Tulsa Falls to SMU 79-76 in Overtime

Wednesday, January 18

7:00 PM

Tulsa

4-13,0-6AAC

SMU

7-12,2-4AAC

OT 1

SMU

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Falls to SMU 79-76 in Overtime

1/18/2023 10:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

GAME STATS I PHOTO GALLERY I PRESS CONFERENCE I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa and SMU battled to overtime Wednesday night as the Mustangs pulled out a 79-76 victory in front of 3,047 fans at the Donald W. Reynold Center.

Bryant Selebangue led Tulsa (4-13, 0-6 AAC) with career-highs of 24 points and 14 rebounds, including his put-back tip-in at the end of regulation to tie the contest at 64. Selebangue scored 17 of his points in the second half with six coming in overtime, while Sam Griffin added 18 and Anthony Pritchard had a career-best 17 points.

SMU (7-12, 2-4 AAC) had four double-figure scorers, led by Efe Odigie's 22 points, Zhuric Phelps' 18, Zach Nutall with 16 and Ricardo Wright with 11.

"We have a thought of the day for each game, and today's was 4-0 with a plus sign, so 40-plus. We certainly don't have a crystal ball that we were going to go to overtime, but we asked our guys to play 40 minutes or however long it takes, and I thought they did that. They battled their tails off. I want it badly for these guys," said Tulsa head coach Eric Konkol.

"We've lost three in-a-row by a combined 11 points. There are a lot of people who would just kinda say, 'man, let's just get through this,' but they're fighting and they're trying and they're giving it everything they got. We fell just a little bit short. The turnover margin is clearly our kryptonite and something we got to keep chipping away at and try to get better at."

Not only was the game tied at the end of regulation, 64-64, but also at halftime. SMU scored the halftime tying basket at the 0:20 mark, while Tulsa had the regulation-tying basket by Selebangue.

Brandon Betson's 3-pointer with two minutes left in the contest tied the game at 60 apiece, but SMU's Odigie scored the next four points for a 64-60 lead, leaving Tulsa with only 0:21 remaining to try to make something happen. That's exactly what the Hurricane did with a Pritchard driving layup and Selebangue's tip-in with 0.00.6 left on the clock to make it 64-all.

In overtime an SMU 3-pointer put the Mustangs up for good at 71-70 as the visitors converted 5-of-6 free throws in the final 0:27 to hold on for the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After trailing 5-0 to start the game, the Hurricane went on a 12-0 run to take a 12-5 lead at the 16:05 mark, as Griffin scored seven of Tulsa's 12 points in that stretch. With the score 12-7 both teams went scoreless for three-and-half minutes, as Pritchard's basket at the 12:12 mark ended the streak and gave Tulsa a 14-7 lead.

SMU tied the score at 20 with 6:44 left on the first-half clock and took a 26-25 lead on two free throws at the 2:56 mark, its first lead since the opening two minutes.

Tulsa's Tim Dalger hit a three-pointer to put the Hurricane ahead 28-26 at the 1:31 mark, but the Mustangs tied the score with 0:209 remaining to tie the game at 28-28 going into halftime.

Both teams shot just under 40-percent from the field, while the marksmanship from behind the arc was paltry as Tulsa made just 2-of-14 treys and SMU was 2-of-10. The two teams were even from the paint, scoring 14 points each.

In the second half, the margin was no more than four points for either team until Griffin's three-pointer at the 11:40 mark gave the Hurricane a 48-41 lead. Tulsa jumped ahead 50-44, but the Mustangs took a 53-50 lead at the 9:15 mark of the second half on a 9-0 run in a span of just 1:27.

SMU increased its scoring run to 11 points for a 55-50 lead before Brandon Betson knocked down a three-pointer to end Tulsa's scoring drought of 2:31 in making the score 55-53.

The Mustangs increased its lead to 60-55 with 4:15 left on the game clock and led 64-60 with 0:26 remaining. Pritchard took a handoff and went half the court for a driving layup in just five seconds, making it 64-62 at the 0:21 mark.

Jalen Smith's missed front end of a 1-and-1 with 0:15 remaining gave the Hurricane a chance for a tie or the win. Tulsa had three chances in the final 0:05 and the last one, tip by Selebangue went through the net with 0.00.6 to tie the game at 64-64.

The overtime period saw the game tied twice or Tulsa leading for the first 2:57 until Zach Nutall's three-pointer put the Mustangs up by one at 71-70. The Hurricane battled to retake the lead but SMU converted 5-of-6 free throws in the final 0:27 to hold on for the 79-76 victory.

GAME NOTES
• This was the 60^th meeting between Tulsa and SMU … it was SMU's sixth straight win in the series.
•    Tulsa dropped its 7^th straight game and lost its 5^th home game of the season.
•    The game was tied at the half 28-28, only Tulsa's second tied game at halftime this season.
•    Sam Griffin had his 14^th double-figure scoring game this season and the 70^th of his career.
•     It was Griffin's fifth straight double-digit scoring game.
•    Bryant Selebangue turned in his 11^th double-digit scoring game this season and his 6^th in the last seven games.
•    Selebangue's 24 points was a career-high, beating his 22 from earlier this year at Tulane.
•    Selebangue also had a career-high 14 rebounds, breaking his previous high of 13 that came against Tulane.
• it was Selebangue's 7^th double-double of the year and his 8^th double-figure rebounding game of the season.
•    Anthony Pritchard had a career-high 17 points and tied his career-high with three 3-pointers made.
•    It was Pritchard's 8^th double-digit scoring game of the season and the 11^th of his career.

Tulsa will be back home Saturday for Legends Day as the Tulane Green Wave come to the Reynolds Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Before the game TU and Andolini's Pizza have joined forces to attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the Largest Pizza Party ever recorded. Gates open at 5 p.m.