Tulsa To Open 107th Season Of Play Friday Against Lamar

Friday, November 10

Reynolds Center

12 PM

Tulsa

Lamar

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa To Open 107th Season Of Play Friday Against Lamar

11/8/2017 12:01:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME #1 ... TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE vs. LAMAR CARDINALS
Date/Time:	Friday • November 10, 2017 • 12:00 p.m.
Site:	Donald W. Reynolds Center (8,355), Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 4th year Lamar – Tic Price (Virginia Tech '79), 4th year
Video:	Live Video
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Lamar leads, 5-4
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa I Lamar

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team will open its 107th season of play when it hosts Lamar at noon on Friday, Nov. 10, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

More than 4,100 local school children will be in attendance for a Blackboards & Backboards Educational Day that includes the season-opening matchup between the Golden Hurricane and Cardinals along with fun and educational booths set up throughout the Reynolds Center concourse.

TU is coming off a pair of high-scoring exhibition games, defeating Northwestern Oklahoma State and Missouri S&T by an average of 44 points. The Golden Hurricane averaged 104.5 ppg and shot 56.6-percent from the field, including 46.9-percent from behind the arc, while it held opponents to just 60.5 ppg and 33.6-percent shooting.

Junior Etou led five players averaging in double-figures at 17.0 ppg during the exhibition season. He was joined by Corey Henderson Jr. (16.0 ppg), DaQuan Jeffries (12.5 ppg), Curran Scott (12.5 ppg) and Geno Artison (11.5 ppg).

Meanwhile, the Cardinals did not play an exhibition game prior to the start of the season. Lamar returns seven letterwinners and four starters from last year's team that went 19-15 and tied for fifth in the Southland Conference with a 10-8 mark before participating in the CBI. The Cardinals, who are led by preseason first-team all-conference forward Colton Weisbrod, received five first-place votes and were picked to finish second in the league this season.

Lamar leads the all-time series, 5-4, but Tulsa claimed the last meeting, 78-64, on Dec. 1, 2006, at the Reynolds Center. The teams also met to open the 1989-90 regular-season when TU took an 82-70 victory on Nov. 30, 1989, in Beaumont, Texas.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 107th season of basketball and fourth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will open the regular-season at noon on Friday, Nov. 10, when it hosts Lamar at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. More than 4,100 school children will be in attendance for a Blackboards & Backboards Educational Day.
• TU is 67-39 all-time in season openers, including a 50-18 mark when opening a season at home.
• Tulsa improved to 66-2 all-time in exhibition games with wins over Northwestern Oklahoma State and Missouri S&T before the start of the regular-season. TU averaged 104.5 ppg and shot 56.6-percent, including 46.9-percent from behind the arc, while holding its opponents to just 60.5 ppg and 33.6-percent shooting in the contests.
• A year after adding 10 new players to the roster, Tulsa returns eight letterwinners and four starters from last season's team. In all, Tulsa returns five of its top six scorers and 72-percent of its offense from last season.
• Junior Etou led the team in scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg) last season. He was named preseason second-team American Athletic Conference in a vote by the league's head coaches prior to the 2017-18 campaign.
• The schedule will see Tulsa face up to 12 opponents that participated in the postseason last year, with four of those matchups coming at home. Last season, Lamar qualified for the College Basketball Invitational.
• Along with the team's eight returners, four newcomers are eligible to make their debut this season. Curran Scott sat out the 2016-17 season after transferring from Charlotte. Junior college transfer DaQuan Jeffries and freshmen guards Elijah Joiner and Darien Jackson will look to see their first minutes for the Hurricane this season.
• TU has posted 34 league wins since joining The American, which is tied for the third-most behind SMU (44) and Cincinnati (41).
• Tulsa was picked to finish eighth in The American Preseason Poll. TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in all three previous seasons under head coach Frank Haith.

Notes
The Game
• Tulsa will open its 107th season of play at noon on Friday, Nov. 10, when it hosts Lamar in the Reynolds Center.
• Friday's game can be heard in the Tulsa area on Big Country 99.5 FM with Bruce Howard and former Hurricane player J.R. Rollo calling the action. The game also can be heard on tulsahurricane.com or by using the TuneIn app. Live video of the contest is available on tulsahurricane.com.
• Live stats for Friday's regular-season opener and every home game during the 2017-18 season can be found online at tulsastats.com.

The Series
• Friday's contest will be the 10th all-time meeting between the Golden Hurricane and Cardinals, with Lamar holding a slim 5-4 lead in the series.
• This will be the sixth meeting in Tulsa, where Lamar has won three of the five matchups.
• TU won the last meeting, 78-64, on Dec. 1, 2006, in Tulsa behind 13 points and 10 rebounds from Calvin Walls.

Scouting the Cardinals
• Lamar returns seven letterwinners and four starters from last season's team, which went 19-15 overall and tied for fifth in the Southland Conference with a 10-8 league mark before participating in the CBI.
• Now in his fourth season at LU, head coach Tic Price's team earned five first-place votes in the Southland Conference preseason poll, where the Cardinals were picked to finish second behind Stephen F. Austin.
• Lamar returns its top five scorers from last season, including preseason first-team all-conference pick Colton Weisbrod. Weisbrod averaged 15.1 points and 8.1 rebounds per contest a season ago.

Offense Shines In Exhibition Wins
• Tulsa improved to 66-2 all-time in exhibition games, including a run of 37 consecutive victories, with wins over Northwestern Oklahoma State (96-65) and Missouri S&T (113-56) prior to the start of the 2017-18 season.
• TU put up impressive numbers in the wins as the team averaged 104.5 points and shot 56.6-percent from the floor, including 46.9-percent from behind the arc. Tulsa also recorded 46 assists to just 21 turnovers and out-rebounded its two opponents by a combined total of 99-46.
• Five players averaged in double-figures during exhibition play, led by Junior Etou's 17.0 ppg. Joining him were Corey Henderson Jr. (16.0 ppg), DaQuan Jeffries (12.5 ppg), Curran Scott (12.5 ppg) and Geno Artison (11.5 ppg).
• TU made 20 3-pointers in the win over Missouri S&T (the program's regular-season record for a game is 18), with half of that total coming from Henderson (6) and Artison (4).

Start Me Up
• Tulsa is 67-39 all-time in season openers, including a 50-18 mark when opening the regular-season at home.
• This is the second time that Lamar and Tulsa will meet to open the regular-season. TU took an 82-70 win in Beaumont on Nov. 30, 1989, to start the 1989-90 campaign.

Haith Enters Fourth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fourth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 58-40 record and made a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 263-169 in 13 seasons.
• Haith has led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of 20-win seasons and postseason appearances (2015 NCAA Tournament, 2016 NIT) during his first three seasons.
• With a win over No. 9 Wichita State in 2015-16, he led TU to its first win over a top-10 squad since 2000. Later that season, TU won at No. 16 SMU for its first road win against a top-16 program since 1981.

Haith in Exclusive Coaching Company
• Head coach Frank Haith is the only active Division I coach to take teams in four of the Power 6 conferences to the NCAA Tournament. Haith guided Tulsa (The American) to the Big Dance in 2015, Missouri (SEC) in 2013, Missouri (Big 12) in 2012 and Miami (ACC) in 2008.
• In addition, Haith is one of just 20 active coaches that have taken at least three different teams to the NCAA Tournament.
• Haith will face three other coaches on that list this season when TU matches up against Tubby Smith (Memphis), Kelvin Sampson (Houston) and Bruce Weber (Kansas State).

Tulsa's Success in The American
• Since joining the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2014-15 season, the Golden Hurricane has posted 34 league wins, which is tied with Temple for third-most in the circuit.
• Only SMU (44 wins) and Cincinnati (41 wins) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 34, which tops UConn (30) and Memphis (27) along with five other conference programs.
• TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in each of Haith's three seasons. The Golden Hurricane was picked to finish eighth in the conference prior to the 2017-18 season.

Etou Named Preseason Second-Team American Athletic Conference
• Senior forward Junior Etou was named preseason second-team American Athletic Conference in a vote by the league's head coaches.
• Last season, Etou led the Golden Hurricane in scoring (12.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.7 rpg) and was the only player to start all 32 games. He was even better in conference play as he averaged 13.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg.
• Etou scored in double-figures 18 times with six games of at least 20 points, including a career-high 31 points against ECU, and produced four double-doubles.
• He led the team in scoring 12 times, rebounding 17 times, steals eight times, assists five times and blocks twice.

Look Who's Back
• Tulsa returns eight letterwinners, including four starters, and 72-percent of its offense from last season's team.
• Returning starters include senior forward Junior Etou (32 starts), sophomore forward Martins Igbanu (17), junior guard Sterling Taplin (30) and senior guard Jaleel Wheeler (29).
• Other returners include junior forward Geno Artison, senior guard Corey Henderson Jr., sophomore guard Lawson Korita and junior forward Alex Foree.
• In all, Tulsa returns 68.8-percent of its minutes, 66.9-percent of its rebounding, 79.8-percent of its assists and 65.5-percent of its steals.

New Faces
• Along with the eight returning letterwinners, Tulsa has five newcomers, four of which are eligible to make their debut this season.
• The newcomers eligible for 2017-18 are sophomore guard Curran Scott, junior guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries, freshman guard Darien Jackson and freshman guard Elijah Joiner. Sophomore forward Jeriah Horne will sit out the season after transferring from Nebraska.
• Scott redshirted the 2016-17 season after transferring from Charlotte, where he averaged 10.3 ppg as a freshman in 2015-16. He practiced with the Golden Hurricane last season.
• Jeffries was an All-Region V and all-conference honoree for Western Texas CC last season after he averaged 15.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 1.8 apg and 1.1 spg, while he shot 66-percent from the field.

Tulsa Enters 20th Season at the Reynolds Center
• After hosting the first TU men's basketball game on Dec. 29, 1998, the Golden Hurricane will play its 20th season in the Donald W. Reynolds Center this year.
• Tulsa has posted an overall record of 226-70 (.764) in its 19 seasons.
• The building has seen 41 sellouts and 1,786,366 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.

Season Tickets Available Now
• Season tickets for Tulsa's full home schedule are on sale and can be purchased at Friday's game, while fans will be able to select their preferred seats from the available allotment.
• A four-game Mini-Plan also is available, which features four American Athletic Conference matchups (Jan. 3 vs. UConn; Jan. 13 vs. Wichita State; Feb. 1 vs. SMU; March 4 vs. Temple).
• Additionally, discounted group tickets are available to groups of 15 or more and fans also can purchase an All-Sport FlexBook, which allows flexibility in attending games for basketball, football and ticketed Olympic sports.
• Fans can purchase tickets in person at the TU Athletics Ticket Office in the Reynolds Center or by calling 918.631.GoTU (4688).