SIU looks to win their 4th in a row against a former MVC foe.
The Golden Hurricane started the year 4-2 but have since dropped 3 in a row. They have wins over Northwestern State, Oregon State, Rhode Island and common opponent Little Rock.
Tulsa is coached by Frank Haith in his 8th year with the program. Haith previously had head coaching stops at Miami FL and Missouri. His 3rd and last year at Mizzou saw their season get vacated due to violations. At Tulsa, Haith has made the NCAA Tournament once although in 2019-20 he had Tulsa as the co-champions of the American before the season got postponed. Overall, Haith is 127-87 at Tulsa.
Meet the Golden Hurricane:
In 2019-20, Tulsa had an unexpected run to being co-champions of the American Athletic Conference where they went 21-10 overall and 13-5 in the AAC. They weren't able to replicate that last season finishing 11-12 and 7-9 in the American and lost their best player Brandon Rachal to professional basketball. This season, Tulsa was picked 7th of 11 in the American Athletic Preseason poll.
What Tulsa has done well so far this season is limiting turnovers on the offensive end and creating turnovers on the defensive end. The Golden Hurricane are 72nd in the country in turnover % on the offensive end (16.9%) and 14th in the country in turnover % on the defensive end (25.1%). Their steal % on the defensive end is 58th in the country (11.7%. If you get late into a game and need Tulsa to miss free throws, you're probably out of luck as they're 43rd in the country in free throw % (76.6%). They don't seem to get to the line much though as they are 341st in the country in free throw attempts per field goal attempt (20.4%).
Tulsa's defense has been a major problem this year. The Golden Hurricanes are 321st in the country in effective field goal % against them (55.3%), 275th in the country in 3 point % against them (36%), and 335th in the country in 2 point % against them (56.5%). They're very similar to Southern Miss in that teams shoot a ton of 3's against them. Tulsa is 347th in the country in 3 point attempts per field goal attempts against them (47.6%) and 40% of teams scoring against Tulsa has come from 3 which is 17th in the country. Considering SIU has struggled from 3 this year, hopefully this is a get-right game for them.
The Golden Hurricane's leading scorer and rebounder this season is 6'7 Senior Jeriah Horne. Horne was a 3 star recruit out of Overland Park, KS and committed to Nebraska over offers from DePaul, Iowa State, and Kansas State. In his one year with Nebraska, Horne played 11 minutes per game and averaged 4 points per game and transferred to Tulsa after the season. After a redshirt year in 2017-18, Horne went on to average double digits in the two years after and then transferred to Colorado. In his 1 year at Colorado, Horne led the Buffaloes in scoring. Now Horne is back with the Golden Hurricane in his 5th year of eligibility and he's averaging 18.9 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game. Horne has been Tulsa's best three point shooter at 21-48 for 43.8% which is 202nd in the country. Horne is 134th in the country in defensive rebounding % (23.1%) and 107th in the country in free throw % (20-23, 87%).
Tulsa's 2nd leading scorer is 6'3 Junior Sam Griffin. Griffin spent 2 years at UT-Arlington where he was the main focal point of the offense before transferring to Tulsa this season. Griffin is averaging 15.8 points per game so far this season on 43.2% shooting. Griffin leads the team in possessions and shots and is 79th in the country in % of shots taken when on the floor (30.9%). Griffin has struggled a bit this year from 3 (20-59, 33.9%) but last season he went 55-138 from 3 (39.9%) last year.
6'3 Senior Darien Jackson comes off the bench for the Golden Hurricane and gets a lot of his points near the basket. Jackson was 4th in the country last year in 2 point % (48-65, 73.8%) and was first in the American in conference play in effective field goal % and true shooting %. This season, in his fifth year at Tulsa, he's 233rd in the country in 2 point % (62.2%).
People might be familiar with 6'9 Senior Rey Idowu because he played 2 years at Illinois State before transferring to Tulsa. Idowu averages 7.8 points per game but does most of his work on the glass averaging 5.1 rebounds per game. Idowu is 129th in the country in offensive rebounding % (12.0%) and 498th in the country in defensive rebounding % (17.5%).
Tulsa has 2 players ranked top 50 nationally in steal % in 6'3 Freshman Anthony Pritchard and 6'5 Senior Curtis Haywood. Pritchard is a local product from Tulsa and is 35th in the country in steal % (4.8%) and 168th in the country in assist rate (26.5%). Haywood leads the team in steals per game with 1.6 SPG and is 42nd in the country in steal %. Haywood was a 3 star recruit out of New Hampshire and played 2 years at Georgia Tech before transferring to Tulsa.
KenPom:
KenPom has #148 Tulsa beating #135 SIU 63-61 and gives SIU a 43% chance of winning.
Past Tulsa/SIU games on Youtube:
1990: 3/4 SIU 75 Tulsa 65 (MVC Tournament Semifinals)
1995: 3/6 SIU 77 Tulsa 62 (MVC Tournament Final)
Links:
Bryan Mullins Press Conference 12/9/21
Steven Verplancken Interview with Mike Reis
I believe this game will come down to 3ptr's. If SIU shoots well, they should win. If they don't shoot well, it will be a grind out game and will be more difficult to grab a win on the road.
We need this one, but it will take a complete game seeing that it's on the road. Hopefully we can nab this one and string a few more wins before a likely Top 25 San Francisco comes to Carbondale.
San Fran is a road trip.
I’m not seeing any TV for SF game. If that’s true, it would be a shame. One of the few non-conference games worth watching.
San Fran is a road trip.
I’m not seeing any TV for SF game. If that’s true, it would be a shame. One of the few non-conference games worth watching.
I think all their home games have been broadcast online so hopefully this one gets picked up. Especially since they might be a ranked team by then.
I've seen a bit of Tulsa this year, including their loss the other night to Loyola Marymount. Very winnable game, but won't be easy (and I'm assuming Southern will be a slight underdog on the road). Horne-Domask should be a pretty fun matchup, and will help Marcus tune up for some of the tough, physical wing forwards coming his way in Valley play.
It would be nice to win out going into the San Francisco road trip (they're 10-0 after beating Fresno last night) and start playing more consistent ball heading into a very tough early January schedule in MVC play.
San Fran is a road trip.
I’m not seeing any TV for SF game. If that’s true, it would be a shame. One of the few non-conference games worth watching.
I think all their home games have been broadcast online so hopefully this one gets picked up. Especially since they might be a ranked team by then.
WCC Network broadcasts some games but not this one evidently. https://wccsports.com/watch/?id=6114165012001
I've seen a bit of Tulsa this year, including their loss the other night to Loyola Marymount. Very winnable game, but won't be easy (and I'm assuming Southern will be a slight underdog on the road). Horne-Domask should be a pretty fun matchup, and will help Marcus tune up for some of the tough, physical wing forwards coming his way in Valley play.
It would be nice to win out going into the San Francisco road trip (they're 10-0 after beating Fresno last night) and start playing more consistent ball heading into a very tough early January schedule in MVC play.
Saw some of that game. Tulsa's not very good IMO but it's a road game. They did whip UALR like we should have.
Is there any word on Brown's status for the game?
No updates from the press conference today because the two media members didn't ask him about the health of the team. Bucky Dent has taken over from Heff and the channel 3 guy were the only 2 on the press conference call and the questions they asked weren't exactly hard hitting or insightful.
People hated Heff but now there's barely any coverage of the team
People hated Heff but now there's barely any coverage of the team
Not sure why The Southern can't at least try to find an up-and-comer/recent grad with some talent who can work cheap for a few years (like Paul Klee back in the day). I hope they're exploring that but wouldn't bet on it. I could see a recent grad excited to work an MVC beat, especially if The Southern continues to invest in sending the beat writer on the road as they have (one of the few things the paper has done right when it comes to Saluki coverage).
In the meantime, here are some storylines that have been ignored/are begging for exploration:
- Rationale for redshirting Wonders/Ebube, especially with guard depth being so strained in recent weeks, and talking to them both about their mindsets about redshirting
- Loyola bolts the MVC. Mullins used to coach there. What does he think?
- Why are there two non-D-I opponents coming up this month, especially with few underclassmen playing to get much value from the minutes?
- How is Banks adjusting to playing with a broken nose, and what are his thoughts about his scoring struggles this year?
- WTF is up with Brown's back?
- Update on the AD search?
You're welcome, Bucky. 😀
