Tulsa
Houston
Golden Hurricane Faces the Cougars in Houston Wednesday
2/18/2020 10:17:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| GAME #26: RV/ TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (17-8) vs. 22/22 Houston Cougars (20-6) | |
|---|---|
| Date/Time: | Wednesday • Feb. 19, 2020 • 8:00 p.m. (CT) |
| Site: | Fertitta Center (7,035) • Houston, Texas |
| Coaches: | Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 6th year Houston – Kelvin Sampson (UNC Pembroke '78), 6th year |
| TV: | ESPNU | Jon Meterparel (pxp) & Sean Harrington (analyst) |
| Radio: | Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo) |
| Live Stats: | Live Stats |
| Series: | 56th Meeting (Tulsa leads series at 28-27) |
| Twitter: | @TUMBasketball | @TulsaHurricane |
| Instagram: | TulsaMBasketball |
| Game Notes: | Tulsa (PDF) |
THE GAME
• This is the 56th meeting between Tulsa and Houston, the 12th as American Athletic Conference members.
• Houston is 20-6 on the season ... the Cougars come into Wednesday's match-up off of a 73-72 overtime loss to SMU ... prior to that loss Houston was on a 3-game winning streak defeating Tulane, Wichita State and USF.
• This will be the second regular season matchup between the Golden Hurricane and the Cougars this season ... Tulsa defeated Houston 63-61 in the Reynolds Center on Jan. 11.
• Houston enters the game 10-3, tied for first in the American Athletic Conference, while Tulsa is 9-3 in conference play.
THE SERIES
• The Hurricane has a 28-27 series advantage against Houston ... the Hurricane is 16-9 at home against the Cougars, 10-17 on the road, and 2-1 in neutral site games.
• Tulsa's last meeting against Houston came on Jan. 11, 2020 as the Hurricane won 63-61 at home.
• The last meeting on the road in Houston between the two teams came on Jan. 2, 2019 as the Hurricane lost to the Cougars, 74-56.
• The first game between the two teams came in the 1950-51 season as Tulsa defeated Houston on the road with a final of 50-45 in a Missouri Valley Conference game.
LAST WIN AGAINST THE COUGARS IN HOUSTON
• The Hurricane took on the Houston Cougars in Houston on Feb. 5, 2015 as Tulsa won 57-44 for its 10th conference win ... the win extended Tulsa's conference winning streak to 10 games.
• The Tulsa defense shut down Houston in the second half, allowing just 10 points on three field goals and a 13-percent shooting percentage ... TU overcame a five-point halftime deficit with a 28-10 scoring advantage in the second period.
• D'Andre Wright led Tulsa with 13 points, and Rashad Smith had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds ... Rashad Ray and James Woodard each scored 11 points, and Marquel Curtis tallied eight rebounds, five assists and four points.
• Tulsa shot 52-percent in the second half and 48-percent (24-for-50) for the game ... tallying 14 assists, 9 steals, scored 17 points off 13 UH turnovers, and finished with a 38-31 advantage on the boards.
• Danrad Knowles scored 10 points to lead the Cougars ... Houston ended with a .302 field goal percentage after shooting 45 percent in the opening half ... Houston led 34-29 at the break.
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
• Houston was picked to win The American Conference tying with Memphis for 1st in the preseason poll ... the Cougars received 7 first place votes.
• The Cougars are 10-3 in conference this season with wins over Wichita State 76-43, SMU 71-62 and on the road at Temple, 78-74
• Houston is 11-2 at home this year with their only losses coming to BYU on Nov. 15 with a final of 72-71 and Oklahoma State 61-55 on Dec. 15 ... the Cougars have not lost a conference home game this season.
• The Cougars have 5 players who average over 9 points a game with Caleb Mills (12.4 ppg), Quentin Grimes (12.3 ppg), Nate Hinton (10.3 ppg), DeJon Jarreau (9.6) and Fabian White Jr. (9.5).
• Jarreau was named to the American Athletic Conference's preseason first team … White Jr. and Grimes have been named The American's Player of the Week once this season.
HURRICANE KEEPS EARNING WEEKLY AWARDS
• For the second consecutive week (Feb. 17), Martins Igbanu was selected to the American Athletic Conference weekly honor roll ... he averaged 16 points and 7 rebounds in wins against ECU and USF ... Igbanu had his second double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds against the Pirates.
• Igbanu (Feb. 10) was named to the AAC weekly honor roll after averaging 29.5 points, 4 rebounds and one assists at home against UConn and UCF on the road.
• Before that, Tulsa had 3 consecutive American Athletic Conference Players of the Week from Jan. 20 to Feb. 3.
• The latest was Elijah Joiner (Feb. 3) after a 22-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist and buzzer-beating game-winning 3-pointer vs. #23 Wichita State.
• The week before (Jan. 27), Martins Igbanu averaged 19.5 points and 8.0 boards in wins over #20 Memphis and UConn.
• On Jan, 20, Brandon Rachal earned his second weekly honor with 18.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in road wins at ECU and Tulane.
A TULSA WIN WOULD
• Give Tulsa their 29th victory in the series against Houston and give Tulsa a 2-0 record against the Cougars this year.
• Give Tulsa their fourth win in the month of February and improve Tulsa's record in 2020 to 10-3.
• Give the Hurricane their 18th win of the season, and a 10-3 record in conference play.
• Improve Tulsa's record on the road to 6-5 ... their 5th road win in the American Athletic Conference.
THE HURRICANE AT HOME VS. THE ROAD
• Tulsa averages 4.1 more points at home at the Donald W. Reynolds Center than on the road this year.
• Tulsa is scoring 69.6 points in 14 games at the Reynolds Center, while scoring 65.8 points in 10 road games.
• The Hurricane shoots 47.1% from the field at the Reynolds Center as compared to 41.4% on the road … 34% to 25.1% from 3-point range … Tulsa's free throw shooting is similar in both home and road games – 71% to 72.3% from the free throw line.
• Tulsa holds the opposition to 57.3 points at home, while on the road Tulsa opponents score 10.9 more points at 68.2 points in 10 games.
GETTING TO THE LINE
• In the last 10 games, Tulsa has gotten to the free throw line over 19 times in each of those contests.
• The Hurricane has shot 72% or better in 8 of those 10 contests and has converted 183-of-246 from the charity stripe for a .744 field goal percentage.
• In this stretch, Martins Igbanu has gotten to the line the most and has converted 62-of-81 free throws for 76.4%.
• On the year, Tulsa has been to the free throw line 20+ times in 18 games ... in its last outing, Tulsa made 23-of-28 (.821) free throws at USF.
RACHAL IS BACK
• Brandon Rachal left the UConn game on Feb. 6 in the second half due to an injury ... before being injured Rachal had 8 points in 26 minutes of action.
• Rachal was forced to miss a road loss at UCF (Feb. 9) because of the injury.
• Returning to the starting lineup against ECU on Feb. 12 he played 11 minutes in the first half ... he did not score but had 2 rebounds, a block and a steal.
• He returned to form in the next game at USF, scoring 18 points on 5-13 shooting from the field and 8-8 from the free throw line ... he grabbed a team-high 6 rebounds, leading the Hurricane to a 56-48 victory.
• In the second half against USF, Rachal scored 8 straight Hurricane points ... he scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half.
IGBANU'S REMARKABLE BENCH PLAY
• Senior Martins Igbanu has been instant offense in a reserve role the last 12 games … he has averaged 16.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in those 12 games.
• He has shot .625 (65-104) from the field and .747 (65-87) from the free throw line in the last 12 games off the bench.
• Igbanu has also moved into a tie with Michael Ruffin at 23rd on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,209 career points.
• In the Reynolds Center against ECU, he scored his 3rd consecutive game of 20+ points with 24 ... he grabbed 10 rebounds giving him his second double-double of the season.
• He scored his career-high on Feb. 9 at UCF when he put in 30 points, shooting 12-16 (75%) from the floor and 5-6 (83%) at the free throw line.
• In the game before that against UConn at home, he recorded his previous career-high with 29 points on 11-15 (73%) shooting from the floor ... he made 7-8 free throws adding 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
• After averaging 29.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists against UCF and UConn, Igbanu was named to the AAC honor roll on Feb. 10 ... Igbanu was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week (Jan. 27) after his 28-point, 10-rebound performance against UConn.
• He put in 28 points at UConn ... he also recorded his first double-double of the season and 5th of his career by tying a career-high with 10 rebounds against the Huskies.
STRONG 1ST HALF DEFENSE
• At USF, the Tulsa defense held the Bulls to 11 points in the first half on 5-of-17 from the field for 29% and 0-6 from the three-point line.
• The Hurricane has held three conference opponents to 17 or fewer points in the first half this season ... Temple (17), Memphis (17) and USF (11).
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