Tulsa Concludes Homestand with Monday Matchup Against Little Rock

Monday, November 19

Reynolds Center

7 PM

Tulsa

Little Rock

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Concludes Homestand with Monday Matchup Against Little Rock

11/18/2018 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball

GAME #4: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (3-0) vs LITTLE ROCK TROJANS (2-1)
Date/Time:	Monday • Nov. 19 • 7 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year Little Rock – Darrell Walker (Arkansas '83), 1st year
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Series tied, 5-5
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| Little Rock
Tickets:	918-631-GoTU \| Buy Online

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team will conclude a season-opening four-game homestand and continue play in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational when it hosts Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Monday's game is a Buck Night at the Reynolds Center where fans can enjoy $5 upper bowl tickets, $2 sodas and $1 popcorn.

The Golden Hurricane (3-0) will look to improve to a 4-0 start for the second time under head coach Frank Haith. Tulsa kept its undefeated start to the 2018-19 campaign alive with a late rally to top California Baptist last Friday afternoon. DaQuan Jeffries scored a season-high 19 points, while Martins Igbanu had 18 points to lead the way for TU.

Through three games, Jeffries leads the Hurricane in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg). He has paced the team in scoring the last two contests, while Elijah Joiner has scored in double-figures twice off the bench so far this season.

Meanwhile, the Trojans (2-1) are coming off a 87-59 setback at No. 6 Nevada last Friday night in Reno. Rayjon Tucker led the way with 21 points in the team's first loss of the campaign. The Little Rock roster features eight underclassmen and the squad is led by freshman Markquis Nowell's 19.0 ppg. Nowell made his collegiate debut with 34 points, a record for a Little Rock player in their first game.

TU and Little Rock have evenly split the previous 10 games in the series, but the Trojans have claimed the last two meetings.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• TU will continue play in the Continental Tires Las Vegas Holiday Invitational at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 when it hosts Little Rock at the Reynolds Center. The Hurricane then will travel to Las Vegas for matchups against No. 6 Nevada (Nov. 22) and Southern Illinois or UMass (Nov. 23) at Orleans Arena.
• TU and Little Rock have evenly split 10 previous meetings. The Trojans have won the last two matchups in the series.
• DaQuan Jeffries had 19 points while Martins Igbanu finished with 18 points to lead Tulsa to an 82-79 win over California Baptist last Friday afternoon at the Reynolds Center. CBU made 13 3-pointers and neither team led by more than three points over the final 12:24.
• With 20 assists already this season, Sterling Taplin has moved to 15th place on the program's all-time charts with 295. Taplin moved past Paul Pressey (1980-82) on the list in the win over Cal Baptist (Nov. 16).
• DaQuan Jeffries leads the team in scoring (15.0 ppg) and rebounding (5.7 rpg). He has led the team in scoring twice this season, including a season-high 19 points against CBU (Nov. 16)
• 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 Little Rock at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 19 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in the second game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational.
• 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 Trojans
• Little Rock was picked to finish 12th in the 12-team Sun Belt Conference under first-year head coach Darrell Walker.
• The Trojans return a pair of starters and four letterwinners from last year's team, which went 7-25 overall and finished 12th in the Sun Belt with a 4-14 league record.
• Little Rock is off to a 2-1 start to the season and is coming off a 87-59 setback at No. 6 Nevada last Friday night in Reno. Rayjon Tucker led the way with 21 points in the team's first loss of the campaign.
• The Trojans roster features eight underclassmen and the squad is led by freshman Markquis Nowell's 19.0 ppg. Nowell made his collegiate debut with 34 points, a record for a Little Rock player in their first game.

The Series
• Monday's matchup will mark the 11th all-time meeting between Tulsa and Little Rock. The teams have evenly split the previous 10 games in the series. TU owns a 4-2 advantage in games played in Tulsa.
• The Trojans have won the last two meetings, including a 72-62 contest on Dec. 3, 2016, in Little Rock. Tulsa's last win over the Trojans came on Dec. 7, 2014, in Little Rock. TU's last win over Little Rock in Tulsa came on Dec. 10, 2013.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 4-0 on the season, which would match TU's best start under head coach Frank Haith (2015-16 team also started 4-0).
• Give Tulsa its 12th victory in its last 13 regular-season games dating back to last season.
• Give Tulsa its 19th win in the last 21 games at the Donald W. Reynold Center.
• Improve Tulsa's all-time record against Little Rock to 6-5.

Last Time Out
• DaQuan Jeffries scored nine of his team-high 19 points in the final six minutes to help Tulsa rally and defeat California Baptist, 82-79, last Friday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Martins Igbanu added a season-high 18 points to help TU start the season 3-0 for the second time under head coach Frank Haith. Elijah Joiner also came off the bench to chip in with 10 points.
• The Hurricane got off to a quick 10-2 start, but CBU erased the deficit and took a 43-42 lead at halftime thanks to eight 3-pointers in the opening half. The Lancers would attempt 42 triples in the contest, a record for a TU opponent.
• TU trailed 72-69 with 5:19 to play, but outscored California Baptist 13-7 the rest of the way for the win.
• Tulsa hit 30 free throws, which was the most for the Hurricane since making 34 against Ohio on Nov. 20, 2015.

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled an 80-52 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 285-181 (.612) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 80 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. 15 on the program's career-assists charts with 295.

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 242-72 (.771) in its 20+ seasons, including a 3-0 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,866,837 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.
• The Hurricane has won 18 of its last 20 games in the Reynolds Center, including nine 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.

Roster Experience
• Despite having seven newcomers on the roster for 2018-19, Tulsa features 11 players with Division I experience.
• Those 11 players have totaled 18 years of Division I experience, led by three years from senior Sterling Taplin.
• Even with the influx of newcomers, Tulsa is one of just seven Division I programs without a scholarship freshman on the roster. TU's only freshman is walk-on George Christopolous, who is redshirting this season.
• Counting walk-ons, TU is one of just seven Division I programs to have one or fewer total freshmen on their roster.

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 58 points (19.3 ppg) so far this season, led by 18 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.

Tulsa Signs Isaiah Hill to NLI
• Isaiah Hill, a 6-foot point guard from Bakersfield, Calif. (Liberty HS), signed a National Letter of Intent on Nov. 14, the first day of the early signing period, to join The University of Tulsa men's basketball program for the 2019-20 season.
• Hill is the highest-rated high school recruit in TU history, according to 247sports.com, which lists Hill as a three-star prospect and the No. 25 point guard recruit in the nation.
• He averaged 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists per game as a junior en route to first-team All-Area honors from the Bakersfield Californian.
• Hill played AAU ball for the Compton Magic, which is the same program that current TU guard Chris Barnes came out of.
• In addition, Hill was the starting quarterback for the Liberty HS football team as a sophomore and junior. He did not play as a senior to focus on his basketball career.

Up Next
• Tulsa will head west to Las Vegas for the final two games of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational. First up is a matchup with No. 6 Nevada at 3 p.m. (CT) on Thanksgiving Day from the Orleans Arena.
• TU then will face either Southern Illinois or UMass on Friday, Nov. 23 at 9 p.m. (CT) or 11:30 p.m. (CT).

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