Tulsa Takes Down Aggies with 65-59 Comeback

Friday, December 22

7:00 PM

Tulsa

8-3,0-0AAC

New Mexico State

5-9,0-0CUSA

New Mexico St.

Tulsa

Photo by: Bill Powell

Tulsa Takes Down Aggies with 65-59 Comeback

12/22/2023 10:23:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Game Book (PDF)Coach Eric Konkol Press Conference Jared Garcia Press Conference Photo Gallery

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa overcame a 16-point deficit to claim a 65-59 victory over New Mexico State Friday night in front of 2,871 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa improved to 8-3 overall, while New Mexico State fell to 5-9.

PJ Haggerty led the way with 23 points, while Jared Garcia added 17 and Cobe Williams had 13. Garcia also grabbed eight rebounds to share the team-lead with Matt Reed. Femi Odukale led NMSU with 12 points.

Tulsa shot just 34-percent from the field and 20-percent from three-point range, but the Hurricane converted a season-best 89-percent from the charity stripe, connecting on 25-of-28, including 15-of-17 during the second-half comeback.

Tulsa took its first lead since an early 2-1 advantage when Garcia knocked down two free throws at the 6:21 mark to put the Golden Hurricane ahead 55-54. From that point, Tulsa outscored the Aggies 10-5 the rest of the way to extend its homecourt winning streak to eight games.

NMSU scored 29 points in the first 12+ minutes of the game, but over the final 28 minutes the Hurricane defense held the Aggies to just 30 points.

"New Mexico State has got a really hard-playing, physical, old team. We knew coming in from just watching them on video – the 17^th strongest schedule in the country and just how hard they play – we needed to be proactive and not reactive in terms of engagement, if you will. We were very reactive early, and we fell behind. Our guys grew up tonight. That's how I can put it into words. I thought our young guys grew up and saw what a physical, hard-playing college basketball game really felt like when you're out on the floor," said Tulsa Head Coach Eric Konkol.

In the second half, Haggerty's driving layup at the 14:37 mark put Tulsa behind by just one point, 44-43. It was the first of five times that Tulsa cut NMSU's lead to one in a seven-minute stretch before taking the lead with 6:21 remaining.

Cobe Williams' layup at the 10:12 made it a one-point contest again at 50-49, but the Aggies scored the next four points to extend its lead to 54-49 at just under the nine-minute mark.

Tulsa staged its comeback in the first half after trailing 29-13 at the 7:48 mark. Haggerty started Tulsa's push with a jumper in the paint at the 7:29 mark which started 20-8 for the Hurricane to end the first 20 minutes, going into halftime trailing by just four points at 37-33.

"We gave up seven offensive rebounds in the first 13 minutes, and then gave up five in the next 27. That's great growth. Do we need to get better there? Of course. But we got better tonight. That was really good to see. We won the turnover margin – these things that have been ailing us to this point. Just really proud of our team for sticking with it," said Konkol. "I'm really proud and want to send great praises to our fans. Reynolds Center got loud tonight. It got loud. When we needed help, when we needed a stop, our fans were there for us in a big, big way. I just want to continue encouraging people to come to 11^th and Harvard. A big Merry Christmas and Happy New Year thank you to our fans."

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
Tulsa opened the scoring with a Jared Garcia dunk before NMSU went on an 8-2 run for an 8-4 lead.

PJ Haggerty made three free throws bringing Tulsa to within one point of the Aggies at 10-9.

NMSU went on a 7-0 run to take a 17-9 lead until Tyshawn Archie's fastbreak layup stopped the Aggies run at 11:52 mark.

New Mexico State took a double-digit lead, 23-13, at the 9:08 mark on a layup by Femi Odukale.

The Hurricane had more than a three-minute scoring drought as the Aggies built its lead to 16 points, 29-13, at the 7:48 mark.

PJ Haggerty's jumper ended the scoreless stretch for Tulsa, making the score 29-15 at the 7:28 mark.

Tulsa's first three-pointer of the game, by Garcia, made the score 29-18 with 6:30 left in the first half.

Cobe Williams followed with another trey making the score 29-21 at the 5:39 mark.

Garcia's two free throws made the score 29-23, extending Tulsa's run to 8-0.

Williams' trey with 0:10 remaining made it a four-point game, 37-33 at halftime. It was the closest Tulsa had been since 12-9 at the 13:10 mark of the period.

Tulsa finished the half outscoring the Aggies 20-8 in the final 7:28.

IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
Tulsa's first six points of the second half all came on Haggerty free throws. Each time his freebies made it a two-point deficit for the Hurricane. His sixth free throw made the score 41-39 at the 16:29 mark.

Back-to-back layups by Matt Reed and Haggerty made it a one-point deficit for the Hurricane at 44-43 with 14:37 on the game clock.

Tulsa got as close as one point three more times in the next four minutes, but the Aggies always answered on the other end of the court.

Tulsa took its first lead since 2-1 when Garcia knocked down two free throws at the 6:21 mark to make the score 55-54.

Cobe Williams' three-pointer put Tulsa ahead 58-54 with 5:35 on the clock.

Isaiah Barnes put Tulsa ahead 60-55 at the 4:51 mark.

NMSU got as close three points twice in the final two minutes, but each time Garcia answered with a basket in the paint with the final one coming with 0:20 remaining in the game.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa moved to 8-3 on the season and 8-0 at home.
• The 8-0 home record is the best start at the Reynolds Center since a 9-0 start in the 2018-19 season.
• The Tulsa-New Mexico State series now stands at 22-16 in favor of Tulsa.
• Jared Garcia had his fourth double-figure scoring game of the season with 17 points.
• Freshman PJ Haggerty had his 10th double-figure scoring game of the season with 23 points to lead Tulsa for double digit scoring games.
• It was Haggerty's fourth game this season with 20+ points.
• Haggerty made double-digit free throws for the third time this year … his 13-of-15 free throws is the second-most made this year, behind the 19 he made against South Carolina State.
• Cobe Williams had his eighth double-figure scoring game of the season and for the 61^st time in his career.

Tulsa hosts Southwestern Oklahoma State next Friday, Dec. 29. Game time is set for 7 p.m. All Tulsa basketball games can be heard on Big Country 9.5 FM Radio.