Tulsa to Host ECU on Senior Day

GAME #30: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (17-12, 7-9) vs ECU PIRATES (10-17, 3-12)
Date/Time:	Sunday • March 3 • 3 p.m.
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 5th year ECU – Joe Dooley (George Washington '88), 5th year
TV:	ESPNU (Matt Schick and Kevin Lehman)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	Tulsa leads, 19-3
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa \| ECU
Tickets:	918-631-GoTU \| Buy Online

Fast Break Points
• Tulsa is in its 108th season of basketball and fifth season in the American Athletic Conference.
• Tulsa will play its final regular-season home game at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 3 when it will host ECU at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Tulsa will honor its senior class prior to the start of Sunday's game as part of Senior Day festivities.
• Sunday's matchup marks the 23rd all-time meeting between Tulsa and ECU. The Golden Hurricane lead the series, 19-3, including a 77-73 overtime win over the Pirates on Feb. 17 in Greenville, N.C.
• DaQuan Jeffries leads the team in scoring at 13.4 ppg and rebounding at 5.6 rpg. Jeffries has led the team in scoring 11 times, including a career-high 25 points in a win over Memphis (Jan. 30). The Edmond native also averages a team-leading 13.1 ppg during conference play.
• Martins Igbanu ranks second in the league with a shooting percentage of .621. Igbanu is shooting 65.1-percent during conference play and he has hit 25 of his last 29 shots (86.2-percent) over the last four 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 395 career assists, Taplin needs five assists become 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 53 league wins since joining The American, which is tied for the fourth-most in the circuit behind only Cincinnati (70), SMU (56) and Houston (56) 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 play its final regular-season home game at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 3 when it will host ECU 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 J.R. Rollo on the call. Live audio from the game also can be found by using the TuneIn app.

Scouting the Pirates
• ECU was picked to finish 11th in The American as the team returned two starters and eight lettermen from last year's squad, which went 10-20 and finished 11th in the conference with a 4-14 mark.
• The Pirates have lost six of their last seven games, with the lone win in that stretch coming at Tulane last weekend. ECU sits 11th in the conference standings with three games to play and can finish as high as ninth.
• Freshman Jayden Gardner leads the team at 17.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Shawn Williams, the 2018 conference Rookie of the Year, averages 12.2 ppg and leads the team with 56 3-pointers made.

The Series
• Sunday's matchup marks the 23rd all-time meeting between Tulsa and ECU. The Golden Hurricane lead the series, 19-3, including a 77-73 overtime win over the Pirates on Feb. 17 in Greenville.
• Tulsa has won 10 of the last 11 matchups with ECU. The Golden Hurricane have won the last five meetings in the Reynolds Center as ECU's last win in Tulsa came in 2013.
• Under head coach Frank Haith, the Hurricane has a 9-1 record against the Pirates.

Last Meeting
• Sterling Taplin's 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in overtime sealed a 77-73 overtime Tulsa victory at ECU on Feb. 17, 2019, at Minges Coliseum.
• Taplin battled foul trouble for much of the contest but finished with 11 points and was one of six players to score in double-figures for the Golden Hurricane.
• Tulsa led by as much as 17 in the first half, but the Pirates opened the second half on a 21-7 run to take the lead. The Pirates had a 56-50 lead with nine minutes left before TU rallied to force overtime.
• Martins Igbanu gave TU a lead with less than a minute in OT and Taplin's trey in the closing seconds sealed the win.

A Tulsa Win Would ...
• Improve Tulsa's record to 18-12 on the season and move its conference record to 8-9.
• Give Tulsa its fifth straight win against ECU and improve its all-time record to 20-3 versus the Pirates.
• Give Tulsa its 14th home win this season, which would be the program's most home victories since the 2009-10 campaign when it tallied 16 wins.

Last Time Out
• Martins Igbanu and Curran Scott scored 19 points apiece and Tulsa shot 58.3-percent in the second half to defeat visiting Tulane, 72-64, on Thursday night at the Reynolds Center.
• Igbanu went 5-of-6 from the floor and hit nine of his 11 free-throw attempts for the Golden Hurricane, while Scott hit a season-high four 3-pointers en route to his 19 points.
• Tulane jumped out to a 19-3 lead through the first eight minutes, but Tulsa trimmed that deficit down to 35-34 at halftime. The Hurricane went on a 10-2 run early in the second half to take the lead for good.
• The Hurricane led by as much as a dozen down the stretch and salted the game away at the free-throw line.

TU To Participate in Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge
• Making 3-point shots this basketball season takes on even more meaning for head coach Frank Haith, who serves on the Coaches vs. Cancer Council, and The University of Tulsa men's basketball team. The Golden Hurricane will square off against teams across the nation to fight cancer as part of the American Cancer Society's Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge.
• Fans can pledge a donation for each 3-point shot that TU makes over the final 11 games of the regular-season to support American Cancer Society research, education and patient programs at: pledgeit.org/cvc19-tulsa.
• Fans also have the option of making a fixed donation to Coaches vs. Cancer. Haith matched all donations made by fans during the Houston game on Jan. 27 for a total of nearly $5,500 donated to Coaches vs. Cancer.
• So far, Tulsa has hit 60 triples in its nine games during the 3-point challenge.

Pow6rful Minds Week
• The American Athletic Conference Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), representing the more than 7,000 student-athletes in the Conference, continues to make mental health and safety its top priority and thus created the Pow6rful Minds Campaign to bring awareness to mental health issues and the resources available for student-athletes.
• During all men's and women's basketball contests this week, The American coaching staffs will wear specially designed green ribbon pins to highlight the week-long initiative.

Nothing But NET
• Tulsa will enter Saturday's game with a NET ranking of No. 97 (as of March 1).
• 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 No. 46 in the nation, which is the second-toughest in The American.
• The Hurricane got two games against Houston (No. 4) and Cincinnati (No. 22) during the early stretch along with matchups against UCF (No. 30), Memphis (No. 53), USF (No. 82), UConn (No. 96) and SMU (No. 106).

Haith Enters Fifth Season at TU
• Head coach Frank Haith is in his fifth season at Tulsa, where he has compiled a 94-64 record and led the Golden Hurricane to a pair of postseason appearances during his tenure. Overall, he has an on-court record of 299-193 (.608) in his 15th season.
• Haith's 94 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).

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 395 career assists, Taplin needs five assists become 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 13.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 51.0-percent, which ranks seventh 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 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 ranks 15th on the program's career blocks list with 69 swats. He has 33 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).

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 9.7 ppg, and made the first start of his career last Saturday at Temple (Feb. 23).
• He has been even better in conference play, where he is averaging 11.1 ppg (3rd on the team). Horne has 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 13 double-figure scoring games this season, including nine such games during conference play, and he is averaging 12.0 ppg over his last nine contests.

Trending
• Darien Jackson is averaging 7.4 ppg over his last seven games, including three double-digit performances. He has scored 80 points over his last 13 games after totaling 20 points in his first 28 contests at TU.
• During conference play, Tulsa has held opponents to 41.2-percent shooting, which ranks third in the league behind Houston and UCF. Only one conference opponent has shot 50-percent or better against TU (Temple, Feb. 23).
• Martins Igbanu ranks second in the league with a shooting percentage of .621, which ranks only behind UCF's Tacko Fall. Igbanu is shooting 65.1-percent during conference play and he has hit 25 of his last 29 shots (86.2-percent) over the last four games.
• Tulsa has featured a balanced offensive attack as the team has had at least four double-figure scorers in seven of the last 10 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 53 league wins, which is tied for the fourth-most in the circuit during that time.
• Only Cincinnati (70), SMU (56) and Houston (56) have earned more victories than Tulsa's 53.
• 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 throw attempts (698) and and third in free throws made (482). Those marks rank ninth and 21st in the nation, respectively.
• 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 20 times this season. The Hurricane has shot more than 30 free throws in a game eight times.
• Martins Igbanu leads the team at 5.5 free-throw attempts per game, while Jeriah Horne (.811/43-of-53) 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 252-75 (.771) in its 20+ seasons, including a 13-3 mark this season.
• The building has seen 42 sellouts and 1,922,506 fans have witnessed Tulsa basketball at the Reynolds Center.
• A win on Sunday would give TU its most home wins in a season (14) since the 2009-10 season (16).

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 421 points (14.5 ppg) so far this season, led by 280 points (9.7 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
• Tulsa will close the regular-season on the road with an 8:30 p.m. matchup at Memphis on Saturday, March 9.

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Tulsa to Host ECU on Senior Day

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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