Saturday, November 9
2 p.m.
Tulsa
2-0,0-0AAC
103
vs
80
Arkansas - Pine Bluff
1-2,0-0SWAC
1
2
F
Ark.-Pine Bluff
36
44
80
Tulsa
52
51
103
Golden Hurricane Races Past Arkansas-Pine Bluff 103-80
11/9/2024 7:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball
TULSA, Okla. –– For the second time in the Konkol era, the University of Tulsa men's basketball team crossed the century mark, taking down Arkansas-Pine Bluff 103-80 in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Saturday afternoon.
Junior guard Isaiah Barnes scored a game-high and career-high 22 points to lead four in double figures. Keaston Willis scored 17 for the second straight game, Tyshawn Archie dropped 15, and Dwon Odom added 14. Braeden Carrington finished just under with nine points, while Ian Smikle and Jesaiah McWright each scored seven.
"We asked our team for a total team effort and to put 40 minutes together," head coach Eric Konkol said. "We had some game goals of improvement and that's, again, what this whole thing is about. Number one, we wanted to take care of the basketball and I'm really pleased to see just seven turnovers on there, so that was a good effort by our guys. We wanted to then share the basketball and get good shots, and to see the 24 assists is really, really important."
The Golden Lions also had four finish with 10 or more points, led by 15 from both Dante Sawyer and Zach Reinhart.
Tulsa tied last season's high with 24 assists in the win, the joint-most in Konkol's time as head coach. Odom dished out six, Archie five and both Carrington and freshman Jaye Nash found four teammates for buckets. It was Carrington leading TU on the glass with eight boards, followed by six apiece from Willis and Reed. Tulsa won the overall rebounding battle 38-34.
"We wanted to make them miss a little bit more and rebound," Konkol said. "I still think there are some things we can clean up on there – late shot clock and just awareness of being able to contest a shot and finish a play. Those are things we have to continue to get better at as we progress. I thought we saw some improvement in areas that we've been stressing in practice and give a lot of credit to the guys on our team. We've played a lot of people, everyone contributed – not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. That's what we asked them to do, and we came away with a nice win."
The Hurricane attacked quick and punished mistakes, scoring 21 fastbreak points and turning 20 UAPB turnovers into 30 points. TU also showed off its athleticism with seven dunks, including four alley-oops.
Where the Hurricane struggled in the first game at the charity stripe, TU finished 21-of-29 (72.4 percent) on Saturday. Free throws helped Tulsa build its lead as the Hurricane shot a perfect 15-of-15 in the first half and hit 18 free throws as a team before missing the first early in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
Tulsa didn't hit a field goal till a little more than five minutes into the first half on Saturday. Instead, an aggressive TU offense was rewarded with eight points off free throws before Isaiah Barnes knocked down a triple to put Tulsa ahead 11-7.
The last time it was a one-possession ballgame was after the Lions cut the deficit to 15-13 with 13:42 remaining in the half. From there, Barnes connected on a pair of free throws to spark an 11-2 run that saw the Hurricane go ahead 26-15 at the 10:48 mark.
UAPB fought to get the lead back down to seven, 31-24, with 7:46 to play in the half, but back-to-back triples from Tyshawn Archie and Braeden Carrington, and the lead was 13. That was the last time the lead would be fewer than double digits. The teams traded buckets throughout the remainder of the half before Tulsa scored the final five points of the half over 2:18 of game time to take a 52-36 advantage to the lockers.
Barnes led the way with 13 in the opening 20 minutes, followed by 11 from Archie, nine from Willis and eight from Carringotn. Willis knocked down all seven of his free throw attempts, and Barnes went 4-of-4 at the line as well.
IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
Tulsa came out with renewed energy in the second half and quickly put the game away. Tulsa opened with a 10-3 run before forcing a called timeout less than two minutes into the half. The Hurricane outscored the Lions 15-6 in the opening three minutes as the lead blossomed to 67-40.
Jesaiah McWright pushed the TU lead to 30, 89-59, with a steal and layup with 6:16 left on the clock. On the ensuing possession, Jaye Nash recorded a steal, found McWright and he finished on the other end again to make it a 32, which would serve as the game high. McWright got the lead to 32 a second time with 4:29 left on a 3-pointer to go up 96-66.
Freshman Ian Smikle did the honors of getting over the century mark. Graduate guard Ari Seals stole the ball and found Smikle down the court, who dropped in a layup to go up 101-73. Seals picked up another assist on Tulsa's final bucket, finding sophomore Tyler Behrend for a lay-in with38 seconds remaining. Pine Bluff connected on a 3-pointer to bring the game to its 103-80 final.
GAME NOTES
• Tulsa is 3-0 all-time against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
• Tulsa connected on its first 18 free throw attempts to open the game, including all 15 in the first half.
• TU scored more than 100 for the second time under coach Eric Konkol (107-78 vs UTSA).
• Keaston Willis had his 87th career double-figure scoring game and fourth in four games with Tulsa.
• Willis finished 9-for-9 at the charity stripe, becoming the 17th Hurricane to hit at least nine free throws and make all nine.
• Tyshawn Archie scored in double figures for the 13th time.
• Isaiah Barnes also reached double figures for the 15th time in his career and 20 points for the first time.
• Dwon Odom finished with 10+ points for the second time at Tulsa.
• Tulsa won the battle of the boards 38-34.
• Justin Amadi made his debut for the Golden Hurricane, playing 13 minutes off the bench and scoring five points, including an alley-oop off a Tyshawn Archie pass.
• Navy veteran Tyler Behrend scored two points and pulled down a rebound in six minutes on Military Appreciation Day.
The Golden Hurricane closes its three-game homestand with the Mayor's Cup against crosstown rivals Oral Roberts on Wednesday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Junior guard Isaiah Barnes scored a game-high and career-high 22 points to lead four in double figures. Keaston Willis scored 17 for the second straight game, Tyshawn Archie dropped 15, and Dwon Odom added 14. Braeden Carrington finished just under with nine points, while Ian Smikle and Jesaiah McWright each scored seven.
"We asked our team for a total team effort and to put 40 minutes together," head coach Eric Konkol said. "We had some game goals of improvement and that's, again, what this whole thing is about. Number one, we wanted to take care of the basketball and I'm really pleased to see just seven turnovers on there, so that was a good effort by our guys. We wanted to then share the basketball and get good shots, and to see the 24 assists is really, really important."
The Golden Lions also had four finish with 10 or more points, led by 15 from both Dante Sawyer and Zach Reinhart.
Tulsa tied last season's high with 24 assists in the win, the joint-most in Konkol's time as head coach. Odom dished out six, Archie five and both Carrington and freshman Jaye Nash found four teammates for buckets. It was Carrington leading TU on the glass with eight boards, followed by six apiece from Willis and Reed. Tulsa won the overall rebounding battle 38-34.
"We wanted to make them miss a little bit more and rebound," Konkol said. "I still think there are some things we can clean up on there – late shot clock and just awareness of being able to contest a shot and finish a play. Those are things we have to continue to get better at as we progress. I thought we saw some improvement in areas that we've been stressing in practice and give a lot of credit to the guys on our team. We've played a lot of people, everyone contributed – not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally. That's what we asked them to do, and we came away with a nice win."
The Hurricane attacked quick and punished mistakes, scoring 21 fastbreak points and turning 20 UAPB turnovers into 30 points. TU also showed off its athleticism with seven dunks, including four alley-oops.
Where the Hurricane struggled in the first game at the charity stripe, TU finished 21-of-29 (72.4 percent) on Saturday. Free throws helped Tulsa build its lead as the Hurricane shot a perfect 15-of-15 in the first half and hit 18 free throws as a team before missing the first early in the second half.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF . . .
Tulsa didn't hit a field goal till a little more than five minutes into the first half on Saturday. Instead, an aggressive TU offense was rewarded with eight points off free throws before Isaiah Barnes knocked down a triple to put Tulsa ahead 11-7.
The last time it was a one-possession ballgame was after the Lions cut the deficit to 15-13 with 13:42 remaining in the half. From there, Barnes connected on a pair of free throws to spark an 11-2 run that saw the Hurricane go ahead 26-15 at the 10:48 mark.
UAPB fought to get the lead back down to seven, 31-24, with 7:46 to play in the half, but back-to-back triples from Tyshawn Archie and Braeden Carrington, and the lead was 13. That was the last time the lead would be fewer than double digits. The teams traded buckets throughout the remainder of the half before Tulsa scored the final five points of the half over 2:18 of game time to take a 52-36 advantage to the lockers.
Barnes led the way with 13 in the opening 20 minutes, followed by 11 from Archie, nine from Willis and eight from Carringotn. Willis knocked down all seven of his free throw attempts, and Barnes went 4-of-4 at the line as well.
IN THE SECOND HALF . . .
Tulsa came out with renewed energy in the second half and quickly put the game away. Tulsa opened with a 10-3 run before forcing a called timeout less than two minutes into the half. The Hurricane outscored the Lions 15-6 in the opening three minutes as the lead blossomed to 67-40.
Jesaiah McWright pushed the TU lead to 30, 89-59, with a steal and layup with 6:16 left on the clock. On the ensuing possession, Jaye Nash recorded a steal, found McWright and he finished on the other end again to make it a 32, which would serve as the game high. McWright got the lead to 32 a second time with 4:29 left on a 3-pointer to go up 96-66.
Freshman Ian Smikle did the honors of getting over the century mark. Graduate guard Ari Seals stole the ball and found Smikle down the court, who dropped in a layup to go up 101-73. Seals picked up another assist on Tulsa's final bucket, finding sophomore Tyler Behrend for a lay-in with38 seconds remaining. Pine Bluff connected on a 3-pointer to bring the game to its 103-80 final.
GAME NOTES
• Tulsa is 3-0 all-time against Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
• Tulsa connected on its first 18 free throw attempts to open the game, including all 15 in the first half.
• TU scored more than 100 for the second time under coach Eric Konkol (107-78 vs UTSA).
• Keaston Willis had his 87th career double-figure scoring game and fourth in four games with Tulsa.
• Willis finished 9-for-9 at the charity stripe, becoming the 17th Hurricane to hit at least nine free throws and make all nine.
• Tyshawn Archie scored in double figures for the 13th time.
• Isaiah Barnes also reached double figures for the 15th time in his career and 20 points for the first time.
• Dwon Odom finished with 10+ points for the second time at Tulsa.
• Tulsa won the battle of the boards 38-34.
• Justin Amadi made his debut for the Golden Hurricane, playing 13 minutes off the bench and scoring five points, including an alley-oop off a Tyshawn Archie pass.
• Navy veteran Tyler Behrend scored two points and pulled down a rebound in six minutes on Military Appreciation Day.
The Golden Hurricane closes its three-game homestand with the Mayor's Cup against crosstown rivals Oral Roberts on Wednesday in the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
Team Stats
UAPB
Tulsa
FG%
.517
.493
3FG%
.345
.308
FT%
.800
.724
RB
34
38
TO
20
7
STL
4
14
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
7
3FGM
3
FTM
5
Pts
17
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
9
Pts
15
FGM
7
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
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