Tulsa Takes on Tulane in AAC Championship Thursday

GAME #23: No. 7 seed TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (11-11, 7-9) vs No. 10 seed TULANE GREEN WAVE (9-12, 4-12) 2021 AIR FORCE RESERVE AMERICAN MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Date/Time:	Thursday • March 11, 2021 • 2:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Dickies Arena • Fort Worth, Texas
Coaches:	Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 7th year Tulane – Ron Hunter (Miami (Ohio) '86), 2nd year
TV:	ESPNU \| Mike Corey (pxp) & Mark Adams (analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	32nd Meeting • Tulsa leads the series 24-7
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa I Tulane I Championship Central

THE GAME
• Tulsa and Tulane meet for the second time this year as the Green Wave won the previous meeting in Tulsa … the game at Tulane was moved to Tulsa on Feb. 10 and there was not a game played in New Orleans.
• Tulsa is the No. 7 seed and Tulane is the No. 10 seed.
• The two teams have played 3 times before in conference tournament action as Tulsa has a 2-1 record … twice in Conference USA and one meeting in the AAC Tournament.
• The previous meeting in the AAC Championship came in 2017 when Tulsa grabbed a 66-60 win in Hartford, Conn.

THE SERIES
• This is the 32nd meeting in the series as Tulsa leads 24-7.
• The Hurricane has a 14-2 mark at home, 8-4 on the road and 2-1 in neutral site games … Tulane's win at Tulsa this year snapped an overall 7-game winning streak in the series.
• Tulane's win this year also snapped an 11-game Hurricane winning streak at Tulsa's Donald W. Reynolds Center.
• Tulsa has won 15 of the last 17 games and 20 of the last 23 games.

A TULSA WIN WOULD
• Give the Hurricane its 12th win of the season, moving Tulsa to 12-11 on the year.
• Move Tulsa's all-time record against Tulane to 25-7
• Improve Tulsa's overall postseason conference tournament record to 53-36 and first round record to 6-10.
• Give Tulsa a 3-5 record in the history of the The American Tournament.

LAST GAME AGAINST TULANE
• Tulane used 15 and 11-0 runs to take control of the game and held on for a 58-48 win over Tulsa on Feb. 10.
• Brandon Rachal had his fifth double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Hurricane, while Elijah Joiner added 9 points.
• Tulane was led by Jaylen Forbes and Jadan Coleman with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
• Trailing 34-23 at halftime, Tulsa began the second half on a 10-0 run to cut its halftime deficit from 13 to 4 points at 38-35 on a Joiner layup off a turnover at the 16:08 mark.
• Jadan Coleman's trey stopped the Tulsa run and began a Green Wave stretch of 11 straight points to put the visitors back up by double digits at 49-35.
• Tulsa outscored Tulane in the paint 34-12 for the game, but the difference came down to the free throw line where Tulane made 14-of-17 freebies while Tulsa made it to the line only seven times and converted two.

THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG STARTS
• Tulsa has used fast starts to win games this year ... in 9 of their 11 wins the Hurricane has led at halftime … Tulsa is 9-0 when leading at the break.
• When trailing at the half, Tulsa is 2-11 with both come-from-behind victories coming against Memphis ... Tulsa
came back from down 8 at Memphis to win 56-49 and from down 6 to defeat the Tigers in the Reynolds Center 58-57.
• In the seven seasons under Frank Haith, Tulsa holds a 91-10 record when leading at halftime.

THE SENIORS
• Tulsa has four seniors on this year's teams – forward Brandon Rachal, guards Darien Jackson and Elijah Joiner and post-man Emmanuel Ugboh.
• Joiner and Jackson have donned Tulsa accross their chest for all 4 seasons ... in 116 games, Joiner has played in 114 games with 46 starts and Jackson has seen action in 97 career contests with 19 starts.
• Rachal and Ugboh joined the Hurricane last year from the JUCO ranks.
• Joiner has career averages of 6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 114 games, while Jackson has averaged 5.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 97 games.
• In two years, Rachal has played in 52 games and 30.1 minutes, while scoring 13.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. … Rachal also has 10 career double-doubles, 37 double-digit scoring games and 10 career double-figure rebounding games.
• Ugboh has played in 49 career games with 30 starts in his two seasons, while averaging 2.4 points and 1.9 rebounds.

Tulsa Takes on Tulane in AAC Championship Thursday

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Players Mentioned

Darien Jackson

Elijah Joiner

Brandon Rachal

Emmanuel Ugboh