Golden Hurricane Hosts New Mexico State for Friday Night Hoops

GAME #11: Tulsa (7-3, 0-0 AAC) vs New Mexico State (5-8, 0-0 CUSA)
Date/Time:	Friday • December 22, 2023 • 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Reynolds Center (8,355) • Tulsa, Okla
Coaches:	Tulsa – Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire, '00), 2nd Season New Mexico State – Jason Hooten (Tarleton State '93), 1st Season
TV:	ESPN+ \| Josh Haley (PXP) and Bryndon Manzer (Analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM / Varsity Sports App (Bruce Howard & JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	38th Meeting \| Tulsa leads 21-16
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| NM State (PDF) \| The American (PDF)

TULSA, Okla. –– The University of Tulsa men's basketball team welcomes New Mexico State for a Friday evening game in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN+ with Josh Haley and Bryndon Manzer bringing fans the action. Tulsa fans can also catch the game on Big Country 99.5 FM and the Varsity Network app. Bruce Howard and JR Rollo have the call.

With a comfortable win over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday, the Hurricane moved to 7-3 on the season and 7-0 in the Reynolds Center, the best home start since the 2018-19 team won its first nine. TU got ahead by double digits a little more than midway through the opening half and never looked back in a 79-50 win against the Delta Devils on Tuesday.

Friday's game is another matchup between two former Missouri Valley Conference foes. Tulsa and New Mexico State have met 37 other times with the Golden Hurricane holding a 21-16 advantage in the series, 14-4 at home. TU has won six straight in the series and nine of the past 10 matchups. Between 1973 and 1983, the teams met 27 times in league play.

Despite the rich history between the two, this is the first meeting since Jan. 10, 2005. Former Tulsa standout guard Pooh Williamson picked up his first win as the interim head coach of the Golden Hurricane, coaching TU to an 83-63 win on the road in Las Cruces, N.M. Anthony Price and Jarius Glenn led Tulsa with 17 and 16 points apiece.

Freshman PJ Haggerty is Tulsa's leading scorers and one of the better scoring freshmen in the country. He is averaging 16.2 points per game, which ranks second nationally among freshmen. Haggerty is proficient at getting to the line, where he leads the conference and sits ninth in the country with 69 made free throws.

Tulsa is one of the newer teams in the country with just two returns from last season. But New Mexico State has the Hurricane beat with a fresh team and coaching staff from a team who went 9-15 before putting a halt to the season a year ago. Jason Hooten is now in his first year at the helm of the program, bringing 30 years of experience, including 13 seasons as the head coach at Sam Houston.

New Mexico State brings a 5-8 record to the Reynolds Center but has been improving every week. At the start of the month, NM State went on the road to New Mexico and was hammered 106-62. In the return game last week, the Aggies took the Lobos to the wire before falling 73-72. New Mexico State followed this performance with a narrow 75-72 loss on the road at Stephen F. Austin. Three Aggies average double figures in scoring, paced by Femi Odukale's 11.7 points. Odukale is also the team's top rebounder, cleaning the glass to the tune of 5.7 rebounds per game.

After Friday's game, the Hurricane will not play again until the following Friday after the Holiday break. Tulsa will host Southwestern Oklahoma State in Tulsa's nonconference finale in the Reynolds Center. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.

Golden Hurricane Hosts New Mexico State for Friday Night Hoops

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Players Mentioned

PJ Haggerty