Thursday, March 9
Hartford, Conn.
5:00 pm
Tulsa
vs
Tulane
Tulsa Opens Play on Thursday at American Athletic Conference Championship Against Tulane
3/7/2017 11:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
TULSA BASKETBALL
Tulsa Opens Play on Thursday at American Athletic Conference Championship Against Tulane
| GAME #31 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (14-16, 8-10 AAC) vs. TULANE GREEN WAVE (6-24, 3-15 AAC) AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP • FIRST ROUND |
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| Date/Time: | Thursday • March 9, 2017 • 5:00 p.m. (CT)/6:00 p.m. (CT) |
| Site: | XL Center (15,564) • Hartford, CT |
| Coaches: | Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 3rd year Tulane – Mike Dunleavy Sr. (South Carolina '76), 1st 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 17-6 |
| Twitter: | @TUMBasketball | @TulsaHurricane |
| Instagram: | TulsaMBasketball |
| Game Notes: | Tulsa I Tulane |
TOURNAMENT BRACKET
THE GAME . . .
• The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (14-16, 8-10 AAC) will face the Tulane Green Wave (6-24, 3-15 AAC) for the third time this season and the second time in the last five days.
• Tulsa and Tulane played the last regular season game to finish in the American Athletic Conference last Sunday.
THE SERIES . . .
• This is the 24th meeting between Tulsa and Tulane.
• Tulsa leads the series 17-6 and has won the last 8 of 9 meetings, and 13 of the last 15 games.
• The Hurricane won the first meeting this season, 89-82, in Tulsa on January 18, while Tulane garnered an 81-69 win five days ago in New Orleans.
• Tulsa has posted an 11-1 record at home, 5-3 in New Orleans and 1-1 on a neutral court.
• Tulsa has a 10.4 margin in its 17 wins, while Tulane's win margin is 5.7 points 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 34-20 regular season record in its third season of American play, which in the last three years is tied for the third-best league mark behind SMU (44-9) and Cincinnati (41-12) . . . Tulsa is tied with Temple (34-20), while UConn has a 30-24 over the last three seasons.
• Tulsa had league records of 14-4 in 2014-15 and 12-6 in 2015-16 . . . Tulsa finished 8-10 in The American this season.
• In the preseason coaches poll, Tulsa was picked to finish 9th in the league . . . this year, Tulsa has defeated teams picked above them –– UConn (2nd), Memphis (5th), Temple (6th), East Carolina (7th) and UCF(8th).
TULSA IN THE AMERICAN TOURNAMENT . . .
• This is the third American Athletic Conference Championship that Tulsa will be a participant as this is the third season that Tulsa has been a league member . . . Tulsa has a 1-2 tournament record in The American.
• Tulsa was 1-1 in its' inaugural season of 2014-15, defeating Houston 59-51, then losing to UConn in the semifinals, 47-42, in Hartford.
• The Hurricane lost a quarterfinal game last year agaisnt Memphis, 89-67.
• This is the first season that Tulsa will be playing in a first round game in the American Athletic Conference Championship.
TULSA IN CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS . . .
• Tulsa has an overall 52-31 record in conference tournament games, combining the record in the Missouri Valley Conference, Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the American Athletic Conference.
• The Hurricane has a .627 winning percentage for all conference tournament games, and has won a conference tournament six times . . . the Hurricane has an overall 6-10 mark in conference tournament title games . . . Tulsa has played in a conference tournament semifinal game 26 times (13 in MVC, 6 in WAC, 6 in C-USA, and one in AAC) and has posted a 16-10 mark in 26 semifinal matchups.
• Tulsa is 1-2 in American Athletic Conference tournament games.
• In nine years in the Conference USA tournament, Tulsa had a 13-8 record . . . the Hurricane won the 2014 C-USA Tournament . . . TU played in two straight C-USA Championship games, in 2008 and 2009 . . . Tulsa made it to the C-USA semifinals in six of its finalseven years, and the finals three times.
• Tulsa participated in 19 of 20 Missouri Valley Conference postseason tournaments while a member of the league . . . upon leaving the MVC after the 1995-96 season, Tulsa had the most victories in the MVC Tournament (25) since the event began in 1977 . . . the Hurricane had a 25-15 record in the MVC Tournament for a .625 winning percentage . . . Tulsa won four MVC Tournament Championships (1982, 1984, 1986 and 1996), which tied Creighton and Southern Illinois at the time for most tournament titles . . . Tulsa played in the MVC Championship game nine times and had a 4-5 record.
• Tulsa played in nine Western Athletic Conference postseason tournaments and had a 12-8 record . . . Tulsa made the WAC Championship game four straight seasons ––2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 . . . Tulsa lost in the title game the first three years, but defeated Nevada, 75-64, to claim the 2003 WAC crown . . . Tulsa was 0-2 in first round games, 7-1 in the quarterfinals and 4-2 in semifinal action in the WAC Tournament.
QUICK SHOTS . . .
• 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.
• Tulsa has used 9 different starting lineups this year.
• Ten players have made their Tulsa debuts this season . . . they have accounted for 66.9 percent of Tulsa's total points, scoring 1,360 of Tulsa's 2,031 points.
• Tulsa has out-rebounded 16 opponents this season, winning 9 of those games . . . among those 16 games, Tulsa has had 8 double-digit rebounding margins, including a high of 21 more than ORU.
• After allowing its first two opponents this season to average 82.0 points, both losses, Tulsa has held its next 28 opponents to a 69.4 scoring average.
• Tulsa has had 7 different players lead the Hurricane in scoring in at least one game this year.
FROSH IGBANU COMING ON STRONG . . .
• True freshman Martins Igbanu has come on strong as of late, averaging 11.4 points (91) and 5.8 rebounds (46) in the last 8 games.
• In those 8 games, he has shot 54.7% from the field, 62.5% from 3-point range and 66.7% from the free throw line.
• He has had 6 double-digit scoring games in the last 8 games, including the last four contests.
• Igbanu had his first career double-double with career-highs of 19 points and 10 rebounds in Tulsa's last game at Tulane.
CHARITY STRIPE HAS BEEN KIND TO TULSA . . .
• After the first 3 games, Tulsa was shooting just 55.2-percent from the free throw line (37-of-67).
• In Tulsa's last 27 games, Tulsa is shooting 74.9-percent from the line (448-of-598), improving its season average from .552 to .729.
• Tulsa has hit 76.7 percent of its free throws (353-of-460) in the last 20 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) at Houston.
• Tulsa has hit over 75-percent from the charity stripe in 16 games, including 9 of those games over 80-percent and twice 90+ percent.
Players Mentioned
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