Tulsa Hosts Memphis in Nationally Televised Matchup

GAME #20: TULSA (5-14, 1-7 AAC) vs Memphis (16-5, 6-2 AAC)
Date/Time:	Sunday • Jan. 29, 2023 • 4:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Reynolds Center (13,176) • Tulsa, Okla.
Coaches:	Tulsa – Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire, '00), 1st Season Cincinnati - Wes Miller (North Carolina, '07) 5th Season
TV:	ESPN+ \| Anthony Mazzani (PXP) and Kevin Johnson (Analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	46th Meeting \| Cincinnati Leads 31-14
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| Cincinnati (PDF) \| The American (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. — The University of Tulsa men's basketball team returns to the Donald W. Reynolds Center to host the Memphis Tigers Sunday afternoon in the lone regular season meeting between the schools.

Tipoff for the American Athletic Conference matchup is set for 4 p.m. and will air on ESPN2. Kevin Brown and Mark Adams will bring fans the action. Bruce Howard and JR Rollo will broadcast the radio call on Big Country 99.5 FM and The Varsity Network app.

Tulsa (5-14), 1-7 The American) and Memphis (16-5, 6-2 conference) meet for the first and only time in the regular season as Tulsa has no road game against the Tigers and no home game against Cincinnati.

Sunday marks the 53rd time Tulsa and Memphis will face each other with the Tigers leading the series 31-21. In games played in Tulsa, the series is tied at 11 apiece, but Memphis enjoys a 7-6 advantage in games played in the Reynolds Center. Memphis won the first six games the teams played in the building and Tulsa responded by winning the following six. Memphis broke the Tulsa home streak with an 83-81 win on Jan. 23, 2022, helping the Tigers sweep the season series.

The Hurricane looks to get back in the win column after a 10-point loss at East Carolina on Tuesday evening. Holding a five-point lead at the break, Tulsa shot just 38.5 percent in the second half while ECU connected on 58.6 percent of its attempts and outscored the Hurricane 49-34 to take the win. The Pirates also dominated on the glass, outrebounding Tulsa 40-23, including 13 offensive rebounds that led to 17 second chance points.

Bryant Selebangue paced Tulsa with 18 points and 10 rebounds, his eighth double-double of the season. He was the only Hurricane with more than four rebounds in the loss. Tim Dalger scored 15 and Anthony Pritchard added 10 along with dishing out seven assists.

Selebangue has continued to play at a high level this season, averaging 13.3 points and 9.3 rebounds. He leads the conference in rebounding, offensive (3.2) and defensive boards (6.1) per game and in is tied for the lead in double-doubles. He's also shot the ball as good as anyone in the nation, knocking down 67.5 percent of his field goals, which not only leads the conference but is seventh best in the country.

Sam Griffin and Betson have supplied the offense for Tulsa from deep, combining to connect on 93 3-pointers. Griffin's 2.63 triples per game is the fifth best in the conference. Betson is the most accurate shooter from deep in The American, hitting 46.2 of his 3-pointers. As a team, Tulsa hits 32.2 percent of its 3-pointers. The Hurricane has also turned it around defensively, holding opponents to 29.8 percent on the long ball this season. In the past five games, no team has shot better than 33.3 percent on triples, and three finished below 30 percent, topped by a stifling 11.8 percent from Wichita State.

Memphis comes to the Reynolds Center on a four-game win streak after it's double overtime loss to UCF on Jan. 11. The Tigers are fresh off a 99-84 win over SMU, which was head coach Penny Hardaway's 100th win with the school.

Although the Memphis defense does allow 71.8 points per game, the Tigers play an active, stifling style of play, pressuring opponents and protecting the rim better than most teams in the nation. Memphis leads the conference in steals per game (9.3) and blocks per game (5.1) and are ranked 20th and 19th in the NCAA, respectively.

The Tigers also excel at getting to the charity stripe, shooting 21.6 free throws per contest, which is 30th in the nation. 2022 AAC Player of the Year Kendric Davis is a large part of reason Memphis shoots a lot of free throws. The guard, in his first year with the Tigers after transferring from SMU, is fourth in the nation with 161 free throws and shoots 87 percent from the line when he gets there.

Davis is one of the better shooters and passers in the nation, leading the conference with 21.2 points per game and 5.8 assists, which places 15th and 16th in the NCAA for those two categories. DeAndre Williams is the other Tiger to average double figures in scoring, putting up 16.7 a game while leading the team in rebounding, averaging 7.6 boards per night.

Following Sunday's game, the Golden Hurricane has a quick turnaround with Cincinnati waiting to host Tulsa on Wednesday, Feb. 1. It will be the only time the two teams meet in the regular season and the last regular season matchup Tulsa and Cincinnati will have as conference mates. Tipoff for The American showdown is set for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.

Tulsa Hosts Memphis in Nationally Televised Matchup

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Players Mentioned

Tim Dalger

Sam Griffin

Anthony Pritchard

Bryant Selebangue