Tulsa Downs Vanderbilt on the Road 67-58

Saturday, November 30

Nashville, Tenn.

7:00 pm

Tulsa

6-1,0-0AAC

Vanderbilt

5-2,0-0SEC

Tulsa

Vanderbilt

Tulsa Downs Vanderbilt on the Road 67-58

11/30/2019 11:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –– Tulsa never trailed in the second half outscoring the Commodores 33-28 to defeat Vanderbilt at Memorial Gym (14,316) with a final of 67-58.

Brandon Rachal led the way scoring for the Hurricane with 17 points on 5-10 shooting from the field and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Elijah Joiner added 12 points and a team high 8 rebounds knocking down 10 of his points in the second half.

Tulsa improved to 6-1 on the season, the best start for the Hurricane since the 2009-10 season when they began 9-1. The victory was the first win against a Southeastern Conference foe since the Hurricane defeated Auburn in the 2014-15 season. It was the first road win against an SEC opponent since Tulsa defeated Arkansas in the 2002-03 season.

Tulsa out-scored Vanderbilt in the paint 28 to 24 and scored 22 points on 16 turnovers by the Commodores. Tulsa crashed the boards hard out-rebounding Vanderbilt 35-34, as they also received a huge contribution from the bench which scored 30 points.

"I thought we showed a lot of grit and a lot of toughness. They got after us and got into us, but today we were the aggressors," said head coach Frank Haith. "To win on the road is hard, but you have to make sure you have the toughness to take care of it. I thought we did that tonight."

From the end of the first half to the 17:07 point of the second Tulsa outscored Vanderbilt 11-2. Tulsa closed the first half on a 5-0 run and started the second half on a 6-2 run for a 40-32 lead at the 17:07 mark. The closest that the Commodores came to the Hurricane lead was with 8:47 left in the game when they pushed within 3 points. Elijah Joiner tore the Commodores' chance away from them going on a 7-0 run by himself to extend Tulsa's lead back to double figures, 54-44, at the 7:37 mark.

After a Martins Igbanu free throw, a Brandon Rachal 3-pointer gave Tulsa their largest lead of the game at 12 with 6:30 left in the second half. Vanderbilt got as close as 4 points twice in the final 3:21. The Hurricane did not make a field goal in the last 5 minutes of play but sealed the win by making 7 of their last 8 free throws.

In the first half Tulsa shared the rock on their way to making 14 of 27 shots. 9 of the 10 Hurricane players to see the court in the opening half scored. Emmanuel Ugboh put in his season-high in points during the first scoring 6 in 7 minutes.

Vanderbilt's largest lead in the game came at the 8:16 mark of the first half as the Commodores took a 6-point advantage after going on an 8-0 run. There were 7 lead changes and 4 ties as the Hurricane led for 9:00 minutes in the first half.

A steal by Isaiah Hill with 9 seconds left in the first half turned into a Lawson Korita three pointer giving Tulsa a 34-30 lead going into the break.

At halftime, Tulsa was led in scoring by Jeriah Horne (7) and Emmanuel Ugboh (6), while Tulsa had a 9-6 edge in assists and scored 16 points off the Commodores' 9 turnovers. Tulsa shot 52-percent in the first half, while Vanderbilt had a 36.7 shooting percentage from the field.

The Golden Hurricane start a three game home series at the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Wednesday, Dec. 4 facing off against Arkansas-Pine Bluff with a 7 p.m. tipoff. They then will welcome Arkansas State to Tulsa on Saturday, Dec. 7.