Tulsa Claims 85-79 Win in Home Opener

Saturday, November 12

2:00 PM

Tulsa

1-1,0-0AAC

Jackson State

0-2,0-0SWAC

Jackson St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Dave Crenshaw

Tulsa Claims 85-79 Win in Home Opener

11/12/2022 5:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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TULSA, Okla. –– The first win in the Eric Konkol era saw the Tulsa Golden Hurricane hold off a pesky Jackson State team, 85-79, Saturday afternoon in front of 6,859 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa moved to 1-1 on the season, while the Tigers fell to 0-2.

"We've got an energetic group of guys," said the first-year head coach. "They know how special this place is to me and this is a first step in a long journey for us. We are excited for what we are building not only this year, but beyond."

"I'd really like to thank our fans, that was great. The environment, the energy, the number of things you saw from a pregame perspective and in the game were really, really great," said Konkol. "We fed off that energy and it absolutely helped us. It is so good to have that support from our city and our students, and it helped us get a victory against a team that will win a whole lot of games this season. It was a total team effort from our guys and I appreciate the support from everyone here."

Keyshawn Embery-Simpson tallied a career-high 20 points to lead the Hurricane and his six assists also led the Tulsa attack. Tim Dalger added 18 points and 9 rebounds, while newcomer Bryant Selebangue had his first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Anthony Pritchard added 10 points

Jackson State also had four players in double-figures as Ken Evans led the way with 15 points.

The Hurricane led for nearly 37 minutes of the game and Jackson State for under two minutes.

Tulsa had its largest lead of 14 points at 73-59 with 4:55 to play before the Tigers cut the Hurricane advantage to two points, 76-74, with 1:44 left. A Selebangue dunk off a dish by Embery-Simpson moved Tulsa's lead back to four points. Tulsa then converted 7-of-8 free throws in the final 0:31 of the game for the six-point win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Jackson State took its first lead since an early 2-0 advantage to start the game on a Romelle Mansel basket at the 17:55 mark for a 40-39 lead. After a 44-43 JSU lead, the Hurricane went on a 9-0 run to take a 52-44 lead with 14:48 remaining in the contest.

Tulsa built its lead to 14 points, 73-59, on two Sterling Gaston-Chapman free throws at the 4:55 mark. JSU went on a 7-0 run to cut the Hurricane lead to seven points at 73-66 with under four minutes to play. The Tigers got as close as two points at 76-74 before the Hurricane outscored the Tigers 9-5 in the final 1:11 to close out the victory.

In the first half, Tulsa took an 11-point lead at the 8:40 mark, but the visiting Tigers kept it as close as three points three times in the final five minutes of the first 20 minutes.

Tulsa held a 3-point lead at halftime, 37-34, and led for 17:31 minutes of the half while Jackson State had a 21-16 edge on the boards. The Tigers went on a

GAME NOTES
•    Keyshawn Embery-Simpson had a career-high 20 points, breaking his previous career-best of 16 points at Arkansas in 2018-19 … his previous Tulsa best scoring game was 14 points twice in the 2020-21 season.
• Bryant Selebangue had his first career double-double in just his second game in a Tulsa uniform … he had career-highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
•    Selebangue is averaging 9.5 rebounds in Tulsa's first two games.
•    Jackson State head coach Mo Williams missed the game due to a family emergency.
•    In his first six minutes if play, Tulsa's Tim Dalger had 7 points and 3 rebounds.
•    Tulsa took its first double-digit lead of 26-15 at the 8:40 mark of the 1^st half on a Keyshawn Embery-Simpson 3-pointer.
•    Embery-Simpson scored 10 first-half points and had 4 assists off the bench to lead Tulsa after the first 20 minutes.
•    Five of Tulsa's 15 first-half field goals came on three-pointers, while JSU was 0-4 from behind the arc.
•    Among Tulsa's 16 first-half rebounds only one was on the offensive side.
•    Jackson State had a whopping 16-4 advantage on the offensive boards.
•    Tulsa had 29 points from the bench with Embery-Simpson's 20 and Brandon Betson with nine points.
•    Dalger (6-6), Griffin (4-4) and Sterling Gaston-Chapman (2-2) were perfect from the free throw line, while as a team Tulsa shot 80-percent from the charity stripe (20-25).

Tulsa will be on the road at the Myrtle Beach Classic for three games, Thursday-Sunday, Nov. 17-20. Tulsa opens with Loyola Chicago on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. (CT).