Tulsa Set to Host USF on Saturday Evening

Saturday, January 5

Reynolds Center

5 PM

Tulsa

USF

Buy Tickets

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Set to Host USF on Saturday Evening

1/4/2019 2:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME #15: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (10-4, 0-1) vs USF BULLS (11-2, 1-0)
Date/Time:	Saturday • Jan. 5 • 5 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year USF – Brian Gregory (Oakland '90), 2nd year
TV:	ESPNU (Kevin Brown and John Thompson III)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 7-0
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| USF
Tickets:	918-631-GoTU \| Buy Online

• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.

• Tulsa will return home for a matchup with USF at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

• Tulsa has won all seven previous meetings against USF and those victories have come by an average of 11.6 points. The Hurricane is 4-0 all-time against the Bulls at the Reynolds Center with only a 78-71 overtime win on Jan. 31, 2015, decided by fewer than 10 points.

• Tulsa is coming off a 74-56 setback at No. 19/17 Houston on Wednesday night in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams. Martins Igbanu led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds for his 10th double-figure scoring game of the season. The loss snapped Tulsa's season-best five-game winning streak

• 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.

• With 70 assists this season, Sterling Taplin has moved to sixth place on the program's all-time charts with 345. Taplin needs 44 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 5.9 rpg. Jeffries has led the team in scoring six times, including a season-high 24 points in a win over UT Arlington (Nov. 27)

• Tulsa has won 14 consecutive home games and 23 of its last 25 contests at the Reynolds Center dating back to last season.

• TU has notched 46 league wins since joining The American, which ranks third behind only Cincinnati (58) and SMU (52) 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 continue American Athletic Conference play at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 5 when it will host USF 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 Bulls

• USF was picked to finish 12th in The American as the team returns a pair of starters from last year's squad, which went 10-22 last season in head coach Brian Gregory's first campaign.

• USF has 12 newcomers on the roster and those newcomers make up 68-percent of the team's scoring.

• USF has won seven straight and with 11 victories this season, they have already surpassed last season's win total.

• Sophomore guard David Collins leads the team at 14.2 ppg, while Alexis Yetna is averaging a double-double of 11.8 points and a conference-leading 10.7 rpg.

• The Bulls lead the league and rank second in the nation in free-throw attempts (390), but only connect at a 62.6-percent clip (last in The American).

The Series

• Saturday's matchup marks the eighth all-time meeting between Tulsa and USF. The Golden Hurricane has won all seven previous meetings by an average of 11.6 points.

• Tulsa has won all four matchups against the Bulls in the Reynolds Center, including a 73-61 triumph on Feb. 18, 2018. The closest game in the series was a 78-71 TU overtime victory in 2015.

Last Meeting

• Martins Igbanu led four players in double-figures with 16 points as Tulsa improved to 7-0 all-time against USF with a 73-61 victory over the Bulls on Feb. 18, 2018, at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

• Junior Etou, Curran Scott and DaQuan Jeffries contributed 11 points apiece

• Igbanu scored 14 points in the second half and helped the Hurricane bridge the halves with a combined 19-0 run (8-0 to end the first half, 11-0 to start the second half).

• Tulsa led by as much as 24 with 9:28 to play and coasted to the 73-61 final.

A Tulsa Win Would ...

• Improve Tulsa's record to 11-4 on the season and even its conference record at 1-1.

• Improve Tulsa's all-time record against USF to 8-0.

• Improve Tulsa's home record to 9-0 this season and give the team its 24th win in its last 26 games at home.

• Extend Tulsa's home winning streak to 15 games dating back to last season, which would tie for the 10th longest streak in Division I.

Last Time Out

• Corey Davis Jr. hit six 3-pointers and scored a game-high 21 points as No. 19/17 Houston defeated visiting Tulsa, 74-56, in the American Athletic Conference opener for both squads on Wednesday night at the Fertitta Center.

• Martins Igbanu led the Golden Hurricane with 18 points and eight rebounds and he was joined in double-figures by 10 points from DaQuan Jeffries. Tulsa was held to a season-low 30.9-percent shooting.

• Jeffries got Tulsa started in the opening minutes with a pair of 3-pointers. The Golden Hurricane defense forced 10 straight missed shots and a pair of turnovers from the Cougars, went scoreless for nearly the first six minutes.

• However, a 7-0 run minutes later gave Houston its first lead and it would not trail the rest of the night.

Trending

• Tulsa is 8-1 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 .602 (65-of-108) field goal percentage for the season.

• Tulsa allowed an opponent season-high of 56.8-percent shooting in its loss to Southern Illinois. In the eight games since, TU opponents are shooting just 37.7-percent (181-of-480) from the floor.

• Only three of Tulsa's last eight opponents have shot better than 40-percent. Four of TU's last five 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 (90th). 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 seven games against teams currently ranked in the top 100.

• The Hurricane will get two games against Houston (No. 4) and Cincinnati (No. 25) during the stretch along with matchups against UCF (No. 39), UConn (95th) and Memphis (No. 100).

• All nine of Tulsa's opponents in that span are ranked in the top 150 as USF checks in at No. 103, while SMU is No. 138.

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU

• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled an 87-56 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 292-185 (.609) in his 15th season.

• Haith's 87 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 345 assists and needs 44 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 855 points, Taplin needs 145 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 51.6-percent, which ranks 11th 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 46 league wins, which ranks third in the circuit during that time.

• Only Cincinnati (58 wins) and SMU (52 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 rank third in the league in free throws made (232) and attempted (339). Those marks rank 38th and 25th, respectively.

• The squad is averaging 24.2 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 nine times this season. The Hurricane has shot more than 30 free throws in a game five times.

• Martins Igbanu leads the team at 5.9 free-throw attempts per game, while DaQuan Jeffries (.767/33-of-43) 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.

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 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 233 points (16.6 ppg) so far this season, led by 109 points (7.8 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 host Cincinnati at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 10 in a matchup that will be broadcast on ESPN2

• TU then will head back out on the road for a contest at SMU on Saturday, Jan. 12. That game can be seen on ESPNU.

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