Tulsa Basketball Closes Out Home Season on Wednesday Against UCF
3/2/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2009
Tulsa, Oklahoma - Tulsa seniors Sam Mitchell (Bartlesville, Okla.) and Ray Reese (Los Angeles, Calif.) will play in their final regular season home game at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Wednesday night.
Tulsa hosts the UCF Knights at 7:05 pm. The Golden Hurricane looks to avenge a 74-72 loss at the buzzer nearly three weeks ago in Orlando, Fla. Tulsa enters the final week of the regular season with an overall 20-9 record and a 10-4 league mark, tied with UAB for second-place in Conference USA standings.
Tulsa will then close out the regular season at Rice on Saturday afternoon, while UAB finishes the regular season at UTEP on Wednesday and home against Marshall on Saturday.
UCF has posted 16-12 and 6-8 records this season. The Tulsa-UCF series is tied 4-4 as each team has won on their own home court.
The Knights are led by C-USA's leading scorer Jermaine Taylor, who averages 26.1 points and also ranks third nationally. Taylor scored a game-high 35 points in the last outing against the Hurricane. UCF freshman guard A.J. Rompza scored the game-winning basket in the earlier meeting this year.
The Hurricane seniors, Mitchell and Reese, will be making their last appearance in the Reynolds Center. Reese is coming off of a career-high 24-point performance at SMU on Saturday night, while on the season averages 9.7 points and 3.8 rebounds. Mitchell, from nearby Bartlesville, averages 2.3 points and 2.9 rebounds for Tulsa.
Tulsa is led, however, by the inside-outside combination of juniors Jerome Jordan and Ben Uzoh. The seven-foot Jordan leads Conference USA in rebounding (9.1), blocked shots (2.6) and field goal percentage (.591), while scoring at a 14.2 clip. Uzoh has led Tulsa in scoring for the second consecutive season with a 14.7 average, while shooting 45-percent from the field, 34-percent from three-point range and 79-percent from the free throw line.
Uzoh also leads the Hurricane in assists (3.5) and steals (1.6), while ranking second in rebounds at 4.7 caroms per game. In the last three games, Uzoh has averaged 18.3 points and 7.3 assists, while scoring 20 points in Tulsa's last outing at SMU.
Tickets for the Tulsa-UCF game are available online at www.tulsahurricane.com, by phone at 918-631-GoTU (4688) or in person at the Reynolds Center Ticket Office. Tickets can be purchased for as low as $10.00. Special halftime entertainment will be provided by Team Acrodunk, a highflying acrobatic and trampoline dunking team.
