Tulsa Moves to 3-0 With 72-52 Win Over Jackson State

Thursday, November 16

7:00 PM

Tulsa

3-0,0-0AAC

Jackson State

0-5,0-0SWAC

Jackson St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Justin Odle

Tulsa Moves to 3-0 With 72-52 Win Over Jackson State

11/16/2023 9:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BOX SCORE I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– PJ Haggerty scored a game-high 20 points in leading Tulsa to a 72-52 victory over the Jackson State Tigers Thursday night in front of 2,754 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 3-0 on the season for its best start since the 2018-19 season when the Hurricane also began the year unblemished after three games.

Isaiah Barnes added 11 points and Cobe Williams 10 for the Hurricane, while Jarred Hall had nine, Jared Garcia and Tyshawn Archie eight points each for a balanced Hurricane scoring attack. Garcia, Hall and Mohamed Keita led the way on the boards with six apiece, while Haggerty and Williams combined for nine steals.

"I'm very proud of our team. We talk all the time about being process-driven and letting the score take care of itself. When a team comes in and mixes defenses up the way they do – we knew it was coming, we just hadn't experienced it before. But to shoot the way we did from three and still find a way to play some really good basketball in other areas and come away with a win against a team that I think has a really good shot to win their league, I'm just really proud of the guys for sticking together and not having, 'Woe is me,' type mentalities where it's, 'My shot isn't falling tonight, maybe it's not our night.' I thought our guys got gritty, did it on the defensive end and created some opportunities that helped us get this win," said Tulsa Head Coach Eric Konkol.

Tonight's contest was the first game of the 2023 Golden Turkey Slam presented by Ross Potts Productions fo the two teams. Tulsa will play South Carolina State in the second of its two games in the event, while Jackson State visits Missouri.

Tulsa led by as many nine points in the first half, while Jackson State had its only lead of the game at 12-11 for 0:59 of the first 20 minutes. The Hurricane took control in the second half as its lead reached 21 points late in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
Jared Garcia scored the first four points of the game and Cobe Williams had a breakaway layup as Tulsa took a 6-0 lead.

The Tigers didn't score its first basket until the 16:02 mark but it was the first of eight straight points to give the visitors an 8-6 lead with less than seven minutes ticked off the first half clock.

After JSU took a 12-11 lead at the 9:08 mark, Tulsa went on a 13-3 run to take a 24-15 lead with 4:44 left in the first half.

The Tigers got as close as five points twice in the half, but Tulsa scored the final four points of the first 20 minutes for a 32-23 halftime lead.

For the half, Tulsa shot just 33 percent from the field and made just 1-of-12 three-pointers but converted 7-of-8 from the free throw line for 87 percent. The Tigers managed 36 percent overall, 18 percent from behind the arc and 33 percent from the charity stripe.

IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
Tulsa took its first double-figure lead at the 16:44 mark on a PJ Haggerty fastbreak layup for a 38-28 score.

The Hurricane took a 15-point lead at 60-45, on two Jared Garcia free throws with 8:09 left in the contest. JSU would cut its deficit back to single digits at 60-51 with 5:17 left on the game clock.

Tulsa took its largest lead of the game at 21 points, 72-51, on a Mohamed Keita layup with just over one minute to play before closing out the contest with a 72-52 victory.

Tulsa improved its shooting at 46.2 percent from the field and 33 percent from the line in the second half.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa has started the season 3-0 for the first time since the 2018-19 season when Tulsa began the year 4-0.
• This was the eighth meeting between the two schools, as Tulsa now leads 8-0.
• Freshman PJ Haggerty has reached double digit points in all three games this season with a season-high 20 points.
• Haggerty also had a season-high five steals, breaking his previous high of four steals in the season opener.
• Freshman Jared Hall scored a season-high nine points … he was 4-of-4 from the field with one three-pointer … he had already reached a season-high in the first eight minutes of the game with two put-back layups for four points.
• Tulsa had 26 first-half rebounds, which was more in the first half than Tulsa had in two games total in the 2022-23 season.
• Graduate Cobe Williams increased his streak of double-digit scoring games to 20 dating back to last year at LA Tech.

Tulsa concludes its four-game homestand with a 7 p.m. matchup Monday against South Carolina State in the final game of the Golden Turkey Slam.