynolds Center.

Tulsa to Face Illinois State in Puerto Rico Tip-Off Third-Place Game

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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