Golden Hurricane Renew Series with Rice on Saturday

GAME #19: Tulsa (10-8, 1-5 AAC) at Rice (7-12, 1-5 AAC)
Date/Time:	Saturday • January 27, 2023 • 7:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Tudor Fieldhouse (5,208) • Houston, Texas
Coaches:	Tulsa – Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire, '00), 2nd Season Rice – Scott Pera (Penn State '89), 7th Season
TV:	ESPNU \| Ted Emrich (PXP) and Sean Harrington (Analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM / Varsity Sports App (Bruce Howard & JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	35th Meeting \| Tulsa leads 28-6
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| Rice (PDF) \| The American (PDF)

HOUSTON, Texas –– The University of Tulsa men's basketball team heads back to Texas as the Golden Hurricane prepares to take on the Rice Owls for the first time since 2014 in a nationally televised matchup on Saturday evening.

Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and will air on ESPNU with Ted Emrich and Sean Harrington bringing fans the action. 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.

Tulsa (10-8, 1-5 The American) and Rice (7-12, 1-5 The American) joined the WAC together in 1996 and met nearly twice a season every year from 1997-2014, until the Golden Hurricane left Conference USA to join The American. All previous 34 games were played in that span, with Tulsa winning 28 of the contests. On the road against the Owls, Tulsa is 10-5 and has won six straight in Houston and 15 consecutive games in the overall series. When the teams last met on Feb. 8, 2014, Tulsa went on the road to down the Owls 66-56.

The Hurricane is entering off a tough loss on the road at SMU. After scoring over a hundred in the previous game against UTSA, Tulsa was on the other end of a lopsided score, falling 103-70. TU fell to 0-5 on the road this season and will look to break the slide on Saturday against the Owls.

PJ Haggerty picked up his seventh The American Freshman of the Week honor on Monday after averaging 22.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 60 percent from the floor and 55.6 on 3-pointers. Haggerty is averaging a team-best 19.2 points per game and leads the NCAA in freshmen scoring. This week, CBS Sports ranked him first on its weekly list for top freshmen in the country.

Cobe Williams is averaging 13.1 points per game. The graduate guard leads the team with 34 3-points this game and has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in each of the past eight games. During that stretch, Williams has knocked down 20-of-50 (40 percent) attempts from beyond the arc.

Rice enters Sunday's contest after dropping a 69-56 decision to NO. 22 FAU. A game earlier, Rice opened its stretch of Owls vs. Owls matchups with a 69-66 road win over Temple for Rice's first The American Athletic Conference win.

Travis Evee leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game. Mekhi Mason is the other Owl to average double figures in scoring, putting up 13.6 per contest. In conference play, the two switch, with Mason leading the way at 16.0 points and Evee scoring 14.0 per game. Max Fielder is the team's leading rebounder, pulling down 9.8 rebounds per game to go alongside his 9.5 points, putting him just shy of averaging a double-double. He comes into the game with Tulsa needing three steals to become the first player in school history to have 1,000 career points and rebounds, 500 assists and 100 blocks and steals.

Following Saturday's game, the Hurricane returns home for the first of two rivalry games with Wichita State. The game tips off Wednesday night at 6 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.

Golden Hurricane Renew Series with Rice on Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

PJ Haggerty

Cobe Williams