Tulsa Announces Men’s Basketball Six-Game Non-Conference Schedule
11/6/2020 10:57:00 AM | Men's Basketball
TULSA, Okla. – The defending American Athletic Conference Champion Tulsa Golden Hurricane will open the basketball season on November 28 with the first of six non-conference games for 2020-21, it was announced today by Head Coach and the reigning AAC Coach of the Year Frank Haith.
The non-conference schedule for the 2020-21 season includes three regular-season home games and three contests away from Tulsa's home venue, including the Hall of Fame Classic.
The six-game non-conference schedule features home games against UT-Arlington (Dec. 4), Arkansas (Dec. 8) and Northwestern State (Dec. 18) and one road game at cross-town foe Oral Roberts (Dec. 12). Tulsa will open the season with two neutral site games at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., against the Big 12's TCU Horned Frogs (Nov. 28), and then will face either Northwestern of the Big 10 or South Carolina of the SEC a day later.
Tulsa's current non-league schedule allows flexibility for the Golden Hurricane. The team could add a contest in the weeks leading up to the season or while the season is underway.
The American Athletic Conference has yet to announce its finalized schedule, but the league will increase its number of games from 18 to 20 for the upcoming year. Conference play will start in December.
The home opener against UT-Arlington completes a three-game series with the Mavericks. The last time the two teams played at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in 2018 the Hurricane captured a 72-58 victory. Tulsa will host Arkansas at the Reynolds Center for the first time in 17 years, as the Razorbacks last came to Tulsa during the 2003-04 season. The contest ends the home-and-home series over the last two seasons with the Razorbacks.
"I'm happy with how our schedule unfolded," Head Coach Frank Haith said. "Obviously, this was a unique situation where you have a schedule already set, but then you have to go back to the drawing board. When our league added two games and the NCAA reduced the maximum number of games to 27, we were over the limit. We moved our games with Boise State and Colorado State back a year and postponed others. We also added a different multi-team event. While there won't be any fans at those games in Kansas City, that's an area of the country that has obviously been very good to us as a program and I'm thrilled that Darien Jackson and Josh Earley will get a chance to play in T-Mobile Arena against two great programs."
Tulsa basketball will travel just 560 miles during non-league play with the roundtrip drive to Kansas City accounting for the bulk of that travel. TU's games in Kansas City will be special for Kansas City natives Darien Jackson and Josh Earley, while the Dec. 18 game will be exciting for senior Brandon Rachal, as Northwestern State is located in Rachal's hometown of Natchitoches, La.
Tulsa also travels for the cross-town contest at Oral Roberts on Dec. 12. The Hurricane holds a 36-19 all-time record against the Golden Eagles, including a current four-game winning streak.
"This is a challenging schedule and it probably isn't complete," Haith said. "I think having some flexibility during this time is a good thing. We have seen in college football, the NFL and Major League Baseball that almost every game is really TBD up until game day. We talked about the Bubble concepts that were out there and while some look to be full steam ahead, others have not materialized the way organizers had hoped. I still applaud them for trying. For us, we wanted to be mindful that these are amateur student-athletes. I wanted them to be at their personal apartments and dorms on campus as much as possible. I want them to feel mentally healthy and strong as they finish out the semester and have continuity and familiarity with how they navigate their daily responsibilities, with now adding competition to the calendar."
Ticketing policies and seating capacity for the 2020-21 men's basketball season have not yet been determined. Information on ticketing will be announced in the coming weeks.
Schedule adjustments and updates, including the announcement of the 2020-21 American Athletic Conference schedule, will be announced at a later date.
Tulsa 2020-21 Non-Conference Basketball Schedule
Date Opponent Site Time
Nov. 28 vs. TCU @ Hall of Fame Classic (ESPN3) Kansas City, Mo. 6:30 pm
Nov. 29 vs. South Carolina/Northwestern @ Hall of Fame Classic (ESPN2) Kansas City, Mo. 12/2:30 pm
Dec. 4 UT-ARLINGTON Reynolds Center TBA
Dec. 8 ARKANSAS Reynolds Center TBA
Dec. 12 at ORU Tulsa, Okla. TBA
Dec. 18 NORTHWESTERN (La.) STATE Reynolds Center TBA
-#LoyalAlwaysTrue -
The non-conference schedule for the 2020-21 season includes three regular-season home games and three contests away from Tulsa's home venue, including the Hall of Fame Classic.
The six-game non-conference schedule features home games against UT-Arlington (Dec. 4), Arkansas (Dec. 8) and Northwestern State (Dec. 18) and one road game at cross-town foe Oral Roberts (Dec. 12). Tulsa will open the season with two neutral site games at the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Mo., against the Big 12's TCU Horned Frogs (Nov. 28), and then will face either Northwestern of the Big 10 or South Carolina of the SEC a day later.
Tulsa's current non-league schedule allows flexibility for the Golden Hurricane. The team could add a contest in the weeks leading up to the season or while the season is underway.
The American Athletic Conference has yet to announce its finalized schedule, but the league will increase its number of games from 18 to 20 for the upcoming year. Conference play will start in December.
The home opener against UT-Arlington completes a three-game series with the Mavericks. The last time the two teams played at the Donald W. Reynolds Center in 2018 the Hurricane captured a 72-58 victory. Tulsa will host Arkansas at the Reynolds Center for the first time in 17 years, as the Razorbacks last came to Tulsa during the 2003-04 season. The contest ends the home-and-home series over the last two seasons with the Razorbacks.
"I'm happy with how our schedule unfolded," Head Coach Frank Haith said. "Obviously, this was a unique situation where you have a schedule already set, but then you have to go back to the drawing board. When our league added two games and the NCAA reduced the maximum number of games to 27, we were over the limit. We moved our games with Boise State and Colorado State back a year and postponed others. We also added a different multi-team event. While there won't be any fans at those games in Kansas City, that's an area of the country that has obviously been very good to us as a program and I'm thrilled that Darien Jackson and Josh Earley will get a chance to play in T-Mobile Arena against two great programs."
Tulsa basketball will travel just 560 miles during non-league play with the roundtrip drive to Kansas City accounting for the bulk of that travel. TU's games in Kansas City will be special for Kansas City natives Darien Jackson and Josh Earley, while the Dec. 18 game will be exciting for senior Brandon Rachal, as Northwestern State is located in Rachal's hometown of Natchitoches, La.
Tulsa also travels for the cross-town contest at Oral Roberts on Dec. 12. The Hurricane holds a 36-19 all-time record against the Golden Eagles, including a current four-game winning streak.
"This is a challenging schedule and it probably isn't complete," Haith said. "I think having some flexibility during this time is a good thing. We have seen in college football, the NFL and Major League Baseball that almost every game is really TBD up until game day. We talked about the Bubble concepts that were out there and while some look to be full steam ahead, others have not materialized the way organizers had hoped. I still applaud them for trying. For us, we wanted to be mindful that these are amateur student-athletes. I wanted them to be at their personal apartments and dorms on campus as much as possible. I want them to feel mentally healthy and strong as they finish out the semester and have continuity and familiarity with how they navigate their daily responsibilities, with now adding competition to the calendar."
Ticketing policies and seating capacity for the 2020-21 men's basketball season have not yet been determined. Information on ticketing will be announced in the coming weeks.
Schedule adjustments and updates, including the announcement of the 2020-21 American Athletic Conference schedule, will be announced at a later date.
Tulsa 2020-21 Non-Conference Basketball Schedule
Date Opponent Site Time
Nov. 28 vs. TCU @ Hall of Fame Classic (ESPN3) Kansas City, Mo. 6:30 pm
Nov. 29 vs. South Carolina/Northwestern @ Hall of Fame Classic (ESPN2) Kansas City, Mo. 12/2:30 pm
Dec. 4 UT-ARLINGTON Reynolds Center TBA
Dec. 8 ARKANSAS Reynolds Center TBA
Dec. 12 at ORU Tulsa, Okla. TBA
Dec. 18 NORTHWESTERN (La.) STATE Reynolds Center TBA
-#LoyalAlwaysTrue -
Players Mentioned
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