Tulsa Soars to 102-45 Win over the SWC Eagles

Wednesday, December 23

6:00 PM

Tulsa

4-3,1-1AAC

102

Southwestern Christian

0-2

Southwestern Christ.

Tulsa

102

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Soars to 102-45 Win over the SWC Eagles

12/23/2020 9:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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GAME STATS I PHOTO GALLERY I PRESS CONFERENCE I VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Keshawn Williams and Manny Ugboh had career scoring nights in leading Tulsa to a 102-45 non-conference victory over the Southwestern Christian Eagles on Wednesday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa moves to 4-3 on the season and takes a three-game winning streak into the Christmas holiday.

Williams scored a career-high 20 points as the freshman was perfect on the night, knocking down 8-of-8 field goals, 2-of-2 from 3-point range and 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Ugboh added 13 points on 6-of-7 from the field and had 4 rebounds in just 14 minutes. Williams also dished out 9 assists and 6 rebounds in 26 minutes of play.

Brandon Rachal also added double digits for points with his fifth double-figure scoring game and his second double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Frank Haith used 14 players in the contest as 13 scored points, including the first career points for freshmen Peyton Urbancic (7), Bradley Alcime (5) and sophomore Ryan Gendron (3).

"I've been a part of some games like this in the past and they've gotten ragged. I want to applaud our guys for playing it the right way. There were some things we wanted to get accomplished in the game.," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith. "I really wanted Keshawn Williams and Keyshawn Embery to get some minutes at the 1, so we let Eli rest up. I thought our guys did a really nice job. We played the game the right way. We needed a lot of guys to get court time and I'm really encouraged with what I saw. Hopefully we can continue to grow over the holidays."

The Hurricane built a 29-point halftime lead, while shooting 57 percent from the field in the first half. Tulsa continued its strong shooting from the field to finish the game at 55.6 percent. The Hurricane scored 56 points in the paint, compared to 12 for SWC, and Tulsa's bench produced 54 points.

In the second half, Tulsa increased its' 29-point halftime lead to 34 in the first four minutes at 59-25 on a Rachal jumper in the paint. Ugboh had a six-point stretch in the second half to give Tulsa a 68-30 at the 11:38 mark.

Tulsa reached a 40-point advantage at 72-32 on the first of two Rey Idowu free throws with 9:32 left in the contest. An Urbancic 3-pointer put the Hurricane over the 50-point margin at 85-34 at the 7:24 mark. Before ending with the 57-point margin of victory, Tulsa had its biggest lead of 58 points after an Alcime second chance layup put Tulsa at the 100-point plateau with a 100-42 lead.

The Eagles had their only lead at the 18:46 mark of the first half after a 3-pointer by Ron Washington made the score 3-2. The Hurricane erased that by scoring the next 5 points for a 7-3 lead.

SWC kept the game in single digits for the first 10-plus minutes until a Darian Jackson layup off a fast break put Tulsa ahead by 11 points, 27-16, at the 9:27 mark and from that point the Hurricane never looked back. Tulsa extended that lead to 47-17 at the 1:49 mark on 20-1 run.

Tulsa went into intermission with a 50-21 lead as nine players scored for the Hurricane in the first half. Rachal and Williams led the way with 10 points apiece. Tulsa's defense held the Eagles to 22.6 percent from the field in the first half, while the Hurricane totaled 30 points in the paint and 21 points off the bench for the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa will be back in action next Tuesday, Dec. 29, at the Reynolds Center with an 8:00 p.m. American Athletic Conference game against the Associated Press' No. 6-ranked Houston Cougars. The game will be aired on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.

TULSA NOTES
• Freshman Keshawn Williams had a career-high 20 points and was just one assist (9) away from a double-double.
• Senior Manny Ugboh had a career-high with 13 points.
• Senior Brandon Rachal had his 5^th double-figure scoring game of the year and his second double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
• Frank Haith won his 120^th game as the Tulsa head coach, moving into sole possession of 3^rd place on the school's career wins list, surpassing Nolan Richardson (1980-85).
• The 100 points is the most for a Hurricane team since last year's 111-104 loss against Colorado State at the Tulsa BOK Center.
• This was the 77^th game in school history that Tulsa scored at least 100 points, including the 60^th time on a home court.
• The last 100-point scoring game for the Hurricane at the Reynolds Center was on Nov. 28, 2017 when Tulsa captured a 100-96 win over UTSA.