Tulsa to Face SMU in First Round of Conference Championship

Thursday, March 14

Memphis, Tenn.

7 PM

Tulsa

SMU

Buy Tickets

Tulsa to Face SMU in First Round of Conference Championship

3/12/2019 8:58:00 AM | Men's Basketball

GAME #32: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (18-13) vs SMU MUSTANGS (14-16)
Date/Time:	Thursday • March 14 • 7 p.m.
Site:	FedExForum (18,400) • Memphis, Tenn
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year SMU – Tim Jankovich (Kansas State '82), 3rd year
TV:	ESPNU (Kevin Brown & Mark Adams)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 32-20
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| SMU

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will open play at the American Athletic Conference Championship when it will face 10th-seeded SMU at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 at FedExForum in Memphis.
• Thursday's matchup marks the 53rd all-time meeting between Tulsa and SMU. The Golden Hurricane lead the all-time series, 32-20. This will be just the third postseason meeting between the teams. TU defeated SMU in the 1955 NCAA Tournament, while the Mustangs topped the Hurricane in the first round of the 2004 WAC Tournament.
• The winner of Thursday's game will advance to face No. 2-seed Cincinnati at 6 p.m. on Friday.
• DaQuan Jeffries was named a third-team all-conference pick on Monday. He is the only player in The American to lead his team in scoring (13.0 ppg), rebounding (5.7 rpg), blocks (1.2 bpg) and steals (1.0 spg).
• Martins Igbanu ranks second in the league with a shooting percentage of .619. Igbanu is shot 64.3-percent during conference play and he has hit 37 of his last 49 shots (75.5-percent) over the last six games.
• Sterling Taplin scored 11 points against Temple (Feb. 23) to become the 38th player in Tulsa history to register 1,000 career points. Additionally, with 402 career assists, Taplin is just the fourth player in program history with at least 1,000 points and 400 assists (Greg Harrington, Shaq Harrison and Ben Uzoh are the others).
• TU has notched 54 league wins since joining The American, which is the fifth-most in the circuit behind only Cincinnati (71), Houston (58), SMU (57) and Temple (55) during that span (2014-present).
• Tulsa was picked to finish ninth in The American Preseason Poll and finished seventh. TU has now finished better than its preseason prediction in all five 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 open play at the American Athletic Conference Championship when it will face 10th-seeded SMU at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 14 at FedExForum in Memphis.
• 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 J.R. Rollo on the call. Live audio from the game also can be found by using the TuneIn app.

Scouting the Mustangs
• SMU was picked to finish seventh in The American as the team returned four starters and nine letterwinners from last year's squad, which went 17-16 and finished ninth in the conference.
• The Mustangs come into Thursday's matchup following a 77-71 win at USF in their regular-season finale. Ethan Chargois led the way with 19 points, while Feron Hunt come off the bench for 17 points and 14 rebounds.
• Second-team all-conference pick Jahmal McMurray ranks fifth in the conference in scoring at 17.8 ppg and he averaged 17.5 ppg during league games. Chargois (12.5 ppg), Jimmy Whitt Jr. (12.1 ppg) and Isiaha Mike (11.9 ppg) all average in double-figures, as well.
• SMU is averaging 71.8 ppg for the season and 69.0 ppg during league play and those numbers rank eighth and 10th
in the conference, respectively.

The Series
• Thursday's matchup marks the 53rd all-time meeting between Tulsa and SMU. The Hurricane lead the series, 32-20. SMU took the only meeting between the teams this season, 77-57, on Jan. 12 in Dallas.
• This will be just the third postseason meeting between the teams. TU defeated SMU in the 1955 NCAA Tournament, while the Mustangs topped the Hurricane in the first round of the 2004 WAC Tournament.

Last Meeting
• Jeriah Horne hit 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 on Jan. 12.
• Sterling Taplin added 10 points for the Hurricane, who played on the road just two days after an overtime loss to Cincinnati in Tulsa.
• 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.
• TU got within six points early in the second half, but SMU went on a 16-2 run late to put the game away.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 19-13 on the season.
• Advance the Hurricane to the quarterfinals of The American Championship, where it would face second-seeded Cincinnati at 6 p.m. on Friday night.
• Improve Tulsa's all-time record against SMU to 33-20.
• Improve Tulsa's all-time record in The American Championship to 3-4.
• Give Tulsa its second-ever postseason win over SMU and its first since the 1955 NCAA Tournament.

Last Time Out
• Curran Scott led Tulsa with 13 points, but Memphis got 20 points from Jeremiah Martin and the Tigers escaped FedExForum with a 66-63 win over the Golden Hurricane in the regular-season finale for both teams late Saturday night.
• Lawson Korita also finished in double-figures with a dozen points for TU, who led the Tigers 55-54 with 4:39 to play.
• Tyler Harris, who scored 16 points off the bench, had a steal and layup that gave Memphis a 60-57 advantage and Tulsa could not get cloesr than three points the rest of the way.

Tulsa's Conference Tournament History
• Tulsa will make its fifth appearance in The American Championship and the Golden Hurricane have a 2-4 record in the event.
• TU will be making its 42nd appearance in a conference tournament and the Hurricane have an all-time mark of 52-35 in league tournaments.
• Tulsa has claimed six conference tournament titles (1982, '84, '86, '96 in the Missouri Valley Conference; 2003 in the Western Athletic Conference; 2014 in Conference USA).

Nothing But NET
• Tulsa will enter Thursday's game with a NET ranking of No. 89 (as of March 11).
• All nine of Tulsa's oppnents in the first half of its league schedule are ranked in the top 110, with eight games against opponents in the top 100. In all, Tulsa's total strength of schedule ranks 77th in the nation.
• The Hurricane got two games against Houston (No. 4) and Cincinnati (No. 27) during the early stretch along with matchups against UCF (No. 28), Memphis (No. 53), UConn (No. 95), USF (No. 97) and SMU (No. 103).

Haith In Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 95-65 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 300-194 (.607) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 95 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 faced two other members of that list this season, when the team took on Bruce Weber and Kansas State (Dec. 8) before its two matchups with Sampson and Houston (Jan. 2 and Jan. 27).

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 five with three assists in the game against Wichita State (Feb. 20).
• Taplin had a career-high 10 assists in TU's win over South Carolina State (Nov. 10), becoming the first TU player to have at least 10 assists in a game since Ben Uzoh had 10 on Feb. 13, 2010.
• Taplin became the 38th player in TU history to reach 1,000 career points when he scored 11 points at Temple (Feb. 23).
• Now with 402 career assists, Taplin is just the fourth player in program history with at least 1,000 points and 400 assists (Greg Harrington, Shaq Harrison and Ben Uzoh are the others).

DaQuan Does It All
• Senior DaQuan Jeffries is averaging a team-leading 13.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.0 steals per game, while shooting 50.2-percent, which ranks eighth in The American. He is the only league player to lead his team in all four categories and he was named third-team all-conference on March 11.
• 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 finish 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 is tied for 14th on the program's career blocks list with 72 swats. He has 36 blocks this season, including a season-high three rejections against Little Rock, UCF, Memphis and Wichita State.
• 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).

Efficient Igbanu
• Junior forward Martins Igbanu has proven to be one of the most efficient players in The American this year, ranking second only to UCF's Tacko Fall in field goal percentage at 61.9-percent this season.
• He was been even better in conference play, connecting at a 64.3-percent clip, and he made 37 of his last 49 shots (75.5-percent) over the final six games of the regular-season.
• That efficiency has helped him to a team-leading 22 double-digit scoring performances this season, including 10+ points in 10 of his last 12 games.

Around the Horne
• Redshirt sophomore Jeriah Horne has made a big impact off the bench in his first season at TU after transferring from Nebraska. The Overland Park, Kan., native is averaging 9.8 ppg, which ranks third on the team, and made the first start of his career at Temple (Feb. 23).
• He upped his production in conference play, as he averaged 11.3 ppg (3rd on the team). Horne had two 20-point outings in conference action, including a career-high 27 points against UConn (Jan. 16) along with the first double-double of his career, which was a 20-point, 12-rebound effort at Tulane (Feb. 14).
• Horne has 14 double-figure scoring games this season, including 10 such games during conference play, and he leads the team with 46 3-pointers made.

Trending
• Darien Jackson is averaging 6.6 ppg over his last eight games, including three double-digit performances. He has scored 87 points over his last 15 games after totaling 20 points in his first 28 contests at TU.
• During conference play, Tulsa held opponents to 41.2-percent shooting, which ranked third in the league behind Houston and UCF. Only one conference opponent shot 50-percent or better against Tulsa (Temple, Feb. 23).
• Martins Igbanu ranks second in the league (behind UCF's Tacko Fall) with a shooting percentage of .619. Igbanu shot 64.3-percent during conference play and he connected on 37-of-49 shots (75.5-percent) over the last six games of the regular-season.
• Tulsa has featured a balanced offensive attack as the team has had at least four double-figure scorers in seven of the last 12 games, including six double-figure scorers in the win at ECU (Feb. 17).

Tulsa's Success in The American
• Since joining the American Athletic Conference prior to the 2014-15 season, the Golden Hurricane has posted 54 league wins, which is the fifth-most in the circuit during that time.
• Only Cincinnati (71), Houston (58), SMU (57) and Temple (55) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 54.
• TU has finished better than its preseason prediction in each of Haith's five seasons. Tulsa is the first program in The American history to finish better than its preseason prediction in five consecutive seasons.
• The Golden Hurricane was picked to finish ninth this season and finished seventh in the circuit.

Free Fallin'
• The Hurricane rank third in the league in free throw attempts (739) and makes (519). Those marks rank 20th and 29th in the nation, respectively.
• The squad is averaging 23.8 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 21 times this season. The Hurricane has shot more than 30 free throws in a game eight times.
• Martins Igbanu leads the team at 5.4 free-throw attempts per game, while Jeriah Horne (.818/45-of-55) 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 253-75 (.771) in its 20+ seasons, including a 14-3 mark this season. Tulsa's 14 home wins this season are the most for the team since the 2009-10 season, when it claimed 16 home wins.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,926,013 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.

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 446 points (14.4 ppg) so far this season, led by 305 points (9.8 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.

Up Next
• With a win over SMU in Thursday's first-round game, Tulsa would advance to face second-seeded Cincinnati at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 12.

#ForOurCity