Transferring from a school where you have had success is always a risky matter. But for Curran Scott, he is very happy with his decision to transfer to Tulsa and play in his home state.
“It’s fun. My family is at every game. You can see them in the stands,” said Scott of playing for TU. “Then I’ve got friends who come to the games. Just being around familiar faces is always enjoyable.”
Scott, a 6-foot-4 junior guard from Edmond, transferred from Charlotte of Conference USA where he had an outstanding freshman season where he averaged 10.5 points per game while playing 24.7 minutes per game. He connected on 45.2 percent from the field, including 43.9 percent on three-pointers.
At TU last season, the results were mixed. After a decent start, Scott had a stretch during the middle of the season where he wasn’t playing a lot. Overall, he averaged 5.9 points in 14.9 minutes per game, hitting 35.3 percent of his three pointers, and 39.8 percent from the field.
But he came on in the last part of the season. In his last four games, Scott averaged 10 points in 22.8 minutes per game, playing at least 20 minutes in all of those games. He hit 16 of 29 shots (55 percent) from the field during that span, including five of nine (56 percent) on three-pointers.
“Last year was a good year for me to build on, being my first year to play for Tulsa and for Coach (Haith),” Scott said. “I knew what I needed to work on for the off season. Hopefully I’ll keep on improving not only for myself but for my team as well.”
As for what Scott needed to work on, he didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Ball handling was one area I needed to work on,” Scott explained. “Working on overall defense. I know I can score and do that stuff to help the team, but being able to help in other areas as well. Being a bigger guard and coming back and rebounding. Just little things like that.”
Scott has carried over from the end of last season and is clearly a major player in Tulsa’s rotation, often playing during crunch time. He has increased his numbers from last year, including averaging 7.4 points while playing more than 20 minutes per game.
Statistics are not a concern for Scott, except in the won-loss column. There is a definite positive vibe going on with the team. He certainly believes Tulsa will improve upon its record of 19-12 overall and 12-6 in the AAC in 2017-2018.
“We’re a little bit further along than we were this time last year just because we’ve got so many older guys and returning guys,” Scott said just before the season. “That makes it a little easier and makes a smoother transition into the year.
“Last year we started a little bit slow. Obviously, we don’t want to do that, but we were able to pick it up at the end. We had a good conference record, we were able to get the fourth seed in the tournament.”
Even before the season, Scott was certain Tulsa was going to get off to a good start under fifth year TU coach Frank Haith, who had recruited Scott out of high school.
“I think this year we just want to carry over the momentum from the end of last year,” Scott said. “Being farther along will help us because we won’t have a slow start like we did last year.
“We’re also a pretty fast and athletic team. More so than last year. So I think that’s one thing we can use to our advantage this season.”
Scott’s numbers dipped a little bit from his freshman year at Charlotte in part because of an increase in the level of play of the conference. But also, Tulsa had a better team than the Charlotte team he played for that finished under .500.
Still, Scott was able to see enough good teams as a freshman that playing in the AAC didn’t faze him.
