Tulsa Set for Mayor's Cup Matchup at ORU on Saturday

Saturday, December 22

Mabee Center

7 PM

Tulsa

Oral Roberts

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Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Set for Mayor's Cup Matchup at ORU on Saturday

12/21/2018 11:43:00 AM | Men's Basketball

GAME #13: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (9-3) vs ORAL ROBERTS GOLDEN EAGLES (4-10)
Date/Time:	Saturday • Dec. 22 • 7 p.m.
Site:	Mabee Center (10,575) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year Oral Roberts – Paul Mills (Texas A&M '96), 2nd year
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 34-19
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| O ral Roberts

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will close non-conference play with a 7 p.m. matchup against crosstown rival Oral Roberts on Saturday, Dec. 22 at the Mabee Center in the annual Mayor's Cup game.
• Tulsa leads the all-time series against the Golden Eagles, 34-19, and has won the last two meetings. TU also owns a 15-12 record against ORU at the Mabee Center.
• TU is coming off a 72-67 win over Dayton on Sunday afternoon at the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase in Uncasville, Conn. Martins Igbanu scored 14 of his team-high 17 points after halftime and was named the game's Most Valuable Player. DaQuan Jeffries added 16 points in the victory.
• At 9-3, Tulsa is off to its best start under head coach Frank Haith. With a win on Saturday, Tulsa can register 10 non-conference wins before the start of league play for the first time since 2009-10.
• With 60 assists this season, Sterling Taplin has moved to a tie for eighth place on the program's all-time charts with 335. Taplin needs one more assist to pass Eric Coley (1996-2000) on the list.
• DaQuan Jeffries leads the team in scoring at 13.2 ppg and rebounding at 5.9 rpg. He is shooting 76.5-percent (39-of-51) inside the arc, which ranks eighth in the nation, and his 19 3-pointers made also lead the team.
• Tulsa has won 14 consecutive home games and 23 of its last 25 contests at the Reynolds Center dating back to last season. The squad will be playing just its second true road game this season.
• 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 close non-conference play at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 22 when it will take on crosstown rival Oral Roberts at the Mabee Center in the annual Mayor's Cup 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 by using the TuneIn app.

Scouting the Golden Eagles
• Oral Roberts was picked to finish sixth in the Summit League as the team returns three starters and five letterwinners from last year's squad, which went 11-21 and finished fifth in the league.
• ORU is coming off an 84-63 loss at Wichita State on Wednesday night. The Golden Eagles were led by Emmanuel Nzekwesi's 17 points and six rebounds, while Kaelen Malone came off the bench to score a dozen points.
• The Golden Eagles are led by Nzekwesi's 14.7 points and 7.4 rebounds per game and he is the only player averaging in double-figures. Kevin Obanor (9.8 ppg) leads five other players who average at least 7.5 ppg.
• DeShang Weaver (.403) and Sam Kearns (.397) are the team's top 3-point shooters with 27 makes apiece.
• ORU has outshot (.451-.447) and outrebounded (36.1-35.6) its opponents this season.

The Series
• Saturday's matchup marks the 54th all-time meeting between crosstown rivals Oral Roberts and Tulsa. The Golen Hurricane lead the series, 34-19, and have won the last two contests.
• TU has a 15-12 edge in games played at the Mabee Center. The Hurricane has won three of its last four games there.
• The Hurricane won last year's meeting, 90-71, behind 30 points from Junior Etou. Sterling Taplin (17 points) and DaQuan Jeffries (10 points) combined for 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists in the game.

Last Meeting
• Junior Etou neared his career high with 30 points on just 13 shots to lead Tulsa past Oral Roberts, 90-71, and claim the Mayor's Cup on Nov. 13, 2017, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Etou went 11-of-13 from the field, including 2-of-3 behind the arc to go along with six free throws and seven rebounds in just 29 minutes. Sterling Taplin add 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half.
• TU led almost the entire way and its 90 points were the most in a Mayor's Cup game since 2002.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 10-3 on the season, which would continue the program's best start under Frank Haith.
• Give Tulsa 10 non-conference wins before the start of conference play for the first time since the 2009-10 season.
• Give Tulsa its second win away from the Reynolds Center this season.
• Improve Tulsa's all-time record against Oral Roberts to 35-19.
• Give Tulsa its third consecutive Mayor's Cup victory.

Last Time Out
• Martins Igbanu scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the second half as Tulsa knocked off Dayton last Sunday at the Basketball Hall of Fame Holiday Showcase in Uncasville, Conn.
• Igbanu went 6-of-10 from the floor and hit five of his six free throws for the Golden Hurricane, who picked up its first win away from the Reynolds Center this season.
• Tulsa trailed 41-37 in the opening minutes of the second half before going on a 14-2 run to take the lead for good.
• Dayton trimmed the deficit to three points four times over the final eight minutes, including 68-65 with 50 seconds left.
• Curran Scott salted the game away with four free throws in the final 11 seconds for the win.

Trending
• Tulsa is undefeated (7-0) when DaQuan Jeffries scores in double-figures. The squad is 2-3 when he does not.
• Martins Igbanu has shot 50-percent or better from the floor in all but one game this season (at Utah, Dec. 1). He leads the team with a .589 (53-of-90) field goal percentage for the season.
• DaQuan Jeffries is shooting 76.5-percent (39-of-51) inside the arc this season, which ranks eighth in the country according to kenpom.com.
• Tulsa allowed an opponent season-high of 56.8-percent shooting in its loss to Southern Illinois. In the six games since, TU opponents are shooting just 38.4-percent (136-of-354) from the floor.

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled an 86-55 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 289-184 (.612) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 86 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).

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).

Climbing the Charts
• Senior point guard Sterling Taplin is climbing the career assists charts at TU and he entered the program's all-time top 10 with three assists against Utah on Dec. 1. He is currently tied for eighth with 335 assists and needs one assist to pass Eric Coley (1996-2000).
• Taplin had a career-high 10 assists in TU's win over South Carolina State (Nov. 10). With that effort, he became the 14th TU player to have at least 10 assists in a game and he was the first to do so since Ben Uzoh had 10 on Feb. 13, 2010.
• With 840 points, Taplin needs 160 points to become the 38th player in TU history to reach 1,000 career points.

DaQuan Does It All
• Senior DaQuan Jeffries is averaging a team-leading 13.4 ppg to go along with 5.9 rpg and 1.1 bpg, while shooting 55.2-percent. He is shooting shooting 76.5-percent (39-of-51) inside the arc, which ranks eighth in the country.
• Jeffries had one of the best outings of his career on Nov. 27 against UT Arlington, when he went 10-of-11 from the floor to tie a career high with 24 points. He had the best shooting percentage for a TU player who made at least 10 field goals since Charlie Davis went 11-of-12 (.916) against SMU on Jan. 19, 2002.
• In addition, Jeffries ranks 24th on the program's blocks list with 47 swats. He has 13 blocks this season, including a season-high three rejections in the win over Little Rock (Nov. 19).
• Jeffries was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Dec. 10 after helping TU to wins over Oklahoma State (Dec. 5) and then-No. 15/16 Kansas State (Dec. 8).

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.

Free Fallin'
• The Hurricane leads the league in free throws made (194), while it ranks second in free throw attempts (281). Tulsa ranks 37th in the nation in free throws made and 32nd in attempts.
• The squad is averaging 23.4 attempts per game with a season high of 40 in the win over California Baptist (Nov. 16). TU has shot more than 20 free throws in a game seven times this season.
• Martins Igbanu leads the team at 5.5 free-throw attempts per game, while Chris Barnes (.824/14-of-17) leads the team in free-throw percentage.

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 247-72 (.773) in its 20+ seasons, including an 8-0 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,889,496 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.
• The Hurricane has won 23 of its last 25 games in the Reynolds Center, including 14 straight victories.
• Tulsa's 14-game home winning streak is the second-longest streak since the Reynolds Center opened in 1998. The longest home winning streak in the building is 23 games, from Jan. 17, 2009 to Feb. 13, 2010.

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 opened the season ranked or receiving votes in the AP Top 25. The Hurricane will host No. 16 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.

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.

In Memory of Bob Patterson
• Tulsa will wear a "30" patch on its home uniforms this season to honor Bob Patterson (1951-55), who passed away in November. Patterson was Tulsa's first All-American and was the first TU player to be selected in the NBA Draft.
• A member of the TU Athletic Hall of Fame, Patterson still owns Tulsa single-season records for rebounds (370; 1954-55), free throws made (229; 1954-55) and free throws attempted (297; 1954-55).
• Patterson was the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year as a senior and led the Hurricane to an MVC title and its first NCAA Tournament appearance. He would be named to the NCAA Western Regional Team.

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 its 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 213 points (17.8 ppg) so far this season, led by 95 points (7.9 ppg) 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.

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 open American Athletic Conference play on the road at No. 20/21 Houston on Wednesday, Jan. 2. The Hurricane and Cougars are set for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the new Fertitta Center and the game can be seen on ESPN3.

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