Tulsa-Illinois State Rematch on Christmas Day in Hawai'i

TULSA BASKETBALL

GAME #12 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (6-5) vs. ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS (7-4) 2016 HAWAIIAN AIRLINES DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC • THIRD-PLACE GAME
Date/Time:	Sunday • December 25, 2016 • 5:00 p.m. (CT)/1:00 p.m. (HT)
Site:	Stan Sheriff Center (10,300) • Honolulu, Hawaii
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 3rd year Illinois State – Dan Muller (Illinois State '98), 5th year
TV:	ESPN2 (Kanoa Leahey and Corey Alexander)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads 18-14
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa I Illinois State

THE GAME & HAWAII . . .
•    The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (6-5) and the Illinois State Redbirds (7-4) will meet for the second time this season in the third-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
•    This is the 7th in-season tournament in Hawaii that Tulsa has played in school history, as the Hurricane now has a 13-6 record following its first two games of this year's tournament.
•    Illinois State fell to San Francisco 66-58 in the other semifinal game on Dec. 23.
•    Among the previous 6 Hawaiian tournaments, Tulsa played the first 4 in Honolulu (1965, 1974, 1988, 1992) and the last 2 on the northshore (1998, 2001).
•    Tulsa won the 1965 Rainbow Classic and the 2001 Yahoo Invitational with 3-0 records.

THE SERIES . . .
•    This is the second meeting this season between Tulsa and Illinois State . . . on Dec. 7, the two teams met in Tulsa as the Hurricane pulled out a 70-68 comeback win.
•    Tulsa leads the overall series 18-14, and has won the last two meetings.
•    Tulsa has a 12-4 record at home, 5-10 mark in Normal and a 1-0 mark on a neutral court.
•    The teams used to be rivals in the Missouri Valley Conference until Tulsa departed the league for the Western Athletic Conference following the 1995-96 season.

IN THE EARLIER MEETING THIS YEAR . . .
•   Against Illinois State on Dec. 7, Tulsa trailed 36-32 at halftime and fell behind by 14 points within the first 3 minutes of the second half.
•   Tulsa cut the deficit to under double-digits at the 12:09 mark, 53-45, then reduced it to 4 points, 58-54, with 8:58 left to play.
•   Tulsa took its first lead since early in the first half when Junior Etou's layup put Tulsa ahead 65-64 at 2:57.
•   With the score tied 67-67 at the 2:15 mark, Sterling Taplin hit a layup at the 0:11 mark, followed by a Corey Henderson free throw after an Illinois State technical that put Tulsa ahead 70-67.
•   Tulsa forced a long 3-pointer that missed to preserve a 70-68 comeback win.

LAST TIME OUT . . .
•   With the game tied at 52, San Diego State took over with its' three-point shooting and closed out the game on a 30-11 run for an 82-63 victory in the semifinals of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
•   Martins Igbanu's layup at 12:24 gave Tulsa its first lead at 51-49 since an 11-9 Hurricane lead in the first half.
•   SDSU knocked down 6-of-7 three pointers to break a 52-52 tie and went on an 18-2 run to take a 70-54 lead with 7:05 left on the game clock.
•   Junior Etou led the Hurricane with 18 points, while freshman Lawson Korita was Tulsa's only other double-figure scorer with 10 points.
• Tulsa held a 37-24 advantage on the boards over the Aztecs.

IN THE EARLY GOING . . .
•    Ten players have made their Tulsa debuts this season . . . they have accounted for 68.7 percent of Tulsa's total points, scoring 527 of Tulsa's 767 points thru 11 games.
•    Tulsa has out-rebounded 7 of its first 11 opponents this season, winning 5 of those games . . . among those 7 games, Tulsa has had 5 double-digit rebounding margins, including a high of 21 more than ORU.
•    After allowing 80+ points in the first two games (82.0 ppg), both losses, Tulsa held its next three opponents to 65.7 points per game for a difference of 16.3 points.
•    Tulsa has used 6 different starting lineups through 11 games this year.

BIRT BREAKS OUT . . .
•    Senior Pat Birt scored a season-high 20 points off the bench, shooting 7-of-11 from the field (.636) and 6-of-7 from 3-point range (.857), in Tulsa's 74-51 win over Stephen F. Austin.
•    He entered the SFA game shooting just 33-percent from the field and 28-percent from 3-point range . . . with that performance vs. SFA, his percentages rose to 37-percent from the field and 36-percent from 3-point range.
•    He now is shooting .350 from the field and .339 from 3-point range.
•    Birt has come off the bench in the last 4 games, and has shot .563 percent (9-of-16) from 3-point range in those 4 games . . . while in his 7 starting assignments, Birt shot just 25-percent from 3-poiont range (10-of-40).

FG PERCENTAGE ON UPWARD TREND . . .
•    In Tulsa's first two games, the Hurricane combined to shoot just 37-percent from the field (41-of-112).
•    Since then, Tulsa has connected on .480 percent from the field (227-of-473) in the last 9 games.
•    Tulsa has shot over 50-percent in 4 of its last 9 games –– New Orleans (.544), Little Rock (.500), Texas State (.511) and Stephen F. Austin (.500).
•   Tulsa's season field goal percentage is now up to .458 overall.

JUNIOR DOES IT TOO . . .
•   Junior Etou, a junior who sat out last year after transferring from Rutgers, has been a key component to the Tulsa team.
•   Etou averages 11.1 points to rank second on the team, and has a team-best 6.5 rebounds.
•   The 6'8" forward is shooting 41-percent from three-point range, making 12-of-29 treys, while also shooting 53-percent from the field overall.
•   He has scored in double-figures in 6 of 11 games this year and has two double-doubles.
•   Against Illinois State, Etou had 15 points, including a layup at 2:29 that gave Tulsa its first second-half lead, and added 3 rebounds.
•   Against OSU, Etou's layup with 0:40 on the clock tied the game at 67-67.
•   Etou began the year with a 20-point, 10-rebound performance against Jacksonville State.
•   In Tulsa's last outing, Etou had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists vs. San Diego State.

Tulsa-Illinois State Rematch on Christmas Day in Hawai'i

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Players Mentioned

Pat Birt

Junior Etou

Martins Igbanu

Lawson Korita

Sterling Taplin