Tulsa Back Home to Face UConn on Wednesday

GAME #18: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (11-6, 1-3) vs UCONN HUSKIES (10-7, 1-3)
Date/Time:	Wednesday • Jan. 16 • 6 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year UConn – Dan Hurley (Seton Hall '96), 1st year
TV:	ESPNEWS (John Brickley and Mark Adams)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 5-4
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| UConn
Tickets:	918-631-GoTU \| Buy Online

• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will continue conference play with at 6 p.m. matchup against UConn on Wednesday, Jan. 16 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. This will be the only regular-season game between UConn and Tulsa this season.
• The Hurricane lead the all-time series, 5-4, and are a perfect 4-0 against the Huskies in Tulsa. Last season, TU swept the series with wins of 90-88 (2OT, in Tulsa) and 73-71 (in Hartford).
• Tulsa is coming off setbacks against Cincinnati and SMU last week. The Hurricane fell to the Bearcats in overtime on Thursday before a loss at SMU on Sunday.
• Jeriah Horne led the Hurricane in Saturday's loss at SMU. The sophomore hit four 3-pointers on his way to 14 points off the bench. Horne ranks fourth on the team in scoring at 8.2 ppg and he is shooting 40.4-percent behind the arc.
• With 80 assists this season, Sterling Taplin has moved to sixth place on the program's all-time charts with 355. Taplin needs 34 assists to pass current TU assistant coach Shea Seals (1993-1997) and move into the top five on the list.
• DaQuan Jeffries leads the team in scoring at 13.4 ppg and he is second in rebounding at 5.5 rpg. Jeffries has led the team in scoring eight times, including a season-high 24 points in a win over UT Arlington (Nov. 27). The Edmond native also averages a team-leading 12.8 ppg during conference play.
• TU has notched 47 league wins since joining The American, which ranks third behind only Cincinnati (60) and SMU (54) 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.
• With a 10-3 non-conference record, Tulsa had its best start under head coach Frank Haith. The Hurricane registered 10 wins before the start of league play for the first time since 2009-10.

Notes
The Game
• Tulsa will continue American Athletic Conference play at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 16 when it will host UConn at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• The game can be seen on ESPNU, 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 Huskies
• UConn was picked to finish fifth in The American as the team returns three starters and 10 letterwinners from last year's squad, which went 14-18 and finished eighth in the conference.
• The Huskies come into Wednesday's matchup following a 74-72 overtime setback at Cincinnati on Saturday night. Alterique Gilbert led four players in double-figures for UConn with 18 points.
• Junior guard Jalen Adams leads the team at 16.8 ppg for the season and he is averaging 17.5 ppg in conference action, which ranks ninth in the circuit.
• UConn ranks third in The American with 133 3-pointers made. Christian Vital leads the way with 36 makes, while Gilbert (34), Adams (25) and Tyler Polley (21) have all combined to do most of the team's damage behind the arc.
• UConn ranks 49th in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, holding teams to 40.3-percent shooting.

The Series
• Wednesday's matchup marks the 10th all-time meeting between Tulsa and UConn. The Hurricane leads the series, 5-4, and own a perfect 4-0 record against the Huskies in the Reynolds Center.
• The last three games in the series have been decided by just two points each and include an overtime game and a double-overtime contest.

Last Meeting
• Sterling Taplin scored a career-high 30 points and Tulsa held off a late UConn rally to score a 73-71 win, its first-ever over the Huskies in Connecticut, on Feb. 15, 2018, at the XL Center.
• Taplin went 10-of-12 from the field, including 7-of-8 behind the arc to lead the Golden Hurricane. He hit nine consecutive shots at one point and his layup with 40 seconds put Tulsa ahead for good.
• Tulsa erased a nine-point halftime deficit by hitting 10 of its first 11 shots in the second half to grab a 55-52 lead. But UConn led 69-68 with less than a minute to play before layups from Taplin and DaQuan Jeffries.
• Jalen Adams had a chance to tie the game in the closing seconds, but his layup in traffic was off the mark.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 12-6 on the season and improve its conference record to 2-3.
• Improve Tulsa's all-time record against UConn to 6-4.
• Extend Tulsa's unbeaten streak against UConn at home to five games.
• Improve Tulsa's home record to 10-1 this season and give the team its 25th win in its last 28 games at home.

Last Time Out
• Jeriah Horne tied a career high with four 3-pointers for a team-high 14 points, but Jahmal McMurray scored 22 points as SMU defeated visiting Tulsa, 77-57, at Moody Coliseum last Saturday night.
• Horne went 4-for-7 from downtown en route to his 14 points for the Golden Hurricane, while Sterling Taplin added 10 points. The Hurricane shot 35.7-percent and scored 24 points in the paint.
• Tulsa had an 11-10 lead after a back-and-forth start to the contest, but the Mustangs would put together two big runs and outscore the Hurricane 23-6 over a 10-minute stretch to take control.
• Tulsa cut the deficit to six points early in the second half. However, the Mustangs went on runs of 15-5 and 16-2 to put the game away.

Trending
• Tulsa is 9-2 when DaQuan Jeffries scores in double-figures. The squad is 2-4 when he does not.
• Tulsa allowed an opponent season-high of 56.8-percent shooting in its loss to Southern Illinois. In the 11 games since, TU opponents are shooting just 38.9-percent (262-of-673) from the floor.
• Only six of Tulsa's last 11 opponents have shot better than 40-percent. Four of TU's last eight opponents have been held to 35.7-percent shooting or less.

Nothing But NET
• Tulsa entered conference play with an NCAA NET ranking inside the top 100 and had a ranking of 106th as of Jan. 14. The Golden Hurricane will face a tough stretch to start play in The American, as the first half of its 18-game league schedule will see the team play eight games against teams currently ranked in the top 100.
• The Hurricane will get two games against Houston (No. 8) and Cincinnati (No. 35) during the stretch along with matchups against UCF (No. 33), Memphis (No. 74), UConn (No. 87) and USF (No. 94).
• All nine of Tulsa's opponents in that span are ranked in the top 125 as SMU is No. 109.

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled an 88-58 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 293-187 (.610) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 88 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 currently ranks sixth with 355 assists and needs 34 assists to pass Shea Seals (1993-97).
• 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 887 points, Taplin needs 113 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 5.5 rpg and 0.9 bpg, while shooting 52.0-percent, which ranks ninth in The American.
• 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 career blocks list with 51 swats. He has 15 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. 16/15 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 47 league wins, which ranks third in the circuit during that time.
• Only Cincinnati (60 wins) and SMU (54 wins) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 47.
• 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 rank second in the league in free throws made (285) and fourth in attempts (409). Both of those marks rank 27th in the nation.
• The squad is averaging 24.1 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 11 times this season. The Hurricane has shot more than 30 free throws in a game six times.
• Martins Igbanu leads the team at 5.8 free-throw attempts per game, while Chris Barnes (.783/18-of-23) 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 248-73 (.773) in its 20+ seasons, including a 9-1 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,897,863 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.
• The Hurricane has won 24 of its last 27 games in the Reynolds Center.
• Tulsa's recent 15-game home winning streak was 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.

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 also was named to the NCAA Western Regional Team that season.

Roster Experience
• Despite having seven newcomers on the roster for 2018-19, Tulsa features 10 players with Division I experience.
• Those 10 players have totaled 17 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, 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 five eligible to make their debut for TU, two student-athletes have Division I experience (Chris Barnes/UTEP and Jeriah Horne/Nebraska), while Peter Hewitt redshirted at UC Davis in 2016-17.
• TU newcomers have totaled 267 points (15.7 ppg) so far this season, led by 139 points (8.2 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 head back out on the road for back-to-back games away from the Reynolds Center at UCF (Jan. 19) and Cincinnati (Jan. 24). Tip-off for Saturday's game at UCF is set for 11 a.m. (CT).
• The Hurricane will be back in the Reynolds Center for a Jan. 27 matchup with No. 21/17 Houston.

#ForOurCity

Tulsa Back Home to Face UConn on Wednesday

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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