Tulsa
SMU
Hurricane Dismisses Mustangs, 63-56
1/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2010
Box Score |
Box Score 
DALLAS -The guard tandem of Justin Hurtt and Ben Uzoh combined for more than half of Tulsa's points in a 63-56 victory over the SMU Mustangs on Wednesday night in front of 2,104 fans at Moody Coliseum.
Hurtt scored 17 and Uzoh added 16 points as the Golden Hurricane improved to 13-3 overall and 3-0 in Conference USA play. SMU's Mouhammad Faye, who had missed the last two contests with a shoulder injury led the Mustangs with 17 points, followed by Papa Dia's 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The C-USA mark is the first time in the five years as a league member that Tulsa has started conference play 3-0. SMU fell to 6-9 overall and 0-2 in league action. The win was also the second straight road victory for the Hurricane.
Tulsa jumped on the Mustangs early for a 16-0 lead to start the game, and kept it to nine points at halftime. Tulsa built its second-half lead to 17 points after SMU closed the gap to four points with 13:06 to play. Holding a 34-30 lead, Tulsa then scored two free throws and put together five straight three-pointers, three by Hurtt, one by Uzoh and one by freshman Bryce Pope.
The Tulsa scoring barrage put the lead back to 17 points with 7:19 left in the contest at 53-36, as the Hurricane out-scored the Mustangs 17-4 in less than a six-minute span.
To start the contest, Tulsa built its' 16-0 lead at the 13:17 mark of the first half on a three-pointer by Pope. SMU didn't get on the scoreboard until Paul McCoy hit his second of two free throws at the 12:51 mark.
The Hurricane held the Mustangs to without a single field goal until 10:26 when Frank Otis' jumper made the score 16-4.
Uzoh's three-pointer at 10:06 put the Hurricane ahead 19-4, but SMU then out-scored Tulsa 13-7 in the final nine minutes of the first period and finished the first-half trailing the Hurricane by just nine points, 26-17.
In addition to Uzoh's offense, he shut down SMU point guard Paul McCoy, holding the sophomore to five points, all coming from the free throw line in 40 minutes of play.
Tulsa returns home on Saturday to face Conference USA foe UCF Knights in a 7 pm contest at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The game will be televised live nationally on CBS College Sports Network with Dave Ryan and Pete Gillen calling the action.
Tulsa Notes
• Former Tulsa players Gary Collier, Charlie Davis and Brett McDade were in attendance. Davis also stopped by Tulsa's practice on Tuesday night.
• With three blocked shots tonight and now 299 for his career, Jerome Jordan closed to within 15 blocks of setting the Conference USA all-time blocked shots record of 314 blocks by Moussa Badiane of East Carolina (2002-05).
• Freshman Bryce Pope knocked down two three-pointers in the game.
• Justin Hurtt had only four points at halftime, and scored 13 in the second half, including 12 of those points on three-pointers.
• Ben Uzoh now has 1,686 career points and 333 career assists.
• The last time Tulsa was 13-3 in a season came in the 2001-02 campaign when the Hurricane starter the year 15-3 before its' fourth loss.
• The 2-0 start in Conference USA play is the best start ever for a Tulsa team in C-USA since joining the conference before the 2005-06 season.
• Jerome Jordan started his 100th game, while Bishop Wheatley played in his 100th game. Both Jordan and Wheatley are seniors.
