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Tulsa
USF
Tulsa Squares off Against USF Today at 12 pm (CT) in Tampa
1/20/2017 9:27:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TULSA BASKETBALL
Tulsa Goes to Tampa to Face USF on Saturday
| GAME #18 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (10-7, 4-1 AAC) vs. USF BULLS (6-11, 0-6 AAC) | |
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| Date/Time: | Saturday • January 21, 2017 • 12:01 p.m. (CT)/1:01 p.m. (ET) |
| Site: | USF Sun Dome (10,411) • Tampa, Fla. |
| Coaches: | Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 3rd year USF – Murry Bartow (UAB '85), 1st year (INTERIM) |
| TV: | ESPNews (Alex Faust and Mark Wise) |
| Radio: | Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo) |
| Live Stats: | Live Stats |
| Series: | Tulsa leads 16-5 |
| Twitter: | @TUMBasketball | @TulsaHurricane |
| Instagram: | TulsaMBasketball |
| Game Notes: | Tulsa I USF |
THE GAME . . .
• The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (10-7) scored a season-high 89 points in its last outing with an
89-82 win over Tulane at home Wednesday night for its third consecutive victory.
• USF has an overall 6-11 record and an 0-6 mark in AAC play.
• This is the only meeting between the two teams this year.
THE SERIES . . .
• This is the fourth meeting between Tulsa and USF.
• The Hurricane leads the series 3-0, as Tulsa has won two home games and one in Tampa.
• The first game in the series came on Jan. 17, 2015 in Tampa, as the Hurricane claimed a 75-58 victory, the biggest win margin of the three games.
• Tulsa has won the previous three games by an 11.3 margin.
TULSA IN THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE . . .
• Tulsa is in its third season as a member of the American Athletic Conference, after finishing its first year in second-place and placing in a tie for third-place a year ago.
• Tulsa has an overall 30-11 record in its third season of American play.
• Tulsa had league records of 14-4 in 2014-15 and 12-6 in 2015-16.
• In the preseason coaches poll, Tulsa was picked to finish ninth in the league . . . Tulsa has already defeated teams picked above them –– UConn (2nd), Memphis (5th) and Temple (6th).
COACH HAITH GETS 50th WIN AT TULSA . . .
• While capturing its American Athletic Conference-opening win over UConn this year, it was also the 50th win for Frank Haith as the Tulsa head coach.
• Haith now has a 53-30 record in his third season as the Hurricane head coach.
• In his first two years, Haith led Tulsa to over 20 wins both years, including 23 in his first year and 20 victories a year ago.
• Haith averaged 21.5 wins in his first two years, while leading Tulsa to an NIT in 2014 and the NCAAs in 2015.
TAPLIN NAMED AAC PLAYER OF THE WEEK . . .
• Sophomore guard Sterling Taplin was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week for his performance in wins over Memphis at Temple.
• He averaged 15.5 points, 5.0 assists, 3.0 steals and 2.5 rebounds, while shooting 55% from the field and 50% from 3-point range over the two games.
• He scored a career-high 17 points and added 6 assists vs. Memphis.
• Taplin had 14 points, a career-high 5 steals, 4 assists and 3 rebounds, while scoring the winning layup at 0:04 on the clock at Temple.
• Two days after earning the weekly award, Taplin scored a career-high 24 points and added 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals against Tulane.
GAME WINNERS . . .
• Sterling Taplin has knocked down two game-winning baskets within the first 16 games of the season.
• Both of the last-second wins ended with identical scores of 70-68
• The latest was on Saturday, Jan. 14, as the Hurricane claimed a road win at Temple 70-68 . . . with the score tied at 68 since the 2:24 mark, Taplin scored on a layup with 0:04 on the clock to get the win as a long three-pointer for Temple fell short at the buzzer.
• Taplin's first game-winning basket came against Illinois State when the Hurricane mounted a 14-point comeback in the second half.
• In that game, Taplin knocked down a layup with 0:11 on the game clock to give Tulsa a 69-67 win . . . Tulsa's Corey Henderson added a free throw after a technical foul to make it a three-point lead.
QUICK HITS . . .
• Tulsa is playing its 106th season of basketball.
• Tulsa features only three players on its roster that appeared in a game at TU prior to this season – Pat Birt, TK Edogi and Sterling Taplin.
• Tulsa graduated 9 seniors after last year's 20-12 season and NCAA tournament appearance, including losing 81-percent of its scoring and 78-percent of its rebounding.
• Tulsa has 10 newcomers to its roster, including two juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen.
• Ten players have made their Tulsa debuts this season . . . they have accounted for 65.4 percent of Tulsa's total points, scoring 775 of Tulsa's 1,185 points thru 17 games.
• Tulsa has out-rebounded 10 of its 16 opponents this season, winning 7 of those games . . . among those 10 games, Tulsa has had 6 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 17 games this year
LAST TIME OUT . . .
• Sterling Taplin scored a career-high 24 points as Tulsa held off Tulane for an 89-82 victory.
• Taplin added six rebounds, five assists and three steals in 30 minutes, while shooting 73-percent from the field (8-of-11) and converting on all seven of his free throws.
• After trailing 15-3 in the first five minutes of the game, Tulsa outscored the Green Wave 39-13 in the final 15 minutes to take a 42-28 lead into the intermission.
• The Hurricane took its largest lead of 19 points, 51-32, at the 17:42 mark.
• Tulane closed it to five points with 8:21 left to make the score 63-58. Tulsa scored the next seven points to get the lead back to 12 points at 70-58 with 6:42 remaining.
• Tulane knocked down 7-of-10 three-pointers in the final six minutes, while the Hurricane converted 10-of-10 free throws in final 1:30 to hold off the Tulane comeback bid for the seven-point victory.
• Tulsa shot 52-percent from the field and 78-percent from three-point range for the game, and out-rebounded the Wave 41-34.
JUNIOR LEADS HURRICANE IN SCORING AND REBOUNDING . . .
• Junior Etou, a junior who sat out last year after transferring from Rutgers, has been a key component to the Tulsa team.
• Etou averages 11.8 points and 6.9 rebounds to rank first on the team in both categories.
• Etou had career-highs of 23 points and 13 rebounds against Memphis.
• His earlier career-high was 22 points, while knocking down 13-of-14 free throws, against Illinois State at the Diamond Head Classic.
• Etou has raised his free throw percentage to 76.8 percent . . . after his 13-of-14 performance against Illinois State, his free throw percentage improved from .667 to a current percentage of .768.
• In the last seven games, Etou has connected on 90.7 percent of his free throws (39-of-43).
• The 6'8" forward is shooting 35-percent from three-point range, making 17-of-49 treys, while also shooting 47-percent from the field overall.
• He has scored in double-figures in nine games this year and has three double-doubles.
• Against Illinois State in the first meeting, 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.
