Tulsa Closes Homestand with Alcorn State

Thursday, December 16

Reynolds Center

7:00 PM

Tulsa

Alcorn State

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Tulsa Closes Homestand with Alcorn State

12/15/2021 1:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Toys for Tots will take toy donations and Santa Claus will be in the building Thursday evening

GAME #11: TULSA (5-5) vs. ALCORN STATE (1-8)
Date/Time:	Thursday • Dec. 16, 2021 • 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 8th Season Alcorn State – Landon Bussie (XULA '10) 2nd Season
TV:	ESPN+ \| Chad McKee (pxp) & Bryndon Manzer (analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	3rd Meeting (Tulsa Leads Series 2-0)
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| Alcorn Stats (PDF) \| The American (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. –– The University of Tulsa men's basketball team brings its three-game homestand to a close with Alcorn State on Thursday evening in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. (CT) on ESPN+. Chad Mckee will provide the play-by-play, and Bryndon Manzer will serve as the analyst for the matchup. Fans can also catch Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo on Big Country 99.5 FM.

TU Athletics will be collecting unopened and new presents for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program at the game. Fans can bring any toy to donate to the great charity whose mission is to distribute toys to less fortunate children on Christmas. In addition, Santa Claus will be in the Reynolds Center to meet with young fans. Families can stop by the concourse behind Section 101 to visit him.

The Golden Hurricane (5-5) will look to get back above .500 against the Braves (1-8). Tulsa comes in having snapped a three-game skid with a win against Southern Illinois on Saturday, 69-65. TU once again found itself in a close game, tied at 60 with just over three minutes to play. This time, it was the Hurricane who made the big plays down the stretch to claim the win. Tulsa used free throw shooting to build a five-point lead before a corner three cut the score to 65-62 with 42 ticks remaining.

Coming out of a timeout, Darien Jackson found Sam Griffin with a deep pass from the baseline as the SIU press had every defender standing in the backcourt. Griffin converted the fastbreak layup, and then Tim Dalger quickly stripped the ballhandler on the ensuing possession. He drew a foul going in for another layup and iced the game at the line. Griffin finished with 20 points, Jeriah Horne had 15, all in the first half, and Dalger scored 12, tying his career high set earlier in the season against Rhode Island.

Horne and Griffin continue to lead the Hurricane in scoring and one of the two have led the team in each game. Horne scores 17.4 points per game, while Griffin averages 16.2. Horne also leads the team by pulling down 7.6 rebounds per game. His 5.6 defensive rebounds per game leads the American Athletic Conference and is 109th in the nation.

Alcorn State enters the matchup midway through a grueling 16-game road trip to open the season. Tulsa is the 10th matchup of the stretch, and the fourth game against an AAC opponent, after Alcorn has played Tulane, Houston and Wichita State in its previous three games. NCAA NET lists Alcorn State's schedule as the 8th toughest in the nation, and it doesn't get any easier after Tulsa. The Braves will travel to face the defending national champion Baylor Bears and then the Oklahoma Sooners before a short break for Christmas.

Most recently, Wichita State beat the Braves 82-63. Oddyst Walker and Darrious Agnew led Alcorn State with 16 and 14 points respectively, but it wasn't enough to overcome the Shockers, who shot 46 percent for the game and had four players finish in double figures.

Alcorn State doesn't have one player who scores a lot of points, but the team does spread out the scoring. Nine players average from 5.6 to 7.7 points per game, led by Dominic Brewton. Lenell Henry (7.4), Dontrell McQuarter (7.3), Agnew (7.3) and Byron Joshua (7.0) all average at least seven points. Henry also leads the squad in rebounding, pulling down nearly seven a night.

This will only be the third meeting between Alcorn and Tulsa. Every game of the series has been played in Tulsa and the Hurricane were victorious in both previous matchups. The first was Dec. 29, 1984, a 92-79 win for TU. The last time these two met was in November of 2018. Jackson and Horne played for Tulsa in the 73-56 victory.

After Thursday, it's a quick turnaround for the Hurricane as the team heads to Fort Worth, Texas for the Hoops Hype XL Tournament against Colorado State on Saturday in Dickies Arena. Three days later, Tulsa will take on North Texas in the Compete 4 Cause Classic at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Okla. Both games will air on ESPN+.