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Tulsa Faces No. 23 Creighton Tonight
12/19/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 19, 2011
TULSA, Okla. - Fresh off of an overtime victory on Saturday, the Tulsa basketball team returns to action tonight when it plays host to former Missouri Valley Conference rival and No. 23/24 Creighton at 7 p.m. at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
The Golden Hurricane (5-6) defeated Texas-Arlington, 80-75, in overtime on Saturday, and looks to begin a new winning streak against its former conference foe. TU will play a ranked opponent in the Reynolds Center for the first time since Jan. 23, 2008 when it played No. 1 Memphis. Creighton (8-1) is ranked No. 23 in the Associated Press poll and No. 24 by the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll, and defeated Houston Baptist, 97-62, on Saturday.
Live video via Hurricane Vision and live stats will be available at TulsaHurricane.com.
Jordan Clarkson leads the Hurricane, which scores 65.9 points per game, with 15.5 points and 2.6 assists per contest. Scottie Haralson averages 12.5 points and 3.5 three-pointers made per game, while Steven Idlet scores 10.5 points and grabs 5.7 rebounds per game. Tim Peete, who has started each of the last six games, also dishes 2.4 assists per outing, while Kodi Maduka leads TU with 6.4 rebounds and adds 7.0 points.
The Golden Hurricane ranks 19th in the nation in rebounding margin, averaging 38.7 rebounds per game to its opponents' 30.8 rpg. The TU defense holds its foes to a .399 field goal percentage and 63.3 points per game. TU shoots 43 percent from the floor and 78 percent from three-point range.
Creighton is led by Doug McDermott, who averages 24.1 points per game and leads an offense that scores 86.3 points per contest. Antoine Young averages 9.9 points, Gregory Echenique scores 9.2 points and Jahenns Manigat averages 8.6 points per game. McDermott leads the Bluejays with 8.8 rebounds per game, and Grant Gibbs leads Creighton with 5.4 assists and adds 7.8 points per outing. Creighton shoots 51 percent from the field, including 43 percent from three-point range, and outrebounds opponents, 38.0 to 33.1 rpg. The Bluejays hold opponents to a .433 field goal percentage and 68.6 points per game.
This is 76th meeting between Tulsa and Creighton. Tulsa leads the se¬ries 43-32. All but two of the meetings came when the two teams were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The first meeting came on January 8, 1934 in Tulsa's first-ever MVC contest, as the Bluejays won 38-11at the Tulsa Coliseum. The two teams met again later that season in Omaha with the Bluejays grabbing a 39-21 victory. Creighton started out the series 4-0 before Tulsa's first win came on January 18, 1937 in Tulsa by a score of 42-39. The last game as MVC members came on Jan. 24, 1996 as Tulsa claimed a 55-52 home victory. The two teams met as non-conference foes in 1999-2000 with Tulsa garnering a 75-67 road win, and in 2000-01 with CU claiming an 86-76 road victory.
For all Tulsa men's basketball news and information, visit www.TulsaHurricane.com. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane.
