Tulsa Hosts Temple Tuesday

GAME #19: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (9-9, 6-7) vs Temple Owls (4-8, 3-8)
Date/Time:	Tuesday • Feb. 16, 2021 • 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 7th year Temple – Aaron McKie (Temple '94), 2nd year
TV:	ESPNU \| John Schriffen (pxp) & Brooke Weisbrod (analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	15 Meeting (Tulsa leads the series 10-4)
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| Temple \| The American
Game Program:	Game Day Program

The Game
• Tulsa takes on the Temple Owls in a conference home matchup in the Reynolds Center on Tuesday evening, airing on ESPNU.
• The game is the 19th contest for Tulsa (9-9) this season ... the Owls are 4-8 on the season, losing their last contest 71-69 in a road conference game against Cincinnati on Feb. 12.

Scouting the Owls
• Temple was picked to finish 10th in the preseason AAC Coaches Poll ... the Owls returned 2 starters and one of 4 top scorers from last season, when the team went 14-17 and 6-12 in conference play.
• Temple added three key pieces in Dartmouth grad transfer Brendan Berry, Butler transfer Khalif Battle and true freshman Jeremiah Williams who is third on the team in scoring with an average of 8.6 points per game.
• Temple also returned Jake Forrester and J.P. Moorman who had combined for 42 starts, scoring 15.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game last season.
• The Owls opened their season scoring a season best 72 points in a win against NJIT ... they lost the next
three contests 76-50 against Houston, 79-71 at home against SMU and 79-68 at SMU ... Temple has had 6 contests postponed due to Covid-19.
• Temple has lost four in a row, dropping home games against Tulane (81-64) and Cincinnati (63-60) ... while also losing at Wichita State (70-67) and Cincinnati (71-69).
• The Owls are led in scoring by redshirt freshman Damian Dunn who is averaging 13.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game ... Forrester is averaging 9.7 points and 6.4 rebounds a game for Temple.
• Temple is led by Head Coach Aaron McKee, who was been at the helm of the Owls for the last 2 seasons and
holds an 18-25 record.

The Series
• This will be the 15th contest between the Golden Hurricane and the Owls ... Tulsa leads the series at 10-4 with Temple winning the first meeting this season, 76-67, on Jan. 26.
• The Hurricane won both meetings last season with a 61-51 road victory and a 70-44 win in the Reynolds Center.
• TU won the first contest against the Owls in Philadelphia 64-60 on Dec. 9, 1995 under Steve Robinson in his first season as the head coach of the Hurricane.
• The Owls have never won in Tulsa as the Hurricane is 6-0 on its home court ... the Hurricane and Owls have split games in Philadelphia 4-4.

A Tulsa Win Would
• Give the Hurricane its 10th win of the season, moving Tulsa to 10-9 and 7-7 in the AAC.
• Move Tulsa's all-time record against Temple to 11-4.
• Give TU its seventh straight win against the Owls at the Reynolds Center.

Last Game Against the Owls
• Rey Idowu scored a career-high 20 points and pulled in 4 boards; however, the Hurricane fell to the Owls 76-67 in the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, Pa. on Jan. 1, 2021.
• Idowu helped the Hurricane on a 17-4 run in the second half to cut the Temple lead down to 8 at 70-62 with 2:04 left in the game.
• Senior Elijah Joiner scored 15 for the Hurricane, while Brandon Rachal put in 12 ...  Joiner scored 12 of his 15 in the second half and Idowu put in 15 as the duo combined for 27 of Tulsa's 42 (64.3-percent) second half points.
• Tulsa outscored the Owls in the paint by a 30-20 margin, but Temple received a better contribution from their bench putting in 28 points compared to TU's 26.
• Temple was led in the game by transfer Khalif Battle's career-high 22 points and 11 rebounds. The Owls had 4 in double-figures as De'Vondre Perry scored 17 and Damian Dunn and Jake Forrester each had 10.

Jackson of All Trades
• In four seasons with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, Darien Jackson has made a name for himself by doing a little of everything for TU from his defensive prowess to high-flying dunks on the offensive end.
• The senior guard is on the verge of setting a record at Tulsa that has been held for 55 years ... he has knocked down 67.9 percent (53-78) of his shots .
• If he attempts a total of 125 or more shots this season and keeps his percentage above 66-percent, he would rank 1st all-time for single-season field goal percentage surpassing Julian Hammond's record of 65.9% set during the 1965-66 season … Jackson currently has 84 field goal attempts.
• Jackson is known for crashing the offensive boards ... at Wichita State, the 6'3" guard pulled in 7 offensive rebounds to lead TU .. he leads the team in offensive rebounds with 32 for an average of 1.9 per game

Record Watch
• Elijah Joiner and Darien Jackson have been vital for the Hurricane this season.
• Joiner, Tulsa's senior point guard, has cracked the top-20 career list for assists with his 50 assists this season ... in his career he has 272 assists in 110 games and is number 20 all-time, trailing Pooh Williamson's 277.
• Jackson is a defensive-minded guard, who is the heart of the Hurricane defense ... the senior has accumulated 95 steals in his career and is only 14 steals away from catching Michael Scott for 20th place (109) on the career list.
• Jackson has also shown out offensively leading the AAC and TU in field goal percentage ...  shooting at a 66.7% clip ... if he reaches 125 attempts and shoots above a 65.9 percentage he would rank 1st all-time on the FG percentage list ... as of now, Jackson has attempted 84 shots.

A Rich Tradition
• The month of February is Black History month, and The University of Tulsa Men's Basketball program has a rich tradition of hiring African-American Coaches..
• Nolan Richardson broke barriers at Tulsa in 1980, becoming the first African-American head coach in school history ... Richardson is 4th all-time in career wins at Tulsa with 119 victories in 5 seasons.
• In 1991, Tulsa hired Tubby Smith as head coach ... Smith spent four seasons with TU, leading the Hurricane to two NCAA 'Sweet Sixteen' appearances in 1993-94 and 1994-95.
• Now a North Carolina assistant coach, Steve Robinson led Tulsa to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances from 1995-97, while Danny Manning (38-29) and Frank Haith (125-83) have led the Hurricane the past 8 seasons.
• Former Tulsa point guard Alvin "Pooh" Williamson was interim coach during the 2004-05 season.

#LoyalAlwaysTrue

Tulsa Hosts Temple Tuesday

Players Mentioned

Rey Idowu

Darien Jackson

Elijah Joiner

Brandon Rachal

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