Tulsa Set For Thanksgiving Matchup With No. 6 Nevada

Thursday, November 22

Las Vegas, Nev.

3 PM

Tulsa

Nevada

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Photo by: Sam Lazarus

Tulsa Set For Thanksgiving Matchup With No. 6 Nevada

11/21/2018 1:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME #5: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (4-0) vs. No. 6 NEVADA WOLF PACK (4-0)
Date/Time:	Thursday • November 22 • 3 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Orleans Arena • Las Vegas, Nev.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year Nevada – Eric Musselman (San Diego '87), 4th year
TV:	FS1 (Alex Faust & Doug Gottlieb)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 7-6
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| Nevada

LAS VEGAS — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team will close play in the Continental Tires Las Vegas Holiday Invitational with a pair of games at Orleans Arena, starting with a 3 p.m. (CT) contest against No. 6 Nevada on Thanksgiving Day.

The Golden Hurricane (4-0) will be in search of its first win over a ranked opponent since 2015, when it knocked off No. 9 Wichita State at the Reynolds Center. A win also would give Tulsa its best start to a season under head coach Frank Haith.

TU improved to 4-0 with an 88-78 win over Little Rock on Monday night, when Martins Igbanu scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half. The junior also pulled down 10 rebounds for the third double-double of his career.

Meanwhile, the Wolf Pack (4-0) return four starters from last year's team, which went 29-8, won the Mountain West Conference and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. Nevada has won its four games this season by an average of 25.3 points and the team is coming off a season-high 90 points in its win over California Baptist on Monday night.

The Wolf Pack are led by Caleb Martin's 19.0 ppg, while Jordan Caroline is averaging a double-double at 17.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per outing. In all, seven players average at least 7.0 ppg.

TU leads the all-time series against Nevada, 7-6, but the Wolf Pack has won the last five meetings. Tulsa's last win in the series came in the championship game of the 2003 Western Athletic Conference Tournament.

The game can be seen national on FS1, while fans in the Tulsa area also can listen to Bruce Howard and JR Rollo's call on Big Country 99.5 FM or on the TuneIn app.

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• TU will head west for the final rounds of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational, beginning with a 3 p.m. (CT) matchup with No. 6 Nevada on Thanksgiving Day at the Orleans Arena.
• Tulsa leads the all-time series against the Wolf Pack, 7-6, but Nevada has claimed the last five meetings. The teams were part of the Western Athletic Conference together from 2000-05.
• Martins Igbanu posted the third double-double of his career with 23 points and 10 rebounds as Tulsa matched its best start under Frank Haith (4-0) with an 88-78 win over Little Rock on Monday night.
• With 28 assists already this season, Sterling Taplin has moved to 12th place on the program's all-time charts with 303. Taplin needs 16 more assists to move into the program's top 10.
• DaQuan Jeffries leads the team in scoring (15.0 ppg), while his 5.8 rebounds per game rank second on the team. He has led the team in scoring twice this season, including a season-high 19 points against CBU (Nov. 16).
• Martins Igbanu is averaging 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in the Las Vegas Holiday Invitational games.
• 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 head west for the final two games of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, beginning with a 3 p.m. matchup on Thursday, Nov. 22 against No. 6 Nevada at the Orleans Arena.
• The game can be seen on FS1, while 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 by using the TuneIn app.

Scouting the Wolf Pack
• Nevada was picked to win the Mountain West Conference as the team returns four starters from last year's squad, which went 29-8 and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
• The Wolf Pack won their four games this season by an average of 25.3 points and the team is coming off a season-high 90 points in its win over California Baptist on Monday night.
• Nevada is led by Caleb Martin's 19.0 ppg, while Jordan Caroline is averaging a double-double at 17.0 points and 10.5 rebounds per outing. In all, seven players average at least 7.0 ppg.

The Series
• Thursday's matchup will be the 14th all-time meeting between the programs and Tulsa holds a slim 7-6 lead over its former Western Athletic Conference foes. TU and Nevada were in the WAC together from 2000-05.
• Nevada has won the last five meetings in the series, including a 99-68 win in the last meeting on Dec. 23, 2009. That contest also was played at Orleans Arena as part of the Las Vegas Classic.
• Tulsa's last win in the series came on March 15, 2003, in the WAC Tournament championship game.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 5-0 on the season, which would be TU's best start under head coach Frank Haith.
• Give Tulsa its first win over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 16 SMU, 82-77, on Feb. 10, 2016 in Dallas.
• Give Tulsa its first win over a top-10 opponent since defeating No. 9 Wichita State, 77-67, on Nov. 17, 2015 in Tulsa.
• Give TU its third-highest ranked win in program history. The Hurricane defeated No. 5 UCLA (77-76 in OT) on Nov. 20, 1995, and topped No. 3 Louisiville (84-77) on Feb. 8, 1975.
• Improve Tulsa's all-time record against Nevada to 8-6.

Last Time Out
• Martins Igbanu posted a double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds, including 20 points in the second half, to help Tulsa stay unbeaten with an 88-78 win over Little Rock on Monday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Igbanu went 6-of-8 from the field and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line in 25 minutes of action. He was joined in double-figures by DaQuan Jeffries (15 points), Sterling Taplin (10 points/8 assists) and Jeriah Horne (10 points).
• After a slow start, TU warmed up to 58.6-percent in the second half and 48.3-percent for the game.
• Little Rock led by as much as a dozen in the first half, but TU went on a 10-0 run early in the second half to take the lead for good.
• The Hurricane added a 10-2 spurt midway through the second half and led by as much as 13 points.

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled an 81-52 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 286-181 (.612) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 81 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. 12 on the program's career-assists charts with 303.

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 243-72 (.771) in its 20+ seasons, including a 4-0 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,869,955 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.
• The Hurricane has won 19 of its last 21 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 78 points (19.5 ppg) so far this season, led by 28 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 face either Southern Illinois or UMass on Friday, Nov. 23 at 9 p.m. (CT) or 11:30 p.m. (CT) in the final game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational.
• Following tournament play, TU will return home for a 7 p.m. matchup against UT Arlington on Nov. 27.

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