Tulsa Faces Temple in Second Round of The American Championship

GAME #32: #10 Tulsa (12-19, 6-12 AAC) vs. #7 Temple (17-14, 9-9 AAC)
The American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship - Second Round
Championship Cenrtral \| Championship Bracket
Date/Time:	Thursday • March 13, 2025 • 6:00 p.m. (CT)
Site:	Dickies Arena (14,000) • Fort Worth, Texas
Coaches:	Tulsa – Eric Konkol (Wisconsin-Eau Claire, '00), 3rd Season Temple – Adam Fisher (Penn State '06), 2nd Season
TV:	ESPNU \| John Schriffen (PxP) and Richard Hendrix (Analyst)
Radio:	Big Country 99.5 FM / Varsity Sports App (Bruce Howard and JR Rollo)
Live Stats:	Live Stats
Series:	23rd \| Tulsa leads 13-9
Twitter:	@TUMBasketball \| @TulsaHurricane
Instagram:	TulsaMBasketball
Notes:	Tulsa Notes \| Temple Notes

FORT WORTH, Texas –– Golden Hurricane men's hoops is in Fort Worth this week for the 2025 American Athletic Conference Championship in Dickies Arena. The 10^th-seeded Hurricane will face No. 7 Temple in second round action on Thursday evening.

Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPNU. John Schriffen and Richard Hendrix will call the game. Fans can also catch the contest on Big Country 99.5 FM and the Varsity Network app. Bruce Howard and JR Rollo will bring fans the action. The winner of Thursday's contest will advance to face No. 2 North Texas in a Friday quarterfinal.

Tulsa finished the regular season with a 12-19 record (6-12 The American) after knocking off Wichita State on the road for the first time since 2001to give the Hurricane momentum heading into the Thursday contest. Temple enters with a 17-14 record and finished 9-9 in conference play. The Owls also carry momentum into The American Championship after winning three straight to end the regular season.

Thursday will be the 23^rd meeting between the two teams in a series Tulsa leads 13-9. The Owls and Hurricane split the pair of meetings in the regular season with each team winning on the road. This is the first time Temple and Tulsa will meet in a conference tournament and the first neutral site meeting at all. That makes Temple the 37^th different team Tulsa has faced in conference tournament action across its four conference memberships, the Missouri Valley Conference, the WAC, Conference USA and now, The American.

Overall, the Hurricane is playing in its 47^th conference tournament and 10^th as a member of The American. Tulsa is 53-40 in conference tournaments for a .570 winning percentage. TU has six conference tournament titles, but still seeks its first in The American, where the Hurricane has a 3-9 record. Tulsa is 0-1 in second round games that aren't quarterfinal rounds, falling to East Carolina in that round a year ago.

Graduate guard Dwon Odom and freshman forward Ian Smikle earned The American season accolades this past week. Odom was named to the All-Conference Second Team, while Smikle was an All-Freshman Team selection.

Odom finished the regular season as Tulsa's leading scorer, averaging 13.5 points per game, he is one of the top-shooting guards in the nation, shooting 53.7 percent from the floor. He also dished out a conference-high 164 assists. Smikle led all the conference's freshmen in rebounding, pulling down 170 this season. That is the fourth-best total by a freshman in TU history.

Under second year head coach Adam Fisher, the Owls are poised for another run in The American Championship. In his first season, Temple won five games in conference play before putting together one of the biggest shocks of conference tournament season, knocking off UTSA, SMU, Charlotte and Florida Atlantic in four days to make the championship game. The Owls ran out of gas, falling to UAB.

This year, the Owls nearly doubled their conference win total from a year. Leading scorer and second team all-conference selection Jamal Mashburn Jr. has not returned since the first game against Tulsa in Philadelphia. In that Hurricane win, Mashburn was held to 6-of-20 in the contest, but when he has played, his 22.0 points per contest is the top of the conference.

The winner of Thursday night's contest will move on to face No. 2 North Texas in Friday's quarterfinal round. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.

Tulsa Faces Temple in Second Round of The American Championship

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Players Mentioned

Dwon Odom

Ian Smikle