Balanced Attack Leads Tulsa Men to 88-77 Win over Loyola Chicago

Tuesday, December 5

7:30 PM

Tulsa

5-2,0-0AAC

Loyola University Chicago

5-4,0-0Atlantic 10

Loyola Chicago

Tulsa

Balanced Attack Leads Tulsa Men to 88-77 Win over Loyola Chicago

12/5/2023 10:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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GAME STATS I SEASON STATS I PHOTO GALLERY

TULSA, Okla. –– Keaston Willis' 15 points led five double-figure scorers as Tulsa handed Loyola Chicago an 88-77 loss on Tuesday night in front of 2,822 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 5-2 on the season, equaling its entire win total from a year ago, while Loyola Chicago dropped to 5-4 on the year.

Willis knocked down 3-of-6 from the field, all from beyond the arc, and was 6-of-9 from the charity stripe for his 15 points. PJ Haggerty and Isaiah Barnes scored 14 apiece, Jared Garcia had 13 and a team-high six boards and Tyshawn Archie tallied 12 points.

ULC was led by Jayden Dawson's 26 points.

"A really good win for our team," said Tulsa Head Coach Eric Konkol. "I'm so proud of them for a number of reasons. One, just to be able to bounce back and get back to work after our last game. We knew that we'd go through some growing pains with a young group. Just to be able to play in front of our fans – thank them very, very much, because they were very empowering tonight.

"Loyola (Chicago) is a team who has played some really good games. They've been very competitive. They've got a lot of balance. We knew we were going to have our hands full defensively. I thought our guys played really, really hard, got the key stops and then they shared it against their pressure to make 14 3-point shots. It was a really special thing to see for our group. It was spread around. It was a total team effort for us tonight."

Tulsa jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and had a 20-9 advantage in the first seven minutes, before holding on to just a three-point halftime lead, 42-39. Just like the first half, Tulsa started the second 20 minutes with a 13-3 run and a 55-42 lead with just under four minutes gone in the half.

The Hurricane lead would not dip to under double digits for the remainder of the game, as the largest advantage peaked at 19 points when Haggerty knocked down a three-pointer with 7:01 remaining in the contest.

HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
Tulsa jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first 2:13 and took its first double-digit lead at 17-7 when Tyshawn Archie hit on a driving layup at the 14:26 mark.

Archie knocked down a trey with 13:42 on the clock to give Tulsa's its largest first-half lead of 11 points at 20-9.

Loyola cut Tulsa's lead to five points, 32-27, at the 5:55 mark before Tulsa extending it back to double digits at 37-27.

In the final three minutes, Loyola chipped into the Hurricane lead and cut the deficit to two points at 39-37 with 1:30 on the game clock. Tulsa pushed it back to five points before ending the half with a 42-39 lead.

For the half, eight of the nine Tulsa players who saw action scored in the first 20 minutes. Tulsa shot 52% from the field and 53% from three-point range, but connected on just 57% from the charity stripe, making just 8-of-14.

Loyola made .467 from the field and .412 from behind the arc, while Jayden Dawson led all scorers with 12 points.

IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
Tulsa jumped out on a 13-3 run to start the second half, taking a 55-42 lead at the 16:07 mark.

Once Tulsa took its first second-half double-digit lead, 53-42, the Hurricane lead did not drop under double digits.

During that stretch Isaiah Barnes hit back-to-back three-pointers, while Carlous Williams also knocked one own from long range.

Tulsa took its largest lead of 19 points at the 7:01 mark when PJ Haggerty hit a jumper for a 77-58 advantage.

ULC battled back and cut the Tulsa lead to 10 points at 85-75, but that's as close as it would get.

GAME NOTES
• Tulsa improved to 5-2 on the year, equaling its win total from all of last season.
• Tulsa tied up the series at 2-2 with the victory.
• Tulsa had five double-figure scorers for the second time this year … the other game was Little Rock.
• All nine players that saw action scored at least three points and grabbed at least two rebounds.
• Eight of the nine players that scored in the game knocked down a three-pointer.
• Freshman PJ Haggerty had his sixth double-figure scoring game of the season to lead Tulsa in double digit scoring games.
• Graduate Keaston Willis, in just his second game back from injury, had a season-high with 15 points.
• Tulsa shot season-highs of 51% from the field and 48% from three-point range.

Tulsa will play Oklahoma State on Sunday at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. Tip time is set for 5:30 p.m. on ESPNU.