Tulsa Returns Home for Thursday Matchup with Prairie View A&M

Thursday, December 14

Reynolds Center

7 PM

Tulsa

Prairie View A&M

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Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Returns Home for Thursday Matchup with Prairie View A&M

12/12/2017 3:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME #10 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (5-4) vs. PRAIRIE VIEW A&M PANTHERS (2-7)
Date/Time:	Thursday • Dec. 14 • 7 p.m.
Site:	Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 4th year Prairie View A&M – Byron Smith (Houston '90), 2nd year
TV:	ESPN3 (Chad McKee and Bryndon Manzer)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 4-0
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa

TULSA, Okla. — Fresh off a 61-54 win at Kansas State last Saturday, The University of Tulsa men's basketball team returns to the friendly confines of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for a 7 p.m. matchup against Prairie View A&M on Thursday, Dec. 14, in a contest that can be seen on ESPN3.

The Golden Hurricane (5-4) improved to 2-0 in road games against Big 12 Conference foes under head coach Frank Haith with last Saturday's win over the Wildcats, which also snapped K-State's 23-game non-conference winning streak in home venues. Junior Etou led the way with 22 points behind a season-high five 3-pointers and was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll for his efforts in the victory.

Martins Igbanu got his first start of the season and scored 10 points to go along with seven rebounds. In 18 games as a starter at TU, Igbanu now is averaging 10.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game.

Meanwhile, the Panthers (2-7) have played all nine games away from home and will not play on their home court until Dec. 29. Picked to finish fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Prairie View A&M returns a pair of starters and six letterwinners from last year's team, which went 13-20 overal and finished third with a 10-8 league mark.

Guard Gary Blackson and forward Zachary Hamilton lead the Panthers by averaging 17.7 ppg and 17.6 ppg, respectively. Prairie View A&M is averaging 64.3 ppg, while opponents have posted 76.7 ppg.

TU has won all four previous meetings against the Panthers with each contest played in Tulsa. The Hurricane took the last meeting, 83-54, on Dec. 16, 2006, at the Reynolds Center.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 107th season of basketball and fourth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa returns home for the first of two final non-conference games in the Reynolds Center, beginning with a 7 p.m. matchup against Prairie View A&M on Thursday, Dec. 14.
• TU leads the all-time series against Prairie View A&M, 4-0, with all four meetings coming in Tulsa. TU last defeated the Panthers, 83-54, on Dec. 16, 2006.
• Tulsa is coming off a 61-54 win at Kansas State in the Wichita Wildcat Classic last Saturday. Junior Etou led all scorers with 22 points behind a season-high five 3-pointers and the TU defense held K-State to its worst offensive output of the season. The win snapped K-State's 23-game non-conference winning streak in home venues.
• Junior Etou leads the team at 17.3 ppg and 6.4 rpg and those marks rank fifth and 10th in The American, respectively. The senior also ranks ninth in the circuit with a .561 field goal percentage.
• Tulsa is shooting 46.5-percent from the floor, which ranks fourth in The American. TU has shot at least 45-percent in six contests, including four games of at least 50-percent shooting.
• The Hurricane also rank fifth in the conference by averaging 77.2 ppg. TU has scored at least 78 points five times.
• Sterling Taplin is second on the team in scoring at 12.9 ppg to go along with a team-high 4.0 assists per outing.
• After posting a -4.5 rebound margin through its first six games, TU has out-rebounded its opponent by double-digits in each of its last three games for a +16.7 rebound margin. TU out-rebounded K-State, 40-30, in last Saturday's win.
• 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 returns home for the first of two final non-conference games in the Reynolds Center, beginning with a 7 p.m. matchup against Prairie View A&M on Thursday, Dec. 14.
• Thursday's game can be seen on ESPN3, while fans in the Tulsa area can tune to Big Country 99.5 FM with Bruce Howard and former Hurricane player J.R. Rollo calling the action. Live audio from the game also can be found on tulsahurricane.com or by using the TuneIn app.

The Series
• Thursday's contest will mark the fifth meeting between Tulsa and Prairie View A&M. TU has won all four previous meetings, each of which has come in Tulsa.
• TU last defeated the Panthers, 83-54, back on Dec. 16, 2006, behind 13 points from Rod Earls.

Scouting the Panthers
• Picked to finish fifth in the Southwestern Athletic Conference, Prairie View A&M returns six letterwinners and a pair of starters from last year's team that went 13-20 overall and finished third with a 10-8 league mark.
• The Panthers will be playing their 10th game away from home, part of a stretch of 13 consecutive road or neutral contests to start the 2017-18 season. Prairie View A&M will play its first home game on Dec. 29.
• The Panthers have dropped their last four games, including a 73-53 setback at then-No. 7 Texas A&M last Saturday.
• Gary Blackson (17.7 ppg) and Zachary Hamilton (17.6 ppg) lead the team, which is averaging 64.3 ppg.

Last Time Out
• Junior Etou scored a game-high 22 points behind a season-best five 3-pointers and the Tulsa defense limited Kansas State to just 32.1-percent shooting as the Golden Hurricane defeated the Wildcats 61-54 last Saturday in Wichita.
• It was the fourth game of at least 20 points this season for Etou, while Martins Igbanu got his first start of the season and scored 10 points. Sterling Taplin added nine points, a career-high eight rebounds and six assists.
• TU held K-State to season lows of 54 points, a 32.1-percent effort from the floor and just 12.9-percent from behind the arc. The Hurricane snapped the Wildcats' 23-game non-conference winning streak in home venues.
• TU improved to 2-0 against Big 12 Conference teams on the road under head coach Frank Haith. Tulsa defeated Oklahoma State in Stillwater on Dec. 2, 2015, for its last road win over a Big 12 foe.

Sharp Shooting
• TU is shooting 46.5-percent from the floor to rank fourth in the American Athletic Conference. The squad has shot better than 45-percent in six times, including at least 50-percent in four contests.
• DaQuan Jeffries ranks third in the league by shooting 62.1-percent (36-of-58), while Junior Etou ranks ninth at 56.1-percent. In all, six players are shooting better than 45-percent this season.
• The team's hot shooting has helped the offense rank fifth in the circuit by averaging 77.2 ppg. TU has scored at least 78 points five times this season.

Trending
• After being outrebounded in five of its first six games with a rebound margin of -4.5 rpg, Tulsa has crashed the glass and outrebounded its opponents by a combined 136-86 (+16.7 rpg) in its last three contests. TU held a +20 rebounding advantage in games against UTSA and Illinois State before a +10 edge on the glass in last Saturday's win at Kansas State.
• Junior Etou has attempted at least 10 free throws in four of his last six games. During that time he is 41-58 (.707) at the charity stripe. Etou ranks 18th in the nation with 77 free-throw attempts this season.
• Martins Igbanu is averaging 10.6 ppg and 4.7 rpg in 18 games as a starter during his career at TU.
• After averaging 1.6 ppg in his first five games, Corey Henderson Jr. is averaging 11.5 ppg in his last four contests.

Haith Enters Fourth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fourth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 63-44 record and made a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 268-173 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.
• So far in 2017-18, Etou leads the Hurricane in scoring (17.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg). Those marks rank fifth and 10th in the conference, respectively.
• Etou has scored in double-figures eight times, including four games of at least 20 points.

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 232 points (25.7 ppg), led by 91 points (11.4 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 229-71 (.763) in its 19+ seasons, including a 3-1 mark this season.
• The building has seen 41 sellouts and 1,804,730 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.

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).

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 84.2 ppg and start 10-4 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 play its final home game during non-conference play at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16 against Manhattan (4-5). TU then will close non-conference action on the road at Oklahoma State (Dec. 19).

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