Tulsa Ends the Season as American Athletic Conference Champions

Sunday, March 8

Wichita, Kan.

3 PM

Tulsa

21-10,13-5AAC

Wichita State

23-8,11-7AAC

Tulsa

Wichita St.

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Ends the Season as American Athletic Conference Champions

3/8/2020 6:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GAME BOX SCORE I SEASON STATS

WICHITA, Kan. – Senior Martins Igbanu scored 20 points and grabbed 3 rebounds to lead the Hurricane, but Tulsa fell in the end to Wichita State, 79-57, at the Charles Koch Arena in Wichita, Kan., Sunday afternoon.

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane ends the 2019-20 regular season as American Athletic Conference Champions. It is the first conference championship for Tulsa since 2013-14 when the Hurricane won the Conference USA Championship.

Igbanu put in his team-leading 6th 20+ point scoring game, going 7-10 (70%) from the field, 2-3 (67%) from three and 4-8 (50%) from the free throw line.

Jeriah Horne recorded his 18th game of double-digit scoring with 15 points, putting in 13 in the second half. He went 5-9 (56%) from the field, 3-5 (60%) from behind the three-point line and a perfect 2-2 from the charity stripe.

Tulsa ends the regular season with a record of 21-10 and 13-5 in conference play, while the Shockers move to 23-8 and 11-7 in AAC play. The 21 overall wins and 13 conference victories are the most by a Hurricane team since the 2014-15 season when it went 24-11 and 14-4.

With 11:04 left in the game down 59-37, Tulsa went on a 12-0 run to cut the game to 10. Igbanu started the charge for the Hurricane scoring back-to-back points in the paint. Horne capped off the run with his second 3 of the stretch. However, the Shockers responded with a 11-0 run of their own extending the lead back to 21.

The Shockers were led by Erik Stevenson who scored 18 points, 15 of which came in the second half. On his senior night, Jaime Echenique scored 13 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for Wichita State, who shot 47-percent from the field and 39-percent from three in the contest.

Wichita State started the second half going on a 16-4 run led by Stevenson who scored 11 of the Shockers points during the stretch.

In the first half, Tulsa went down 16-6 at the 11:48 point, but fought back going on an 8-2 run cutting the lead to 3 at 29-26 with 1:18 left in the half. However, Wichita State took the 34-26 lead into halftime scoring 5 straight points to end the first 20 minutes.

Freshman Isaiah Hill scored 5 points for Tulsa, leading the team in assists with 4 and steals with 2. It is the 11th time this season that Hill has led the team in assists and 7th time in steals.

The Shockers started the game hot, pulling out to a 9-0 lead on by making three straight three-pointers. During the stretch the Hurricane turned the ball over three times and going 0-4 from the field. A three by Brandon Rachal gave the Hurricane its first made basket at the 16:00 mark.

With the loss, Tulsa claims the No. 3-seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, playing at 8:30 p.m. (CT) on Friday, March 13. The Hurricane will play the winner of the No. 6 Memphis Tigers and No. 11 East Carolina Pirates game. The tournament is held at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

Quick Hits

Martins Igbanu is now tied with Dick Courter at 20th in school history for rebounds with 624.
Igbanu is also 21st all-time in scoring for Tulsa with 1,310 points ... he trails Jarius Glenn (1,329) by 19 for 20th all-time.
Tulsa, Houston and Cincinnati all capture a share of the 2019-20 American Athletic Conference regular season championship finishing the season with 13-5 conference records.
Tulsa is 4-10 this season when trailing at the half ... three of the four wins have come in conference play ... the Hurricane was down by 3 at home to Houston, 6 at home to Wichita State and 3 at home against Tulane.
In all 10 of the Hurricane losses, the opposing team has shot greater that 40.3% from the field ... in 9 of the 10 losses, teams have made 9 or more three-pointers … WSU shot 47.4% from the field and connected on 11-of-28 three-pointers.
For the second game in a row, freshman Josh Earley started for the Hurricane in place of the injured Emmanuel Ugboh.