Tulsa Goes to Overtime for 81-79 Win over Tulane

Saturday, January 21

7:00 PM

Tulsa

5-13,1-6AAC

Tulane

12-7,5-3AAC

OT 1

Tulane

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Goes to Overtime for 81-79 Win over Tulane

1/21/2023 11:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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GAME STATS I PHOTO GALLERY I PRESS CONFERENCE I HIGHLIGHTS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa (5-13, 1-6 AAC) pulled out an overtime victory Saturday night as Sam Griffin led the way with 23 points to take the Golden Hurricane to an 81-79 win over the Tulane Green Wave (12-7, 5-3 AAC) in front of 7,071 fans Saturday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

It was a nostalgic night for Tulsa on Legends Day. Before the game, Tulsa fans set a new Guinness World Record for the Largest Pizza Party with 3,357 participants, crushing the previous record of 1,046. Tulsa Legends were honored at halftime for their contributions to Golden Hurricane basketball, and then the current Hurricane team battled back from a deficit late in regulation to force its second straight overtime game.

The win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Hurricane. Tulsa dropped its previous three games, losing all by less than four points each time.

"First, I want to say, thank you to the city of Tulsa. What a great atmosphere. First our legends – many, many people from a number of different eras coming to town and getting to meet, some for the second or third time. It was great to see them. And then the city of Tulsa showed up. It was a big-time college basketball environment and I thought our guys responded well through many, many ups and downs all the way to the final buzzer to pull away a great win against a very good team," said Tulsa head coach Eric Konkol.

"I told the guys before the game, and leading up to the game, about the legends. This is a program that's always going to be about the players. I think it always has been and it certainly is going to be under my care, that we honor everybody who has ever worn this jersey. And it will be the same for these guys when they come back. It's very, very important to honor those legends and them see their school. We take pride in it – we are the 112th men's basketball team here. We've had some guys from teams 60 years ago who came today. It's really cool to be a part of a tradition like that."

For the game, Tulsa converted 12 three-pointers, five more than the visitors. Two of those treys came in the overtime period from the most unsuspecting of players with their first treys of the night. The Hurricane made 45-percent overall from the field while holding their own on the boards with 40 rebounds to Tulane's 43.

Griffin made nine field goals, including four treys, that contributed to his game-high 23 points, while Tim Dalger added his first career double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds, Brandon Betson had 13 points and Anthony Pritchard chipped in with 10. Tulane also had four double-digit scorers, led by Jalen Cook's 23 points.

Tulsa came back from a four-point deficit in the final 0:48 of regulation to tie the game at 71-71 on a second-chance layup by Dalger to force the extra session. Dalger began the overtime period with his first three-pointer of the game for a 74-71 lead, then Pritchard's only trey broke a 77-77 tie with 1:37 left in the extra period for an 80-77 Tulsa lead.

Cook's putback basket cut Tulane's deficit to one at 80-79 with 1:13 left on the clock. But, Pritchard made one-of-two free throws with 0:49 remaining to give Tulsa a two-point cushion as the Hurricane would hold on for the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Tulsa jumped out to a 3-0 lead and led 5-2 before Tulane took the lead at the 17:37 mark and grew its' advantage to six points before Betson's three-pointer put the Hurricane ahead 16-14 with 9:02 on the first-half clock.

The Hurricane built its lead to six points, 26-20, at the 5:47 mark on a Bryant Selebangue free throw. Tulane took a one-point lead, 29-28, with 3:30 remaining before the Hurricane scored the next eight points for a 36-29 lead. The Green Wave scored the final six points before the buzzer as Tulsa held a 36-35 lead at the intermission.

Griffin led all scorers with 16 first-half points on 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Tulsa converted 44-percent from both the field and three-point range in the first 20 minutes, while Tulane shot 46-percent from the field overall.

In the second half, Tulane grabbed a 47-45 lead at the 14:51 mark, and only allowed Tulsa to tie the contest three times including at the end of regulation. Tulsa tied the game at 47, again at 53 and 71. Tulane's lead in the second half got to as many as five points at 63-58 at the 5:29 mark.

Tulsa kept its deficit within four points in the final five minutes. At the 0:43 mark, Selebangue's layup brought Tulsa within two points at 71-69. Dalger's put-back basket with 0:18 remaining tied the game at 71 and a Tulane three-pointer by Cook missed with 0:03 left to force the overtime period.

Tulsa never trailed in the overtime period. With the game tied at 77, Pritchard's three-pointer with 1:37 on the clock gave the Hurricane the cushion it needed for the victory.

GAME NOTES
• This was the 34^th meeting between Tulsa and Tulane and the series now stands at 25-9 in favor of Tulsa.
•    Before tonight's game, the city of Tulsa set a new Guinness World Record for the Largest Pizza Party with 3,357 participants at the Donald W. Reynolds Center … the new record more than tripled the previous Guinness World Record of 1,046 that was established on Sept. 8, 2019, by Istituto Romano della Pizza in Rome, Italy.
•    Tulsa snapped a seven-game losing streak with the victory.
•    Tulsa led at halftime for the seventh time this season and is now 4-3 when leading at the intermission.
•    It was the first win for Tulsa in the month of January.
•    Tulsa moved to 3-0 on the season when scoring 80+ points.
•    It was the sixth time this season that Tulsa made 10+ three-pointers. … Tulsa's 12 treys were one shy of tying the season-high of 13 against Charlotte.•    Sam Griffin had his 15^th double-figure scoring game this season and the 71^st of his career.
•     It was Griffin's sixth straight double-digit scoring game and his seventh 20+ scoring game of the season.•    Brandon Betson had his 9^th double-figure scoring game this season.
•    Bryant Selebangue had his 10^th double-figure rebounding game of the season and 5^th straight.
•    Tim Dalger had his first career double-digit rebounding game with a career-high 13 boards.
•    Dalger had his 5^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 8^th of his career … it was his first career double-double.
•     Anthony Pritchard's nine assists is his season-high, bettering his seven assists in the first meeting vs. Tulane, and one shy of his career-best of 10.

Tulsa will be on the road for a Tuesday night game in Greenville, N.C., against the East Carolina Pirates. The game will tip-off at 6 p.m. (CT). Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center next Sunday, Jan. 29, for a 4 p.m. contest against the Memphis Tigers.