Golden Hurricane Takes on Pirates in Second Round of the American Athletic Conference Championship Thursday

2024 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship - Second Round GAME #31: #9 Tulsa (16-14, 7-11 AAC) vs. #8 East Carolina (14-17, 7-11 AAC)
Date/Time:	Thursday • March 14, 2024 • 11:30 a.m. (CT)
Site:	Dickies Arena (13,550) • Fort Worth, Texas
Coaches:	Tulsa – Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire, '00), 2nd Season East Carolina – Michael Schwartz (Texas '99), 2nd Season
TV:	ESPN U \| Mike Corey (PxP) and Perry Clark (Analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM / Varsity Sports App (Bruce Howard & JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	32nd Meeting \| Tulsa leads 23-8
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Game Notes:	Tulsa (PDF) \| ECU (PDF)

FORT WORTH, Texas –– After securing the ninth seed for the 2024 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship, the University of Tulsa will face East Carolina in the second round on Thursday morning inside Dickies Arena.

Tipoff is set for 11:30 a.m. and the game will air on ESPNU with Mike Corey and Perry Clark bringing fans the action. TU 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.

This is the ninth conference tournament Tulsa (16-14, 7-11 The American) will compete in as members of The American and the first time the Hurricane will face ECU (14-17, 7-11 The American). Prior to joining the AAC, East Carolina and TU have met three other times in conference tournament play, all in Conference USA. The Hurricane came away victorious in each meeting, with the last coming in 2013, a 79-72 win in the BOK Center in Tulsa.

Overall, the Hurricane is 23-8 against the Pirates and 3-0 in neutral site games. However, ECU has won five straight in the series, its lone winning streak. Earlier in the conference season, the teams battled it out in Greenville, N.C. with the Pirates escaping with a 62-57 win in Tulsa's first road game of conference play. It tied for Tulsa's second-lowest scoring output of the season. The game was back and forth and tied with a minute remaining. East Carolina knocked down a second-chance 3-pointer in the corner to take the lead for good.

The American Athletic Freshman of the Year, All-Conference Third Team and All-Freshman Team selection PJ Haggerty leads Tulsa in scoring heading into the tournament. Haggerty's 20.9 points per game is the 18th best in the nation and second best the conference. Cobe Williams is the other Hurricane to average double figures in scoring at 13.2 points per game.

Williams and Haggerty each picked up conference weekly awards for the final week, with Haggerty earning his 14th Freshman of the Week and Williams getting named to the honor roll for their role in Tulsa's upset of No. 24 South Florida on Senior Day, giving Tulsa a boost of momentum heading into the championship. Haggerty scored a career-high 32 points and pulled down seven rebounds with five assists, while Williams recorded 23 points and 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.

The Pirates have hit a bit of a rough stretch heading into tournament play, dropping five straight right after a three-game winning streak that had ECU poised to make a move in the conference standings. All-AAC Third Team member RJ Felton averages 17.3 points to lead the Pirates. Brandon Johnson (14.0 ppg) is the team's second leading scorer, and he and Felt swap places on the glass. Johnson pulls down a team-best 8.4 rebounds per contest, while Felton snags 6.2. Ezra Ausar is the third Pirate to score in double figures at 10.7 points per game.

The winner of Thursday morning's contest will move on to face the top-seeded South Florida Bulls on Friday at noon. A win for TU would set up an interesting rematch as Tulsa is one of only two teams to take down the Bulls in conference play, and that game happened less than a week ago. The quarterfinal matchup will air on ESPN2.

Golden Hurricane Takes on Pirates in Second Round of the American Athletic Conference Championship Thursday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

PJ Haggerty

Cobe Williams