Tulsa to Host CBU for Blackboards & Backboards Educational Day Game

GAME #3: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (2-0) vs CALIFORNIA BAPTIST LANCERS (2-0)
Date/Time:	Friday • Nov. 16 • 12 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year California Baptist – Rick Croy (Azusa Pacific '99), 6th year
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	First Meeting
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| California Baptist
Tickets:	918-631-GoTU \| Buy Online

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa will open play in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational at 12 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16 when it hosts California Baptist at the Reynolds Center. The game will be part of TU's second-annual Blackboards & Backboards Educational Day that will include nearly 4,000 local school children.

The Golden Hurricane (2-0) will play a total of four games in the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational, with the first two games played at the Reynold Center. After Friday's matchup with CBU, TU will host Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Monday before traveling to Las Vegas for a pair of games at the Orleans Arena.

TU is coming off a 74-52 win over South Carolina State last Saturday that saw DaQuan Jeffries lead the way with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Sterling Taplin posted a career-high 10 assists. Through two games, Jeffries leads the team at 13.0 ppg and 6.5 rpg.

Meanwhile, the Lancers (2-0) are in their first season as an NCAA Division I member and picked up a 70-69 win over Oral Roberts on Tuesday night with a buzzer-beater from halfcourt. California Baptist was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team Western Athletic Conference and the squad returns two starters and five letterwinners from last year's team, which went 28-6 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Championship.

Friday's game will mark the first-ever matchup between the programs.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• TU will open play in the Continental Tires Las Vegas Holiday Invitational at noon on Friday, Nov. 16 when it hosts Division I newcomer California Baptist. The event will see TU host CBU and Little Rock before traveling to Las Vegas for two games at the Orleans Arena.
• This will mark the first-ever meeting between the Golden Hurricane and Lancers.
• Tulsa improved to 2-0 with a 74-52 win over South Carolina State last Saturday at the Reynolds Center. DaQuan Jeffries neared a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds and went on a stretch where he scored 14 straight points for the Hurricane. Sterling Taplin added a career-high 10 assists in the win.
• With 15 assists already this season, Taplin has moved to 16th place on the program's all-time charts with 290. Taplin moved past Ricky Ross (1982-84) and Mark Morse (1991-93) on the list in the win over SCSU (Nov. 10).
• DaQuan Jeffries leads the team in scoring (13.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.5 rpg).
• TU head coach Frank Haith is in search of his 80th victory at TU and he ranks seventh on the program's wins list.
• The Hurricane return three starters and eight letterwinners from last year's team, which went 19-12 overall and 12-6 to finish fourth in The American.
• Tulsa will play 13 games in 2018-19 against opponents that participated in the postseason last year. Seven of those matchups will come at home, including back-to-back contests against Oklahoma State (Dec. 5) and K-State (Dec. 8).
• TU has notched 46 league wins since joining The American, which ranks third behind only Cincinnati (57) and SMU (51) during that span (2014-present).
• Tulsa was picked to finish ninth in The American Preseason Poll. TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in all four seasons under head coach Frank Haith.

Notes
The Game
• Tulsa will host California Baptist at 12 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 16 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in the program's annual Blackboards & Backboards Educational Day game.
• Fans in the Tulsa area can tune to Big Country 99.5 FM with Bruce Howard and former Hurricane player J.R. Rollo on the call. Live audio from the game also can be found on tulsahurricane.com or by using the TuneIn app.

Scouting the Lancers
• California Baptist was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team Western Athletic Conference this season.
• Playing in its first season as an NCAA Division I member, the Lancers return two starters and five letterwinners from last year's team, which went 28-6 and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Championship.
• The Lancers enter Friday's game at 2-0 after a thrilling 70-69 win at Oral Roberts on Wednesday night. Jordan Heading led the way with 20 points, but it was Milan Acquaah's buzzer-beater near halfcourt that was the difference.
• Heading is the team's top returning scorer after he averaged 14.3 ppg and was a second-team All-PacWest Conference selection a year ago.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 3-0 on the season.
• Give head coach Frank Haith his 80th win at TU.
• Give Tulsa its 11th victory in its last 12 regular-season games dating back to last season.
• Give Tulsa its 18th win in the last 20 games at the Donald W. Reynold Center.
• Give TU its first-ever win against Division I newcomer California Baptist.

Last Time Out
• Tulsa shot 52-percent and DaQuan Jeffries neared a double-double with 18 points and nine rebounds as the Golden Hurricane improved to 2-0 with a 74-52 victory over South Carolina State last Saturday.
• Curran Scott also scored in double-figures with 11 points and Sterling Taplin had a career-high 10 assists.
• Tulsa went on a 7-0 run late in the first half to gain a double-digit advantage. Jeffries went on a tear in the second half, scoring 14 straight points for the Hurricane to extend the cushion to 20 points with nine minutes left.
• TU led by as much as 25 points and it held the Bulldogs without a field goal over the final eight minutes.

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 79-52 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 284-181 (.611) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 79 wins on the TU bench rank seventh in program history as he passed former Golden Hurricane coaches Bill Self (74), Tubby Smith (74), Francis Schmidt (73), Chet Benefiel (65) and John Phillips (61) on the charts last season.
• Haith's 19.3 wins per season at TU rank fifth among those who coached more than one season for the Hurricane.

Haith in Exclusive Coaching Company
• Head coach Frank Haith is the one of just two active Division I head coaches to take teams in four of the Power 6 conferences to the NCAA Tournament (Houston's Kelvin Sampson is the other). 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 24 active coaches that have taken at least three different programs to the NCAA Tournament.
• Haith and the Hurricane will face two other members of that list this season, when the team takes on Bruce Weber and Kansas State (Dec. 8) before two matchups with Sampson and Houston (Jan. 2 and Jan. 27).

The Schedule
• Tulsa will play 13 games in 2018-19 against opponents that participated in the postseason last season. Seven of those matchups will come at home, including back-to-back contests against Oklahoma State (Dec. 5) and Kansas State (Dec. 8).
• TU also will have six games against teams that open the season ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25. The first comes against preseason No. 7 Nevada (Nov. 22) on a neutral floor in Las Vegas. The Hurricane will host No. 12 Kansas State, while it will have matchups against UCF (Jan. 19) and Cincinnati (Jan. 10, Jan. 24), who each received votes to start the year.

Taplin Leads the Way
• Senior point guard Sterling Taplin has developed into one of the top point guards in The American and he was named preseason second-team all-conference in a vote by the league's head coaches.
• The East Amherst, N.Y., native is the team's leading returning scorer after he registered a career-best 11.8 ppg last season. He also set career bests with 3.7 rpg and 4.4 apg, which also ranked fourth in The American.
• Taplin's 11.8 ppg last season ranks 11th among returners in The American. In all, he set career highs last season in field goals (127), 3-pointers (38), points (354), rebounds (112) and assists (132).
• In addition, he has climbed to No. 16 on the program's career-assists charts with 290.

Tulsa's Success in The American
• Since joining the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2014-15 season, the Golden Hurricane has posted 46 league wins, which ranks third in the circuit during that time.
• Only Cincinnati (57 wins) and SMU (51 wins) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 46.
• TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in each of Haith's four seasons. Tulsa is the first program in The American history to finish better than its preseason prediction in four consecutive seasons. The Golden Hurricane was picked to finish ninth in the conference prior to the 2018-19 season.

Home Cookin'
• After hosting the first TU men's basketball game on Dec. 29, 1998, the Golden Hurricane is in its 21st season in the Donald W. Reynolds Center this year.
• Tulsa has posted an overall record of 241-72 (.770) in its 20+ seasons, including a 2-0 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,860,507 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.
• The Hurricane has won 17 of its last 19 games in the Reynolds Center, including eight straight victories.

Earning Degrees
• Frank Haith has made achievement in the classroom as much of a priority as success on the basketball court over his nearly 15 years as a head coach.
• During head coaching tenures at Miami, Missouri and Tulsa, 54 of the 58 (93.1-percent) seniors that have come through his programs have earned a degree.
• Since arriving at Tulsa, 14 of the program's 15 seniors (93.3-percent) have graduated, including Corey Haith, Corey Henderson Jr., Jaleel Wheeler and Junior Etou from last year's team.
• Additionally, Tulsa has had at least two student-athletes recognized on the American Athletic Conference All-Academic Team in each of Haith's four seasons. Last year, both Alex Foree and Curran Scott made the team, which honors student-athletes with at least a 3.0 GPA.

Dialing Long Distance
• Tulsa lit it up from behind the arc last season and totaled 247 3-pointers, which was the program's highest output since the 2007-08 campaign.
• Along with the most 3-pointers made in the Frank Haith era, TU also posted its best 3-point shooting percentage at .348. That mark was the best for the Hurricane since the 2011-12 team connected at a .384 clip.
• After hitting 188 treys in 2014-15, which was TU's first under Haith, the squad has seen an increase in 3-pointers made each season (2014-15/188; 2015-16/219; 2016-17/234; 2017-18/247).
• The Hurricane will be without its top two 3-point shooters from a season ago after the graduations of Corey Henderson Jr. (73) and Junior Etou (42).

Look Who's Back
• Tulsa returns eight letterwinners, including three starters, from last year's team, which went 19-12 and finished fourth in The American with a 12-6 league mark.
• Returning starters include senior point guard Sterling Taplin (30 starts), junior forward Martins Igbanu (23) and junior guard Lawson Korita (17).
• Other returners include senior guard/forward DaQuan Jeffries, senior forward Alex Foree, junior guard Curran Scott and sophomore guards Elijah Joiner and Darien Jackson.
• In all, Tulsa returns 56.3-percent of its scoring, 56.7-percent of its minutes, 48.9-percent of its rebounding, 69.5-percent of its assists and 59.7-percent of its steals.

New Faces
• Along with the eight returning letterwinners, Tulsa has seven newcomers in addition to Jeriah Horne, who sat out the 2017-18 season after transferring from Nebraska.
• The newcomers eligible to make their debut for the Hurricane this season are Chris Barnes, Zeke Moore, Peter Hewitt, Jeriah Horne, Simon Falokun and walk-on Lindsay Deline Jr. Reggie Jones will sit out the 2018-19 campaign after transferring from Western Michigan and walk-on George Christopoulos will redshirt, as well.
• Of the six eligible to make their debut for TU, three student-athletes have Division I experience (Chris Barnes/UTEP, Jeriah Horne/Nebraska, Zeke Moore/Saint Louis), while Peter Hewitt redshirted at UC Davis in 2016-17.
• TU newcomers have totaled 40 points (20 ppg) so far this season, led by 15 points from Jeriah Horne.

Exhibition Excellence
• Tulsa improved to 67-2 all-time in exhibition games with a 95-60 win over Division II Northeastern State on Nov. 2 in the Reynolds Center. It also marked the 38th straight exhibition victory for the Golden Hurricane.
• Curran Scott scored 16 points off the bench to lead a balanced scoring effort that saw nine Tulsa players tally at least eight points.
• Newcomer Simon Falokun was the only other player in double-figures with 14 points on 4-of-4 shooting and a 6-for-6 effort from the free-throw line. Falokun also had six rebounds and a pair of blocks.
• The Hurricane jumped out to a 30-5 lead and led by as much as 40 points midway through the second half.

Season Tickets Available Now
• Season tickets for Tulsa's full home schedule are on sale now, including the new Gold E-Ticket option, which guarantees access to all 17 home games at the Reynolds Center.
• A five-game Mini-Plan also is available, which features some of the most exciting home games on the schedule this season (Dec. 5 vs. Oklahoma State; Dec. 8 vs. Kansas State; Jan. 10 vs. Cincinnati; Jan. 30 vs. Memphis; Feb. 20 vs. Wichita State).
• 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).

Up Next
• Tulsa will host Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 at the Reynolds Center as the Hurricane close its season-opening four-game homestand. Tulsa will then head to Las Vegas for the final two games of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational.
• The Hurricane will face No. 6 Nevada at 3 p.m. (CT) on Thanksgiving Day from the Orleans Arena before a matchup with either Southern Illinois or UMass the following day.

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Tulsa to Host CBU for Blackboards & Backboards Educational Day Game

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Players Mentioned

Chris Barnes

George Christopoulos

Lindsay Deline Jr.

Junior Etou

Simon Falokun

Alex Foree

Corey Haith

Corey Henderson Jr.

Peter Hewitt

Jeriah Horne

Martins Igbanu

Darien Jackson

DaQuan Jeffries

Elijah Joiner

Reggie Jones

Lawson Korita

Curran Scott

Sterling Taplin

Jaleel Wheeler