Tulsa Looks to Extend Winning Streak Against USF on Sunday

GAME #26: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (15-10, 8-5) vs USF BULLS (8-19, 1-13)
Date/Time:	Sunday • Feb. 18 • 2 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 4th year USF – Brian Gregory (Oakland '90), 1st 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, 6-0
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| USF

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team will look to extend its four-game winning streak when it hosts USF at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

The Golden Hurricane (15-10, 8-5) will enter Sunday's matchup in fourth place in the American Athletic Conference standings. The squad is coming off a 73-71 win at UConn on Thursday for the program's first-ever win over the Huskies in the state of Connecticut. Sterling Taplin led the way with a career-high 30 points on 10-of-12 shooting, including a 7-of-8 mark behind the arc.

Taplin is one of four players averaging in double-figures for TU during conference play. Junior Etou paces the squad at 13.1 points and a conference-high 9.2 rebounds during league action.

Meanwhile, the Bulls (8-19, 1-13) will come into Sunday's game looking to snap a six-game losing streak. Stephan Jiggetts (12.1 ppg) and Payton Banks (11.6 ppg) lead the team in scoring, while Malik Martin (4.6 rpg) and Isaiah Manderson (4.5 rpg) are the squad's top rebounders. USF is shooting 41.2-percent for the season and 35.2-percent from behind the arc.

Sunday's game will mark just the seventh all-time meeting between Tulsa and USF. The Golden Hurricane has won all six previous meetings by an average of 11.5 points.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 107th season of basketball and fourth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will return home for a 2 p.m. matchup with USF on Sunday, Feb. 18 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• TU leads the all-time series, 6-0, including a 63-54 win over the Bulls on Feb. 4 in Tampa, Fla. The Hurricane is a perfect 3-0 against USF at the Reynolds Center.
• Tulsa is coming off a 73-71 win at UConn on Thursday night behind a career-high 30 points from Sterling Taplin. The junior went 10-of-12 from the floor and hit seven of his eight 3-point attempts.
• With the win over UConn, Tulsa matched last season's win total and the program now has recorded at least 15 wins in 11 consecutive seasons.
• Junior Etou was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on Monday after he scored 19 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in Tulsa's win over Tulane last week.
• Etou leads the team at 15.5 ppg and 7.9 rpg and those marks rank seventh and third in The American, respectively. His 9.2 rpg during conference play lead the league.
• Tulsa is the only team in The American to have three different players score at least 30 points in a game this season.
• After averaging 1.6 ppg in his first five games, Corey Henderson Jr. is averaging 12.1 ppg in his last 20 contests.
• After posting a -4.5 rebound margin through its first six games, TU has recorded a +4.7 rebound margin since. TU has outrebounded its opponent by double-digits six times during that stretch, including last Thursday's win over Tulane.
• TU has notched 42 league wins since joining The American, which ranks third behind only Cincinnati (53) and SMU (50) during that span (2014-present).
• 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 will continue American Athletic Conference play at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18, when it will host USF at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Sunday'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
• Sunday's game will mark just the seventh all-time meeting between Tulsa and USF. The Golden Hurricane has won all six previous meetings by an average of 11.5 points.
• Tulsa is 3-0 against the Bulls at the Reynolds Center, including an 82-68 win on Feb. 23, 2017. The Golden Hurricane wins over USF at home have come by an average of 10.3 points.
• All six meetings against USF have come since Tulsa joined the American Athletic Conference prior to the start of the 2014-15 season.

Scouting the Bulls
• USF will come into Sunday's game looking to snap a six-game losing streak. The Bulls enter with a record of 8-19 overall and 1-13 in conference play under first-year head coach Brian Gregory.
• The Bulls returned a pair of starters and just three lettermen from last year's team that went 7-23 overall and 1-17
in conference action.
• Stephan Jiggetts (12.1 ppg) and Payton Banks (11.6 ppg) lead the team in scoring, while Malik Martin (4.6 rpg) and
Isaiah Manderson (4.5 rpg) are the squad's top rebounders.
• The Bulls are shooting 41.2-percent for the season and 35.2-percent from behind the arc. USF is one of the top free-throw shooting teams in the conference at 72.5-percent during the campaign.

Last Meeting
• Junior Etou recorded his sixth double-double of the season and fifth during American Athletic Conference play with 17 points and 12 rebounds to lead Tulsa to a 63-54 win at USF on Feb. 4 at the Sun Dome.
• Etou was joined in double-figures by DaQuan Jeffries, who came off the bench for 16 points and six boards.
• After USF rallied to take the lead early in the second half, TU outscored USF 22-5 over a six-minute stretch to take control. The run was keyed by back-to-back 3-pointers from Jeffries and when the dust had settled, TU led 52-38.
• USF responeded with an 11-2 spurt and got within 57-52 with 1:21 remaining, but Etou put the game away with a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired with 46 seconds left.

Last Time Out
• Sterling Taplin scored a career-high 30 points and Tulsa held off a late UConn rally to score a 73-71 win, its first-ever over the Huskies in Connecticut, on Thursday night at the XL Center.
• Taplin went 10-of-12 from the floor, including a 7-of-8 night behind the arc, to extend the TU winning streak to four games. He also became the third different Tulsa player with a 30-point game this season.
• Junior Etou added 15 points, while DaQuan Jeffries came off the bench to score 14 points and produce back-to-back highlight reel dunks that helped spark TU's second-half surge.
• The Hurricane trailed by as much as 12 in the first half but hit 10 of its first 11 shots in the second half to take the lead. TU had a 68-61 edge before an 8-0 UConn run that gave the home squad the lead with less than a minute left.
• Taplin drove in for the go-ahead layup with 40 seconds left and his home-run pass to Jeffries led to another bucket with just six seconds remaining to help TU hold off the Huskies.

The Schedule
• Tulsa is coming off a tough January stretch that saw the the Golden Hurricane play all seven of its games against opponents that are currently ranked in the top 125 of the RPI, with four of those matchups coming on the road.
• TU faced Wichita State (17), Houston (21), Temple (38), UConn (113) and Memphis (121) in January.
• February started with a victory over SMU (94) and another over UConn (113). The month also includes games against UCF (62) and Cincinnati (10).
• TU head coach Frank Haith has dubbed the final nine games of the regular season (Feb. 1-March 4), "the back nine" and the Hurricane has started that stretch with four "birdies" (4-0).

Trending
• After averaging 1.6 ppg in his first five games, Corey Henderson Jr. is averaging 12.1 ppg in his last 20 contests.
• Junior Etou has seven double-doubles this season, including six during conference play. Those six double-doubles during league play are tied with Cincinnati's Gary Clark for most in the circuit.
• With TU's win over UConn on Thursday, the Hurricane matched last season's win total and the program now has recorded at least 15 wins in each of the last 11 seasons.
• TU is 53-7 under head coach Frank Haith when leading at halftime, including an 11-1 mark this season.

Pick Your Poison
• Tulsa's balanced offensive attack has kept opponents off-guard all season, but particularly during American Athletic Conference play.
• During conference action, TU has four different players averaging in double-figures: Junior Etou (13.1 ppg), Sterling Taplin (12.5 ppg), Corey Henderson Jr. (12.3 ppg) and Martins Igbanu (11.0 ppg).
• Five different players have led TU in scoring during its 13 conference games (four listed above and DaQuan Jeffries).
• For the season, Tulsa has three different players that have scored 30 points in a game, which is tops in the league, while five different players have scored at least 20 points in a game.

Henderson Dialing Long Distance
• Senior guard Corey Henderson Jr. is TU's top threat behind the arc and he will enter Sunday's matchup with USF tied for second in The American with 39 3-pointers (3.0 per game) made during conference action.
• After hitting just two treys in the first five games of the season, Henderson Jr. has had at least two 3-pointers in 15 of the last 20 games. He has hit at least four triples in a game seven times, including five times since the start of conference play.
• He is the 10th player in TU history to record 50 or more triples in two or more consecutive seasons and this is the 12th consecutive season that at least one TU player has scored 50 or more 3-point field goals.

Crashing The Boards
• 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 +4.7 margin (40.1-35.4) in its last 19 contests.
• TU has outrebounded six opponents (UTSA, Illinois State, Kansas State, Tulane [2x], USF) during that stretch by double-digits, including three games (UTSA, Illinois State, Tulane) with at least a +20 rebound margin.
• During that stretch, Junior Etou has led the way by averaging 8.4 rebounds per game, including a career-high 15 boards against Temple (Jan. 17) and SMU (Feb. 1). Martins Igbanu also has helped crash the glass at 5.9 rpg.
• The Hurricane is 11-2 this season when outrebounding its opponent.

Free Fallin'
• The Hurricane rank second in the league and 49th in the nation with 594 free throws attempted, while it leads the league and ranks 41st in the country with 431 free throw makes.
• TU is connecting at a 72.6-percent mark at the charity stripe to rank third in The American.
• TU has shot more free throws than its opponent 19 times this season and own a 13-6 record in those games.
• TU is averaging more free throws made per game (17.2) than its opponents attempt (16.0). The Hurricane rank 22nd in the nation with just 407 fouls committed (16.2 per game) this season.
• The Golden Hurricane rank 13th in the nation in free-throw rate (42.3) by kenpom.com.
• Junior Etou leads the team and ranks second in The American with 152 free throws attempted. In addition, his 108 free throws made rank third in the conference.

Tulsa 3 Party
• Tulsa hit a then-American Athletic Conference record 17 3-pointers in its Jan. 3 double-overtime win over UConn. The total was just one shy of the program's record, set against North Texas on Dec. 8, 1998.
• Other than its program-record 18 triples in 1998, TU last hit 15 3-pointers against Jackson State on Dec. 17, 2009.
• Corey Henderson Jr. hit eight 3-pointers, which ties for the second-most in a single game in program history. James Woodard went 10-of-16 from deep against SMU on March 8, 2015, for the program record, while Jason Parker also hit eight treys against Wichita State on Dec. 4, 2002.
• Henderson became the sixth player in American Athletic Conference history to hit at least eight 3-pointers in a game and the first to do it since UCF's Matt Williams hit a league-record 11 on Jan. 17, 2017.

TU To Participate In Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge
• Making 3-point shots this basketball season takes on even more meaning this year for head coach Frank Haith and The University of Tulsa men's basketball team. The Golden Hurricane will square off against teams across the nation to fight cancer as part of the American Cancer Society's Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge.
• Fans can pledge a donation for each 3-point shot that TU makes over the final 16 games of the regular-season (Jan. 3-March 4) to support American Cancer Society research, education and patient programs at:
pledgeit.org/cvc18-tulsa. Fans also have the option of a fixed donation and Haith started the Golden Hurricane campaign with a contribution of $500.
•So far, Tulsa has made 101 3-pointers in 11 games during the challenge.

Haith In His Fourth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fourth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 73-50 record and made a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 278-179 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 has faced three other coaches on that list this season when TU matched 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 42 league wins, ranks third in the circuit during that time.
• Only Cincinnati (53 wins) and SMU (50 wins) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 42, which tops UConn (35) and Memphis (32) along with six 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 (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg). Those marks rank seventh and third in the conference, respectively.
• Etou has scored in double-figures 22 times, including six games of at least 20 points. He has recorded seven double-doubles, six of which have come during conference play.
• Etou has been named the conference's Player of the Week twice (Jan. 2, Feb. 5) and to the league's weekly honor roll three times.

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 438 points (17.5 ppg), led by 189 points (9.9 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 236-72 (.765) in its 19+ seasons, including an 10-2 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,841,363 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 is averaging 10.6 points and 9.3 rebounds per game. 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 coach Gerard Moore, and he averaged 21.1 ppg as a senior.

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Tulsa Looks to Extend Winning Streak Against USF on Sunday

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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