Tulsa to Host Tulane on Military Appreciation Night this Thursday

Thursday, February 8

Reynolds Center

6 PM

Tulsa

Tulane

Tickets

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa to Host Tulane on Military Appreciation Night this Thursday

2/6/2018 1:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME #24: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (13-10, 6-5) vs TULANE GREEN WAVE (13-9, 4-5)
Date/Time:	Thursday • Feb. 8 • 6 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 4th year Tulane – Mike Dunleavy, Sr. (South Carolina '76), 2nd year
TV:	ESPNEWS (Roy Philpott and Mark Wise)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 19-6
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| Tulane

TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa will look to stay undefeated in February when it hosts Tulane at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8 on Military Appreciation Night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Fans can stop by any of your local Oklahoma Ford dealer locations and pick up a voucher for a $5 ticket to the game. The voucher is good for up to four $5 tickets and the only opportunity to receive this special discount is to get a voucher from your local Oklahoma Ford dealer.

The Golden Hurricane (13-10, 6-5) will enter Thursday's matchup in fourth place in the American Athletic Conference standings after opening the month with wins over SMU and USF. Junior Etou recorded double-doubles in both contests, including a 17-point, 15-rebound effort against the Mustangs, to earn conference Player of the Week honors on Monday. The senior now has five double-doubles during conference play, which ranks second in the league behind Cincinnati's Gary Clark (6).

Meanwhile, the Green Wave (13-9, 4-5) has lost three of its last four games and are coming off an 83-76 loss to Temple on Sunday. Junior guard Melvin Frazier leads the team in scoring at 16.5 ppg, while Cameron Reynolds is averaging 15.8 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per outing. Five players — Frazier (16.5 ppg), Reynolds (15.8 ppg), Samir Sehic (10.4 ppg), Ray Ona Embo (10.2 ppg) and Jordan Cornish (9.9 ppg) — account for 83.7-percent of the team's offense.

Tulsa leads the all-time series, 19-6, including an 11-1 mark in Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane has won 10 of the last 11 contests against the Green Wave.

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 6 p.m. matchup against Tulane on Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Reynolds Center.
• The Golden Hurricane lead the all-time series against Tulane, 19-6, including an 11-1 mark in Tulsa. Overall, the Hurricane has won 10 of the last 11 matchups with the Green Wave.
• Tulsa won the previous meeting this season, 65-56, in New Orleans on New Year's Eve.
• Tulsa is coming off a 63-54 win at USF last Sunday afternoon. Junior Etou led the way with a double-double of 17 points and 12 rebounds, while DaQuan Jeffries came off the bench for 16 points.
• Junior Etou was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Monday after he averaged 17.0 points and 13.5 rebounds over two games last week. The senior logged double-doubles in wins over SMU and USF.
• Etou now has five double-doubles during conference play, ranking just behind Cincinnati's Gary Clark (6).
• Etou leads the team at 15.3 ppg and 7.8 rpg and those marks rank seventh and third in The American, respectively. His 9.4 rpg during conference play rank second in the circuit.
• After averaging 1.6 ppg in his first five games, Corey Henderson Jr. is averaging 12.2 ppg in his last 18 contests and a team-leading 12.5 ppg during conference play.
• After posting a -4.5 rebound margin through its first six games, TU has recorded a +4.6 rebound margin since. TU has outrebounded its opponent by double-digits five times during that stretch, including Sunday's win at USF.
• TU has notched 40 league wins since joining The American, which ranks third behind only Cincinnati (51) 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 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 8, when it will host Tulane at the Donald W. Reynold Center.
• Thursday's game can be seen on ESPNEWS, 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 game will mark the 26th all-time meeting between Tulsa and Tulane. The Golden Hurricane lead the series 19-6 and own an 11-1 mark in Tulsa.
• The series dates back to a 102-85 Golden Hurricane win back on Dec. 13, 1980, in Tulsa. The teams met two more times before playing regularly as members of Conference USA starting in 2006.
• Tulsa has won 10 of the last 11 matchups with Tulane.

Scouting the Green Wave
• Tulane will enter Thursday's game having lost three of its last four contests, with the lone win during that stretch coming in overtime at ECU on Jan. 31.
• The Green Wave was picked to finish 10th in The American preseason poll. The squad returns nine letterwinners and three starters from last year's team, which went 6-25 overall and finished 10th in the league at 3-15.
• Under second-year head coach Mike Dunleavy, Tulane already has more than doubled its win total from last season.
• Junior guard Melvin Frazier leads the team in scoring at 16.5 ppg, while Cameron Reynolds is averaging 15.8 points and a team-best 6.5 rebounds per outing.
• Five players — Frazier (16.5 ppg), Reynolds (15.8 ppg), Samir Sehic (10.4 ppg), Ray Ona Embo (10.2 ppg) and Jordan Cornish (9.9 ppg) — account for 83.7-percent of the team's offense.

Last Meeting
• Martins Igbanu just missed out on a double-double with 15 points and nine rebounds and Sterling Taplin added another 15 points to help lead Tulsa to a 65-56 win at Tulane on New Year's Eve.
• Tulsa went on an early 9-0 run to take the lead and rattled off an 11-2 run in the second half to pull away. Taplin had 13 points in the second half, all of which came in the final 9:04.
• Junior Etou added 14 points, while Curran Scott came off the bench to contribute 11 points.
• TU scored 30 points in the paint and pulled down 52 rebounds, which is its highest total in a regulation game this season.

Last Time Out
• 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 last Sunday afternoon.
• Etou was joined in double-figures by DaQuan Jeffries, who came off the bench for 16 points and six boards as TU moved into sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings.
• TU improved to 6-0 all-time against USF and outrebounded the Bulls, 44-32.
• Tulsa saw a five-point halftime lead disappear as the Bulls opened the second half on a 10-2 run to lead 33-30 with 15:44 to play. However, TU outscored USF 22-5 over the next six minutes 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.

The Schedule
• Tulsa is coming off a tough January stretch that saw the the Golden Hurricane play five of its seven games against opponents that are currently ranked in the top 100 of the RPI, with three of those matchups against top-100 teams coming on the road.
• TU faced Wichita State (28), Temple (34), Houston (39), UConn (95) and Memphis (124) in January.
• February started with a victory over SMU (70) and the month also includes games against UCF (72), another matchup with UConn (95) and Cincinnati (10).
• Tulsa has three wins against teams currently in the RPI top-100: Kansas State (69), SMU (70) and UConn (95).

Trending
• After averaging 1.6 ppg in his first five games, Corey Henderson Jr. is averaging 12.2 ppg in his last 18 contests and a team-leading 12.5 ppg during conference play.
• Junior Etou has produced back-to-back double-doubles for the first time in his career. His five double-doubles during The American play rank second behind six double-doubles from Cincinnati's Gary Clark.
• Jaleel Wheeler has hit 23 of his last 27 free throws (.852) after starting the year 6-of-16 (.375) at the charity stripe.
• TU is 53-7 under head coach Frank Haith when leading at halftime, including an 11-1 mark this season.

Henderson Dialing Long Distance
• Senior guard Corey Henderson Jr. is TU's top threat behind the arc and he will enter Thursday's matchup with Tulane leading The American with 35 3-pointers (3.5 per game) 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 14 of the last 18 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 a combined 686-607 (40.6-35.7; +4.6 rpg) in its last 17 contests.
• TU has outrebounded five opponents (UTSA, Illinois State, Kansas State, Tulane, 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 10-2 this season when outrebounding its opponent.

Free Fallin'
• The Hurricane rank second in the league and 55th in the nation with 535 free throws attempted, while it is connecting at a 73.3-percent mark at the charity stripe to rank second in The American.
• TU has shot more free throws than its opponent 17 times this season and own an 11-6 record in those games.
• Curran Scott leads the league by shooting 86.0-percent from the charity stripe. Meanwhile, Corey Henderson Jr. has hit 23 of his 29 attempts during conference play (.793) to rank ninth in the league during that time.
• Junior Etou leads the team and ranks second in The American with 137 free throws attempted. In addition, his 98 free throws made also rank second 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 84 3-pointers in six games during the challenge, which started with a then-conference record 17 triples against UConn (Jan. 3).

Haith In His Fourth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fourth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 71-50 record and made a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 276-179 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 40 league wins, which is the third-most in the circuit.
• Only Cincinnati (51 wins) and SMU (50 wins) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 40, which tops UConn (34) 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 (15.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.9 rpg). Those marks rank seventh and third in the conference, respectively.
• Etou has scored in double-figures 20 times, including six games of at least 20 points. He has recorded six double-doubles, five 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 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 415 points (18.0 ppg), led by 169 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 235-72 (.765) in its 19+ seasons, including an 9-2 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,837,344 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.

Next Up
• The Golden Hurricane hit the road again for a 6 p.m. (CT) matchup on Thursday, Feb. 15 at UConn (11-12, 4-6) before it will host USF (8-16, 1-10) on Sunday, Feb. 18 at the Reynolds Center.

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