Tuesday, March 17
Tulsa, Okla.
8 p.m.
Tulsa
vs
Stephen F. Austin
Top-Seeded Tulsa Hosts SFA in Opening Round of NIT
3/16/2026 5:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
TULSA, Okla. — Playing postseason basketball for the first time in a decade, Tulsa welcomes Stephen F. Austin to the Reynolds Center on Tuesday in the first round of the 2026 NIT.
Date/Time: March 17, 2026 / 8 PM
Site: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Arena: Reynolds Center (8,355)
Radio: 99.5 FM KVOO Big Country, Learfield Network affiliates, and Varsity Network App
Talent: Bruce Howard (pxp) & J.R. Rollo (analyst)
Video: ESPNU
Talent: Pete Sousa (pxp) & Mark Wise (analyst)
History: SFA leads, 2-1
In Tulsa: SFA leads, 2-0
Series Streak: Won 1
STORY LINES
• Tulsa has won 26 games for the first time since the 2001-02 season and for just the sixth time in program history. The team won 25 games in the regular season for the second time in program history, also doing so in 1999-00 when Bill Self took the Golden Hurricane to the Elite Eight.
• This is Tulsa's 12th appearance in the NIT and first since 2014-15.
• Twice the Golden Hurricane have won the NIT, 1981 under Nolan Richardson and in 2001 under Buzz Peterson. Head coach Eric Konkol was a student assistant at Tulsa on that 2001 team that beat Alabama, 79-60, in the NIT Championship.
• This is Tulsa's first trip back in the postseason since 2015-16 when the team lost to Michigan in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.
• This is Tulsa's highest ever seeding in the NIT, the previous high was a No. 2 seed in the 2015 NIT. That same season Eric Konkol was an assistant coach at Miami and earned a runner-up finish in the event.
• Tulsa's starting five of Barnstable, Behrend, Green, Popoola, and Riley leads the American Conference with a +/- of +170. That ranks them third in the country as a group per EvanMiya.com, trailing five-man units for Purdue, Arizona, and Houston. SFA's best unit is fifth in the country at +153.
• Tulsa's 350 made threes this season surpassed the school record of 288 set in 2000-01 and broke the 2018-19 Houston squad's American Conference record of 337.
• Tulsa is one of four programs to use the same starting five all season along with: Merrimack, Oklahoma, and Stephen F. Austin.
• The Golden Hurricane have scored 80 points 23 times this season, breaking school record set in 1983-84.
• Nine of Tulsa's 13 American Conference victories have been by double digits. The Golden Hurricane have 16 wins by at least 10 points this season and 10 by 20 or more points.
• Tulsa has shot .500 or better from the field 12 times this season, breaking the program record set in 2009-10. They have also broken the school record with 16 games shooting .400 or better from three and are just the fourth team American Conference history to do so.
• David Green, Miles Barnstable, and Tylen Riley are the first trio of Tulsa players to earn All-Conference Team nods since Kevin Johnson, Dante Swanson, and Jason Parker earned All-WAC in 2002-03.
• The team reached the American Conference semifinals for the first time since 2014-15, also the last time the Golden Hurricane played in the NIT.
SERIES HISTORY
• This is the third meeting between the programs with SFA leading the series 2-1
• The Golden Hurricane won the last meeting, 74-51, in Honolulu, Hawai'i
• Eric Konkol is 1-1 in his career against Stephen F. Austin.
SEASON NOTABLES
• Head coach Eric Konkol reached 200 wins for his career in a 97-48 win over Rice.
• Tulsa won the Mayor's Cup despite Oral Roberts shooting .500 percent from the field and making 14 threes. Since the 2004-05 season per Stathead, it is Tulsa's first road win in which the opponent shot .500 percent or better from the field and made 10 or more threes. Last season, teams were 839-13 (.985) at home, shooting .500 percent or better from the field, and made more than 10 threes.
• The Golden Hurricane won their first in-season tournament, the Acrisure Holiday Invitational, since 2002 with a 63-60 victory over Northern Iowa.
• The Golden Hurricane have played three one-point games this season, with two in back-to-back games (Oral Roberts and Kansas State). It was the team's first back-to-back one-point finishes since 2011. The team is 2-1 in one-point games this season. It's the team's most one-point games since 2008-09.
• Tulsa's 117-point performance against UAPB set a new Reynolds Center facility record for points in a game. It was the ninth-most points in a game in school history and is the program's first game with 115-plus points since 2000.
• Tulsa received their highest ever NET ranking in the first batch of rankings, released on Dec. 1 at No. 27 in the country. The program's previous high was No. 52 back in 2020-21. Last season the Golden Hurricane finished ranked No. 271.
• Tulsa's 10-game winning streak was the program's longest since the 2014-15 season when they won 12 straight. It was the longest winning streak of head coach Eric Konkol's career.
• Tulsa went undefeated in the month of December. It was the team's first perfect month since January 2015 when the Golden Hurricane went 7-0 as part of that 12-game winning streak. The program last went undefeated in the month of December in 1983 when Nolan Richardson's squad went 7-0 before finishing the season 27-4.
• Tulsa's 97-48 win over Rice to open American Conference play was the team's largest ever margin of victory in an American Conference game and the second largest ever in a conference game in league history. Tulsa shot 13-of-19 (.684) from three-point range, the best mark in Reynolds Center history.
• Ade Popoola hit eight threes for Tulsa against South Florida (Feb. 4) matching Corey Henderson Jr. (vs. UConn, Jan. 3, 2018) and Jason Parker (vs. Wichita State, Dec. 4, 2002) for the second most threes in a game in school history. Only James Woodard hit more in a game with 10 vs. SMU on Mar. 8, 2015.
• Tulsa tied the program record with 18 threes in a game against Charlotte on Feb. 18.
• Ade Popoola pulled down 10 rebounds against UTSA on Feb. 22, becoming the first player for Tulsa to do so. Tulsa was the last team in the country to have a player record 10 rebounds in a game.
• Tulsa's 90-56 win over Tulane was the fourth-largest road win in program history and the team's largest since 2018.
• Head coach Eric Konkol was named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award by CollegeInsider.com, presented annually the Division I coach who wins with integrity on and off the court.
• Tulsa is 9-3 in coaches challenges this season.
OVER 80
• Tulsa scored 80-plus points in seven straight games from Dec. 2-31. It was the team's longest such streak since 2001-02.
• The team has broken the program record for 80-point games with 23.
• Tulsa has averaged 80 or more points in a season 14 times but not since 2001-02.
• Tulsa's top five scoring seasons by points per game with head coach and final record:
• 1983-84 (Nolan Ricardson, 27-4) - 90.8
• 2025-26 (Eric Konkol, 26-7) - 85.6*
• 1972-73 (Ken Hayes, 18-8) - 85.3
• 1970-71 (Ken Hayes, 17-9) - 84.2
• 1993-94 (Tubby Smith, 23-8) - 83.4
EFFICIENT OFFENSE
• Tulsa is among the top 25 in the country in points per game (85.6), scoring margin (12.6), three-point percentage (.388), free throw percentage (.781), made threes (10.6), and free throws made (18.7).
• Before this season the school record for free throw percentage is .753 (545-for-724) in 2001-02 by a team and .903 (121-for-134) by Rick Park in 1963-64. Those records are all in danger as the team is currently .781 (616-for-789) from the free throw line, while Tylen Riley (.880) and Miles Barnstable (.887) are within striking distance of the individual record.
• Barnstable is tied for fourth in league history from beyond the arc at .418 among players with 2.5 attempts per game. Damyean Dotson of Houston holds the record of .443 in 2016-17.
• Tulsa leads the American Conference in point differential (12.6), field goal percentage (.477), three-point percentage (.388), threes per game (10.6), and free throw percentage (.781).
• The Golden Hurricane would be the first school in American Conference history to lead the league in field goal, three-point, and free throw percentage.
• All 10 regulars in the Golden Hurricane rotation have had at least one game with 10 or more points.
• Tulsa is one of 16 programs with 23 games with 80-plus points, Alabama, Akransas, and High Point lead the country with 27.
• Tulsa is one of 11 schools to have 16 or more games in which they've shot 40 percent or better from three. Of those schools, only Tulsa, Miami (OH), Saint Mary's are undefeated in those games.
• Tulsa's .783 free throw percentage would rank third in American Conference history behing UConn in 2015-16 (.793) and UTSA in 2024-25 (.792). The team's .388 three-point percentage would be the fourth highest in American history behind SMU in 2015-16 (.420), SMU in 2016-17 (.406), and Houston in 2016-17 (.394).
ALL-CONFERENCE HISTORY
• David Green is the third Golden Hurricane player to earn All-First Team honors in the American, joining Martins Igbanu (2019-20) and James Woodard (2014-15 & 2015-16).
• Is is the sixth time in program history that Tulsa had three players named to the All-Conference Team.
• Miles Barnstable and Tylen Riley join Shaquille Harrison (2014-15 & 2015-16), Junior Etou (2017-18), and Brandon Rachal (2020-21) as players to earn Second Team All-Conference honors.
OTHER ODDS AND ENDS
• Tulsa is tied for 18th in the nation in Kill Shots per EvanMiya.com, which indicates a 10-0 run. Tulsa's 27 leads the American Conference and have only allowed seven all season, fewest in the American.
• According to EvanMiya.com, Tyler Behrend is third in the American Conference in +/- at +305. Tulsa features five of the top nine players in the league in that category, David Green (+270), Ade Popoola (+257), Tylen Riley (+247), and Miles Barnstable (+244). According to the website dating back to the 2009-10 season the following Golden Hurricane have finished above +200, Jerome Jordan +214 in 2009-10, Scottie Haralson +210 in 2010-11, and Steven Idlet +210 in 2011-12.
• Miles Barnstable was named to the State Farm Dunk and Three-Point Championship Watch List. The 37th annual event is slated to take place April 3 in Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and broadcast nationally on April 5 on ESPN at 12:30 p.m. CT. Barnstable leads the American from three, shooting .421 percent.
UP NEXT
• With a win the Golden Hurricane will advance to the second round of the NIT for the fifth time in school history.
Visit www.TulsaHurricane.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans can also follow the team on X, Facebook and Instagram.
Date/Time: March 17, 2026 / 8 PM
Site: Tulsa, Oklahoma
Arena: Reynolds Center (8,355)
Radio: 99.5 FM KVOO Big Country, Learfield Network affiliates, and Varsity Network App
Talent: Bruce Howard (pxp) & J.R. Rollo (analyst)
Video: ESPNU
Talent: Pete Sousa (pxp) & Mark Wise (analyst)
History: SFA leads, 2-1
In Tulsa: SFA leads, 2-0
Series Streak: Won 1
STORY LINES
• Tulsa has won 26 games for the first time since the 2001-02 season and for just the sixth time in program history. The team won 25 games in the regular season for the second time in program history, also doing so in 1999-00 when Bill Self took the Golden Hurricane to the Elite Eight.
• This is Tulsa's 12th appearance in the NIT and first since 2014-15.
• Twice the Golden Hurricane have won the NIT, 1981 under Nolan Richardson and in 2001 under Buzz Peterson. Head coach Eric Konkol was a student assistant at Tulsa on that 2001 team that beat Alabama, 79-60, in the NIT Championship.
• This is Tulsa's first trip back in the postseason since 2015-16 when the team lost to Michigan in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.
• This is Tulsa's highest ever seeding in the NIT, the previous high was a No. 2 seed in the 2015 NIT. That same season Eric Konkol was an assistant coach at Miami and earned a runner-up finish in the event.
• Tulsa's starting five of Barnstable, Behrend, Green, Popoola, and Riley leads the American Conference with a +/- of +170. That ranks them third in the country as a group per EvanMiya.com, trailing five-man units for Purdue, Arizona, and Houston. SFA's best unit is fifth in the country at +153.
• Tulsa's 350 made threes this season surpassed the school record of 288 set in 2000-01 and broke the 2018-19 Houston squad's American Conference record of 337.
• Tulsa is one of four programs to use the same starting five all season along with: Merrimack, Oklahoma, and Stephen F. Austin.
• The Golden Hurricane have scored 80 points 23 times this season, breaking school record set in 1983-84.
• Nine of Tulsa's 13 American Conference victories have been by double digits. The Golden Hurricane have 16 wins by at least 10 points this season and 10 by 20 or more points.
• Tulsa has shot .500 or better from the field 12 times this season, breaking the program record set in 2009-10. They have also broken the school record with 16 games shooting .400 or better from three and are just the fourth team American Conference history to do so.
• David Green, Miles Barnstable, and Tylen Riley are the first trio of Tulsa players to earn All-Conference Team nods since Kevin Johnson, Dante Swanson, and Jason Parker earned All-WAC in 2002-03.
• The team reached the American Conference semifinals for the first time since 2014-15, also the last time the Golden Hurricane played in the NIT.
SERIES HISTORY
• This is the third meeting between the programs with SFA leading the series 2-1
• The Golden Hurricane won the last meeting, 74-51, in Honolulu, Hawai'i
• Eric Konkol is 1-1 in his career against Stephen F. Austin.
SEASON NOTABLES
• Head coach Eric Konkol reached 200 wins for his career in a 97-48 win over Rice.
• Tulsa won the Mayor's Cup despite Oral Roberts shooting .500 percent from the field and making 14 threes. Since the 2004-05 season per Stathead, it is Tulsa's first road win in which the opponent shot .500 percent or better from the field and made 10 or more threes. Last season, teams were 839-13 (.985) at home, shooting .500 percent or better from the field, and made more than 10 threes.
• The Golden Hurricane won their first in-season tournament, the Acrisure Holiday Invitational, since 2002 with a 63-60 victory over Northern Iowa.
• The Golden Hurricane have played three one-point games this season, with two in back-to-back games (Oral Roberts and Kansas State). It was the team's first back-to-back one-point finishes since 2011. The team is 2-1 in one-point games this season. It's the team's most one-point games since 2008-09.
• Tulsa's 117-point performance against UAPB set a new Reynolds Center facility record for points in a game. It was the ninth-most points in a game in school history and is the program's first game with 115-plus points since 2000.
• Tulsa received their highest ever NET ranking in the first batch of rankings, released on Dec. 1 at No. 27 in the country. The program's previous high was No. 52 back in 2020-21. Last season the Golden Hurricane finished ranked No. 271.
• Tulsa's 10-game winning streak was the program's longest since the 2014-15 season when they won 12 straight. It was the longest winning streak of head coach Eric Konkol's career.
• Tulsa went undefeated in the month of December. It was the team's first perfect month since January 2015 when the Golden Hurricane went 7-0 as part of that 12-game winning streak. The program last went undefeated in the month of December in 1983 when Nolan Richardson's squad went 7-0 before finishing the season 27-4.
• Tulsa's 97-48 win over Rice to open American Conference play was the team's largest ever margin of victory in an American Conference game and the second largest ever in a conference game in league history. Tulsa shot 13-of-19 (.684) from three-point range, the best mark in Reynolds Center history.
• Ade Popoola hit eight threes for Tulsa against South Florida (Feb. 4) matching Corey Henderson Jr. (vs. UConn, Jan. 3, 2018) and Jason Parker (vs. Wichita State, Dec. 4, 2002) for the second most threes in a game in school history. Only James Woodard hit more in a game with 10 vs. SMU on Mar. 8, 2015.
• Tulsa tied the program record with 18 threes in a game against Charlotte on Feb. 18.
• Ade Popoola pulled down 10 rebounds against UTSA on Feb. 22, becoming the first player for Tulsa to do so. Tulsa was the last team in the country to have a player record 10 rebounds in a game.
• Tulsa's 90-56 win over Tulane was the fourth-largest road win in program history and the team's largest since 2018.
• Head coach Eric Konkol was named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award by CollegeInsider.com, presented annually the Division I coach who wins with integrity on and off the court.
• Tulsa is 9-3 in coaches challenges this season.
OVER 80
• Tulsa scored 80-plus points in seven straight games from Dec. 2-31. It was the team's longest such streak since 2001-02.
• The team has broken the program record for 80-point games with 23.
• Tulsa has averaged 80 or more points in a season 14 times but not since 2001-02.
• Tulsa's top five scoring seasons by points per game with head coach and final record:
• 1983-84 (Nolan Ricardson, 27-4) - 90.8
• 2025-26 (Eric Konkol, 26-7) - 85.6*
• 1972-73 (Ken Hayes, 18-8) - 85.3
• 1970-71 (Ken Hayes, 17-9) - 84.2
• 1993-94 (Tubby Smith, 23-8) - 83.4
EFFICIENT OFFENSE
• Tulsa is among the top 25 in the country in points per game (85.6), scoring margin (12.6), three-point percentage (.388), free throw percentage (.781), made threes (10.6), and free throws made (18.7).
• Before this season the school record for free throw percentage is .753 (545-for-724) in 2001-02 by a team and .903 (121-for-134) by Rick Park in 1963-64. Those records are all in danger as the team is currently .781 (616-for-789) from the free throw line, while Tylen Riley (.880) and Miles Barnstable (.887) are within striking distance of the individual record.
• Barnstable is tied for fourth in league history from beyond the arc at .418 among players with 2.5 attempts per game. Damyean Dotson of Houston holds the record of .443 in 2016-17.
• Tulsa leads the American Conference in point differential (12.6), field goal percentage (.477), three-point percentage (.388), threes per game (10.6), and free throw percentage (.781).
• The Golden Hurricane would be the first school in American Conference history to lead the league in field goal, three-point, and free throw percentage.
• All 10 regulars in the Golden Hurricane rotation have had at least one game with 10 or more points.
• Tulsa is one of 16 programs with 23 games with 80-plus points, Alabama, Akransas, and High Point lead the country with 27.
• Tulsa is one of 11 schools to have 16 or more games in which they've shot 40 percent or better from three. Of those schools, only Tulsa, Miami (OH), Saint Mary's are undefeated in those games.
• Tulsa's .783 free throw percentage would rank third in American Conference history behing UConn in 2015-16 (.793) and UTSA in 2024-25 (.792). The team's .388 three-point percentage would be the fourth highest in American history behind SMU in 2015-16 (.420), SMU in 2016-17 (.406), and Houston in 2016-17 (.394).
ALL-CONFERENCE HISTORY
• David Green is the third Golden Hurricane player to earn All-First Team honors in the American, joining Martins Igbanu (2019-20) and James Woodard (2014-15 & 2015-16).
• Is is the sixth time in program history that Tulsa had three players named to the All-Conference Team.
• Miles Barnstable and Tylen Riley join Shaquille Harrison (2014-15 & 2015-16), Junior Etou (2017-18), and Brandon Rachal (2020-21) as players to earn Second Team All-Conference honors.
OTHER ODDS AND ENDS
• Tulsa is tied for 18th in the nation in Kill Shots per EvanMiya.com, which indicates a 10-0 run. Tulsa's 27 leads the American Conference and have only allowed seven all season, fewest in the American.
• According to EvanMiya.com, Tyler Behrend is third in the American Conference in +/- at +305. Tulsa features five of the top nine players in the league in that category, David Green (+270), Ade Popoola (+257), Tylen Riley (+247), and Miles Barnstable (+244). According to the website dating back to the 2009-10 season the following Golden Hurricane have finished above +200, Jerome Jordan +214 in 2009-10, Scottie Haralson +210 in 2010-11, and Steven Idlet +210 in 2011-12.
• Miles Barnstable was named to the State Farm Dunk and Three-Point Championship Watch List. The 37th annual event is slated to take place April 3 in Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis and broadcast nationally on April 5 on ESPN at 12:30 p.m. CT. Barnstable leads the American from three, shooting .421 percent.
UP NEXT
• With a win the Golden Hurricane will advance to the second round of the NIT for the fifth time in school history.
Visit www.TulsaHurricane.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans can also follow the team on X, Facebook and Instagram.
Players Mentioned
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