Tulsa Hosts Southwestern Christian Wednesday

GAME #7: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (3-3, 1-1) vs. Southwestern Christian Eagles (1-2, 0-0)
Date/Time:	Wednesday • Dec. 23, 2020 • 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 7th year Southwestern Christian – Brandon Rollins (SWC '13), 2nd year
TV:	ESPN+ \| Chad McKee (pxp) & Bryndon Manzer (analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	1st Meeting
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF)
Game Program:	Game Day Program

The Game
• Tulsa will take on the Southwestern Christian in a non-conference matchup at home in the Reynolds Center Wednesday night on ESPN+.
• The game is the seventh contest for Tulsa (3-3) this season ... the Eagles are 1-2 on the season losing their last contest 111-58 against Oral Roberts on Dec. 12.

Scouting the Eagles
• Southwestern Christian was picked to finish 7th in the preseason Sooner Athletic Conference Coaches Poll ... the Eagles return 2 of their top 5 scorers, when the team went 14-15 and 7-13 in conference play.
• SWC added three players in the offseason who are making an immediate impact with big man York Benjamin, guard Luiz Machado Jr. and guard Stevie Jenkins.
• The Eagles return Ron Washington who scored in double-digits for Southwestern Christian in 18 games last season, including 3 double-doubles ... he finished the season averaging 14.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
• The Eagles opened their season scoring the a team best 120 points in a win against Bacone ... they dropped the next two contests 97-88 at Texas Wesleyan and 89-78 at USAO ... SWC has had three contests canceled due to Covid-19.
• The Eagles are led in scoring by Ron Washington who is averaging 19.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game ... Luiz Machado Jr. is averaging 19.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists a game for Southwestern Christian.
• Southwestern Christian is led by Head Coach Brandon Rollins, who was been at the helm of the Eagles for the last 2 seasons and holds a 15-17 record.

The Series
• This will be the 1st contest between the Golden Hurricane and the Eagles ... this is the 16th Division II or lower contest for the Hurricane in the last 10 years ... it will be the first during the regular season for TU.

A Tulsa Win Would
• Give the Hurricane its fourth win of the season, moving Tulsa to 4-3 on the year.
• Move Tulsa's all-time record against Southwestern Christian to 1-0.
• Give Head Coach Haith his 120th win which would pass legendary TU coach Nolan Richardson for 3rd place alone on Tulsa's all-time coaching wins list.

Second Half Outbursts
• The Golden Hurricane grow stronger as games go outscoring opponents in the second half in 5-6 contests this season ... in three of the five Tulsa has outscored an opponent by 10 or more points UTA (12), Wichita State (10) and Memphis (15).
• Tulsa has a 6.2 margin of points in the second ... TU is averaging 35.5 points per game (213 points) in the second half while opponents are averaging 29.3 points per game (176 points).
• TU used a 18-5 run to end the second against Memphis ... the Hurricane outscored the Tigers 37-22 after being outscored 27-19 in the first ... Darien Jackson (9 points) and Elijah Joiner (5 points) scored all their points in the 2nd.
• In conference games the Hurricane has a 12.5 scoring margin in the second half, outscoring opponents 36.5 per game (73 points) to 24.0 (48 points).

Being Big in the Paint
• Tulsa has scored 61.8 percent of its points in the paint through three games ... the Hurricane has scored 202 of its 327 total points in the paint area.
• The Golden Hurricane has a 16.0 margin in the paint over its opponents, 33.7 per game (202) for Tulsa to 17.7 for the opposition (106).
• The Golden Hurricane has two games with a double-digit margin of points in the paint ... Tulsa outscored TCU 38-18 and UT Arlington 48-24 in the paint.
• Tulsa has used its two centers to bang downlow with Emmanuel Ugboh and Rey Idowu combing for 62 points in the paint ... the Hurricane guards have attacked the rim and made 70 baskets inside the paint.

Richie Breaks Out
• Junior Austin Richie is in his first season with the Golden Hurricane after spending his first two seasons with Triton College ... Richie was a NJCAA Third-Team All-American in 2019-20.
• In the first four games, Richie averaged 2.0 and 1.3 rebounds on 3-12 (25-percent) from the field and 2-11 (18-percent) from behind the arc.
• For the second game in a row, Richie led the Hurricane in scoring with 14 points against Memphis ... the forward scored 11 of his 14 points in the second half.
• Richie shot 50-percent (4-8) from the field and 57-percent (4-7) from 3-point range ... he made his first two free throw attempts of the season against Memphis.
• Against the Northwestern State Demons, Richie caught fire leading the Hurricane in points with 19 ... the guard went 7-14 (50-percent) from the field and 5-10 (50-percent) from three.
• Richie played his season-high 23 minutes against Northwestern State, while grabbing 3 rebounds during the contest ... he now is averaging 6.8 points and 2.0 rebounds a game.
• In the last two games, he has combined for 11-22 (50%) from the field and 9-17 (53%) from three.

#LoyalAlwaysTrue

Tulsa Hosts Southwestern Christian Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Rey Idowu

Darien Jackson

Elijah Joiner

Austin Richie

Emmanuel Ugboh