Tulsa Grabs 72-53 Exhibition Win Over Oklahoma Christian

Wednesday, November 2

7 p.m.

Tulsa

Oklahoma Christian

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Grabs 72-53 Exhibition Win Over Oklahoma Christian

11/2/2016 10:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

By: Don Tomkalski

BOX SCORE

A new era of Tulsa basketball began Wednesday night as the Golden Hurricane handed the Oklahoma Christian Eagles a 72-53 exhibition game loss in front of a paid crowd of 3,240 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

It was a nearly brand new roster as the Hurricane graduated nine seniors a year ago, and nine first-time players were on the court tonight. Ten of Tulsa's 13 players played double-digit minutes.

Tulsa was led by junior transfer Junior Etou with 17 points, followed by junior college transfer Jaleel Wheeler's 14 points. TK Edogi added 11 points and Sterling Taplin 10 for the Hurricane.

"First time out, I was encouraged," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith. "Our expectation was let's get our guys out there and get them all playing. By playing a lot of different lineups, the cohesiveness was going to be a little (shaky) when you're playing that many guys and running guys in and out. I was encouraged."

"You look at a guy like Junior Etou, we've been talking about him and you see his ability and what he's capable of. I thought Jaleel Wheeler played very well, too. I thought Sterling was very efficient. Our bigs fouled too much and we've got to get better there. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds," added Haith.

Etou, who sat out last year after transferring from Rutgers, made 5-of-8 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws, while adding 10 rebounds in 19 minutes. Wheeler's 14 points came on 6-of-11 from the field, along with one three-pointer and one free throw. He also picked up five rebounds and two assists. Taplin had a team-high four assists for the Hurricane.
38955

Oklahoma Christian's 7-foot All-America center John Moon posted a double-double with 21 points and 14 rebounds.

It was not a necessarily good shooting night for the Hurricane, as Tulsa shot just 38-percent from the field and 17-percent from three-point range. The Hurricane defense clamped down on the Eagles, holding the visitors to 1-of-15 from three-point range for just six-percent and 28-percent from the field.

Tulsa began the second-half on an 8-3 run to increase its 17-point halftime lead to 22 points when Wheeler connected on a layup at the 16:32 mark. The Hurricane took its largest lead of 29 points, 70-41, with 5:55 remaining in the contest. The Eagles out-scored Tulsa 12-2 in the final 5:15 for the final 19-point margin.

In the first half with the score tied 14-14 at the 13:03 mark, Tulsa went on a 9-0 run over the next two minutes to take a 23-14 lead on a layup by Wheeler. The Hurricane took its first double-digit lead at 26-16 on a Birt jumper with 7:58 remaining in the first half. After OC cut the deficit to single digits 29-20, Tulsa scored the next six points for a 15-point lead with just over four minutes to play.

A Sterling Taplin three-pointer at 1:24 and layup with 0:03 remaining put the Hurricane up by 17 points at halftime, 40-23.

At intermission, Etou and Wheeler shared the scoring lead for Tulsa with nine points apiece, while Etou grabbed six first-half rebounds.

Tulsa will finish the exhibition season on Monday against Northeastern State, and open the regular season next Friday, Nov. 11 at home against Jacksonville State with a 7:00 p.m. tip time.

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.