Tulsa Gets Win Over Memphis Tigers 58-57

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Tulsa Gets Win Over Memphis Tigers 58-57

1/17/2021 5:44:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. –– Elijah Joiner scored a game-high 16 points to lead Tulsa to a 58-57 comeback victory over the Memphis Tigers Sunday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Brandon Rachal added 12 points, including 10 in the second half, while the Hurricane forced 21 Memphis turnovers and scored 24 points off those takeaways. Memphis was led by Landers Nolley's 13 points.

With the win, Tulsa swept the season series against the Tigers and improved to 8-4 on the season and 5-2 in American Athletic Conference play, while Memphis fell to 6-5 and 2-2 in league action.

"Obviously a great, great win. Winning is hard. I say this all the time," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith. "I thought our guys fought hard. I thought offensively we were a little stagnant in the first half, but credit Memphis. They're a really good defensive team. I think their numbers are really good in the league. I thought in the second half we got in a little bit better rhythm offensively, but the key was we got timely stops."

After a first half in which Tulsa shot just 36-percent from the field and suffered 11 turnovers, the second 20 minutes saw the Hurricane outscore the Tigers by seven points, shoot 52-percent from the field, force 12 Memphis turnovers compared to just three of their own.

It also marked just the second time in six games this year that Tulsa trailed at halftime and came back to win the game. The Hurricane trailed by eight points at halftime in its first win against the Tigers.

The Hurricane trailed by as many as nine points in the first half and six points at the half against the Tigers. Tulsa opened the second half with 5 straight points to ut its halftime deficit to one point at 32-31 with just 1:29 off the game clock.

At the 17:02 mark, Tulsa took its first lead at 36-34 since leading 9-8 early in the contest. Joiner's two free throws gave Tulsa the short-lived two-point lead as the Tigers went on a 10-2 run for a 44-38 lead with 12:49 remaining in the contest.

Tulsa tied the score two times in the next seven minutes before taking a 50-49 lead on 1-of-2 Rey Idowu free throws with 5:32 left on the clock. Layups by Idowu and Keyshawn Embery-Simpson gave the Hurricane a 5-point lead, 54-49, at the 4:04 mark. Another 5-point lead at 57-52 with 2:27 remaining was cut to two on Lester Quinones' trey at the 1:12 mark.

Joiner made 1-of-2 free throws for a 58-55 lead before Memphis' DeAndre Williams put back a rebound for two points with 0:03 on the clock. After a Tulsa timeout, the Hurricane inbounded the ball to run out the clock and hold onto the victory.

"Once the momentum swung our way offensively we got timely stops defensively and timely rebounds. Obviously, there were some big plays -- Austin's out-of-bounds play we ran, big 3, and once we got the lead Keyshawn's backup play was big," said Haith. "Once we started executing, I felt like that was key in terms of getting the momentum, getting the confidence we needed to finish the game. It was a grinder. I'm proud of our guys for hanging in there and finding a way to finish it off."

It was slow-going through the first eight minutes of the game as the two teams combined for 6-of-19 from the field, 2-of-10 from the free throw line and nine turnovers.

Tulsa took its first lead of the game at 9-8 on a driving layup by Elijah Joiner as that basket capped a 5-0 run for the Hurricane. Memphis retook the lead on two free throws and built its lead to 9 points at 24-15 with 5:37 remaining in the first half

KeShawn Williams two free throws stopped an 8-0 run at the 4:44 mark, while Austin Riche's three-pointer cut the Memphis lead to four points at 24-20. The Tigers finished out the half on an 8-2 run to take a 32-26 halftime lead.

At the half, Memphis shot 50-percent from the field, while Tulsa was held to 36- percent. Both teams struggled at the line, 2-of-11 for Tulsa and 2-of-9 for the Tigers, in the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa will be back in action Wednesday night against the nation's 11^th-ranked Houston Cougars in a rematch from an earlier matchup this season. The 7 p.m. game will be aired on ESPN+.