TU Men’s Basketball Opens Fall Practices on Tuesday
9/25/2018 3:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team began fall practices in preparation for the 108th season of Golden Hurricane basketball on Tuesday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Head coach Frank Haith, who is in his fifth season at TU, welcomes back eight letterwinners and three starters from last year's team, which won 19 games and finished fourth in the American Athletic Conference. The Golden Hurricane is led by senior point guard Sterling Taplin, who averaged career highs of 11.8 points, 4.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game a season ago.
"I'm excited about this group," Haith said. "I think we've got a good group. I think we've got a fun group. I think we've got an experienced and deep team. We're ready to get started."
The Hurricane will be tasked with replacing two of its top three scorers from 2017-18 in Junior Etou (15.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Corey Henderson Jr. (10.5 ppg). Those shoes will be filled by the team's veteran core, along with a group of five newcomers that includes three student-athletes with previous Division I experience (Chris Barnes, Jeriah Horne, Zeke Moore).
"I think Jeriah will help alleviate some of that, but it can't be just Jeriah," Haith said. "I think you'll see Martins Igbanu take his game up another level. I think you'll see DaQuan Jeffries, who missed six games last year, do more. It will be a number of guys you'll see improve and do more things than what they did last season."
The Golden Hurricane will continue practices leading up to its Nov. 2 exhibition game against Northeastern State (7 p.m.) at the Reynolds Center. The regular season will open at 7 p.m. on Tue., Nov. 6 when TU hosts Alcorn State.
Season tickets for the 17-game home schedule, which includes matchups against Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Wichita State, are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased by calling 918-631-GoTU (4688).
Head coach Frank Haith, who is in his fifth season at TU, welcomes back eight letterwinners and three starters from last year's team, which won 19 games and finished fourth in the American Athletic Conference. The Golden Hurricane is led by senior point guard Sterling Taplin, who averaged career highs of 11.8 points, 4.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game a season ago.
"I'm excited about this group," Haith said. "I think we've got a good group. I think we've got a fun group. I think we've got an experienced and deep team. We're ready to get started."
The Hurricane will be tasked with replacing two of its top three scorers from 2017-18 in Junior Etou (15.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg) and Corey Henderson Jr. (10.5 ppg). Those shoes will be filled by the team's veteran core, along with a group of five newcomers that includes three student-athletes with previous Division I experience (Chris Barnes, Jeriah Horne, Zeke Moore).
"I think Jeriah will help alleviate some of that, but it can't be just Jeriah," Haith said. "I think you'll see Martins Igbanu take his game up another level. I think you'll see DaQuan Jeffries, who missed six games last year, do more. It will be a number of guys you'll see improve and do more things than what they did last season."
The Golden Hurricane will continue practices leading up to its Nov. 2 exhibition game against Northeastern State (7 p.m.) at the Reynolds Center. The regular season will open at 7 p.m. on Tue., Nov. 6 when TU hosts Alcorn State.
Season tickets for the 17-game home schedule, which includes matchups against Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Wichita State, are on sale now. Tickets can be purchased by calling 918-631-GoTU (4688).
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