Tulsa Falls to Tulane 77-70 at AAC Championship

Thursday, March 11

Fort Worth, Texas

2:00 PM

Tulsa

11-12,7-10AAC

Tulane

10-12,5-12AAC

Tulane

Tulsa

Brandon Rachal in the American first round

Tulsa Falls to Tulane 77-70 at AAC Championship

3/11/2021 5:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GAME STATS I PHOTO GALLERY I SEASON STATS

FORT WORTH, Texas –– Tulsa's season came to an end on Thursday afternoon at the American Athletic Conference Championship as the Tulane Green Wave claimed a 77-70 first round victory over the Golden Hurricane at Dickies Arena. Tulsa ends the year with an overall 11-12 record, while Tulane advances to play No. 2-seed Houston in the AAC quarterfinals on Friday.

Brandon Rachal had his 11^th career double-double to lead the Hurricane with 21 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.

Elijah Joiner added 16 points and dished out a career-high 12 assists, while Keyshawn Embery-Simpson scored 12 points with 11 of those coming in the first half. Tulane had two 20-point scorers with Jordan Walker scoring a game-high 24 points and Jalen Forbes adding 22.

It was a tale of two halves for the Hurricane. Tulsa shot 50 percent from the field and 56 percent from 3-point range in the first half but managed just 25 percent overall in the second 20 minutes and shot 19 percent from behind the arc.

After going 9-of-16 in the first half from 3-point range, Tulsa connected on just 3-of-16 in the second half. The Green Wave knocked down 52 percent of its field goals in the final 20 minutes after shooting 40 percent in the first half.

Both teams came out of intermission with a sense of urgency and each shooting over 60 percent in the first 5 minutes of the second half. But for Tulsa, that shooting percentage cooled off the rest of the way.

Tulsa maintained its lead from the first half in the first 5 minutes before Tulane took its first second-half lead at 52-51 on a driving layup by Forbes at the 14:43 mark. Rachal's 3-pointer at the 12:36 mark tied the score at 54 and the Hurricane sprinted back to a 4-point lead at 58-54.

The Hurricane led 62-61 with just over 6 minutes remaining in the game, but from there Tulane took control by scoring the next 7 points for a 68-62 lead at the 2:53 mark. Tulsa made just 2 of its last 11 field goals, while the Green Wave made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 0:34 to hold on for the victory.

Tulsa began the game on a 5-0 start with a two-point basket by Rachal and a 3-pointer from Embery-Simpson. The Hurricane moved its lead to 8-2 before Tulane went on a 9-0 run for an 11-8 lead with 15:13 on the clock.

Austin Richie's trey with 6:50 left in the first half began an 8-0 run that put the Hurricane up 35-28 with 3:29 remaining. Embery Simpson scored the final 5 points on that run with a 3-pointer and layup.

Midway in the first half, Tulsa's defense tightened as the Hurricane held Tulane without a field goal in just over 7 minutes until Sion James scored off a turnover to make the score 35-32. Joiner converted a trey with 0:59 remaining to stop a 6-0 Tulane run and put Tulsa back ahead by 4 points before an Austin Richie trey gave the Hurricane a 7-point lead at 41-34

R.J. McGee's 3-pointer as the first-half horn sounded cut Tulsa's lead at intermission to just 4 points, 41-37.

The difference in the first half was the 3-point shooting for the Hurricane and for the Green Wave it was their free throw shooting and points off turnovers. Through the first 20 minutes, Tulsa knocked down 9-of-16 from 3-point range, but their 9 turnovers led to 15 Green Wave points. Tulane also converted 10-of-11 free throws, while Tulsa made 2-of-3 free throws.

Embery-Simpson led Tulsa with 11 first-half points, while Rachal totaled 8 points and Joiner had already tied his career-high for assists in the first 20 minutes with nine.