Tulsa
SMU
TULSA FALLS TO SMU 68-57
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2015Box Score | Quotes | Notes | Photo Gallery 
| Box Score 
TULSA, Okla. - Tulsa suffered its first loss in the American Athletic Conference Saturday night as the SMU Mustangs pulled away for a 68-57 victory in front of a crowd of 7,677 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The loss snapped a 21-game overall conference winning streak for the Hurricane dating back to last year and a 10-game American win streak this season.
Despite the loss, Tulsa stays atop the American Athletic Conference standings with a 10-1 league mark and an overall 17-6 record. SMU improved to 19-5 overall and 10-2 in conference play.
Shooting hindered the Tulsa attack today, as the Hurricane shot a paltry season-low 28-percent from the field, while SMU connected on 48-percent for the game making nine more field goals than the Hurricane. SMU out-scored the Hurricane in the paint 32-to-14 and 18-to-11 for second-chance points.
James Woodard scored 15 points to pace the Hurricane attack, followed by 10 each from D'Andre Wright and Shaquille Harrison. SMU was led by Nic Moore's 23 points, while Cannen Cunningham added 16 and Yanick Moreira had 13 points and 13 rebounds.
"We lost to a very good SMU basketball team today. I thought that Nic Moore was fabulous. I don't know that we've played a point guard with his feel and how he played today. He played like one of the best point guards in the country. He was outstanding," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.
"I thought their length bothered us. We had a game today where we shot the ball from three - made nine threes. We made free throws. But their length - points in the paint, which are points we normally get, we didn't get those today. They affected us. I thought that was the difference in the game," Haith added.
Rashad Smiths jumper at the 11:59 mark of the second half tied the score at 43-43, but SMU scored the next 15 points to take a 58-43 lead at the 5:49 mark. Free throws by Brandon Swannegan snapped the Tulsa scoring drought with 4:36 left on the clock, but the Hurricane could only cut the deficit to 10 points the remainder of the game.
Tulsa began the game on a 4-0 run, before the Mustangs scored the next seven points to take a 7-4 lead at the 16:32 mark. The Hurricane tied the score at 16-16 at the 10:06 mark when D'Andre Wright scored on a dunk and a three-pointer.
Rashad Ray knotted the score again at 18-18 on a driving layup with 8:15 left before the Mustangs took the lead again and built the lead to six points at halftime, 34-28.
Woodard led all scorers in the first half with 12 points, all coming on three-pointers, but the Hurricane shot just 38.5-percent from the field, while SMu knocked down 48-percent of its shots.
Tulsa will be back in action Thursday night (Feb. 12) with a road game at defending national champion UConn. The game will be aired on ESPN or ESPN2. Game time is 6:00 p.m. (CT).
Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center for three straight games against East Carolina (Feb. 18), Temple (Feb. 22) and Tulane (Feb. 25). Tickets for Tulsa home games can be purchased online at TulsaHurricane.com, by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688) or stopping by the Reynolds Center athletic ticket office.
Follow Tulsa Men's Basketball on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TUMBasketball and Instagram at TulsaMBasketball. Follow Tulsa Athletics on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TulsaHurricane and Facebook at www.facebook.com/TulsaHurricane. For all news and information about Tulsa Basketball, go to www.TulsaHurricane.com.
