Tulsa’s Second-Half Defense Stifles Little Rock in 77-63 Win

Friday, November 26

Reynolds Center

7:00 PM

Tulsa

4-2,0-0AAC

Little Rock

4-3,0-0Sun Belt

Little Rock

Tulsa

Photo by: Campbell Rogerson

Tulsa’s Second-Half Defense Stifles Little Rock in 77-63 Win

11/26/2021 9:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GAME BOOK | Season Stats (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. –– Four Tulsa players scored in double-figures as the Golden Hurricane overcame a four-point halftime deficit for a 77-63 win Friday night over the Little Rock Trojans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 4-2, while Little Rock fell to 4-3 on the season.

Jeriah Horne led the way with 17 points, followed by Rey Idowu's 16, 14 by Sam Griffin and 12 from Darien Jackson. Idowu and Anthony Pritchard shared the team-high for rebounds with eight apiece, while Pritchard tied his career-high with six assists and had a new high with three steals.

DeAntoni Gordon led the Trojans with 17 points on 8-of-14 from the field, while Marko Andric added 10 points, all in the first half.

The Hurricane shot 55-percent from the field for the game and had a season-high 20 assists. Tulsa out-scored Little Rock in the paint 48-to-24 and scored 24 points off turnovers.

Tulsa's defense was stifling in the second half, holding the Trojans to 23.8 percent from the field and 0-of-9 from behind the arc and to just 21 points. After knocking down 17-of-31 field goals in the first half, the Trojans connected on just 5-of-21 shots in the second 20 minutes.

"The second half was really good and we showed what we're capable of. I thought our activity was really good. Our defense is what I want to harp on because that second half what we did defensively is what we've got to build on," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith.

Tulsa out-scored the Trojans in the second half 39-21. Little Rock's five three-pointers all came in the first 16:24 of the contest.

Trailing by four points at halftime, Tulsa began the second half on a 10-1 run for a 48-43 lead, holding Little Rock to one free throw in the first 4:59 of the final half. The Hurricane took its first double-digit lead at the 56-46 on a Horne three-pointer at the 13:10 mark. Horne came out of the locker room at halftime scoring 10 points in the first seven minutes.

Little Rock trimmed its deficit to nine points at three different times within a two-minute period. The Trojans made the score 63-54 on two free throws before the Hurricane scored the next eight points for its largest lead. Pritchard's fast-break layup at the 6:28 mark put the Hurricane ahead by a high of 17 points at 71-54.

The Trojans got as close as 12 points with just under four minutes to play.

Little Rock jumped out to a 3-0 lead to start the game. Tulsa led five times in the early going and took its final lead of the first 20 minutes on an Idowu dunk off an alley-oop that put the Hurricane ahead 14-12, but Little Rock responded with two treys making the score 18-14 with 12:07 on the clock.

Idowu had 10 points in the first 12 minutes making 5-of-8 from the field with three rebounds.

The two teams shot over 50 percent in the first 12 minutes, but the Trojans were 4-of-9 for 44-percent from behind the arc while the Hurricane was just 16 percent on 1-of-6 during that time.

Little Rock had its largest lead of the first half of six points on four different occasions. The final time was 33-27 with 5:18 remaining on the first-half clock on a Gordon jump shot.

Tulsa tied the score at 33-33 on a Jackson trey and again at 36 on a LaDavius Draine three-pointer. Jackson's fast-break layup after a steal tied the score again at 38 before Little Rock scored the next four points in the final 1:42 of the first half for a 42-38 halftime lead.

The teams were near identical in field goal percentage for the first 20 minutes as Tulsa was at 57 percent and Little Rock shot 55 percent from the field. Griffin had 11 first-half points and Idowu 10 to lead the Hurricane, while Gordon had 13 for the visitors.

Tulsa will travel cross-town on Monday night to take on the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in a 7 p.m. game at the Mabee Center. The Hurricane plays at Boise State on Dec. 3 before returning home for three straight contests at the Reynolds Center beginning with Loyola Marymount on Dec. 7.