A good, no pressure setting could be exactly what Tulsa needed after its recent struggles.
In likely his last home game for TU, senior Brandon Rachal fittingly led Tulsa with 18 points and 6 rebounds as the Golden Hurricane cruised past the Northeastern State (NSU) Riverhawks 107-74 Thursday afternoon at the Reynolds Center.
"I thought Brandon played the game the right way and was outstanding," said Tulsa coach Frank Haith.
As expected, Tulsa (11-11, 7-9 AAC) got out to a huge lead early at 35-9 less than 10 minutes into the contest, and the game was never in doubt.
From that dominating start came a lull in Tulsa's sharpness where NSU (5-18 NCAA Division II) actually outplayed the Golden Hurricane.
Over the next 11 plus minutes, NSU outscored TU 30-18 and trailed only 53-39 a minute into the second half. But no worries. Tulsa got serious and proceeded to blow out the Riverhawks.
By the time Manny Ugboh's two-handed slam dunk put TU at the century mark with a 100-66 lead with 4:11 remaining, the game had deteriorated into what everyone had expected.
Austin Richie had 15 points (4 of 8 on three-pointers), and Keyshawn Embery-Simpson hit 4 of 5 three-pointers for 14 points. Darien Jackson had 11 points and a career high 7 assists.
Everyone who was healthy who suited up played. There were some fun highlights from the seldom used freshmen.
Peyton Urbancic hit two long, difficult contested three's in his first two shots of the game. Bradley Alcime followed his own missed three-point attempt with a hustle play where he rebounded his own miss and made the follow up shot while being fouled. His free throw popped up and almost hit the top of the backboard before going in.
"Peyton did a nice job. He can shoot the ball," Haith said. "He's a confident kid, so it's good to see him go out there and make some shots."
Tulsa players were laughing and having a good time, chest-bumping each other after good plays. It was a welcome sight after Tulsa's struggles the last two months.
"We've got good kids, so we got a lot of joy pulling for each other," Haith said.
Tulsa hit a sizzling 14 of 29 three-pointers (48.3 percent) and 40 of 61 (65.6 percent) from the field. Defense wasn't a strong point for TU in the game, however.
NSU was led by senior Troy Locke, who hit 5 of 5 three-pointers, and 8 of 10 from the field for a game-high 24 points. The Riverhawks hit 10 of 29 three's (34.5 percent) and 47.3 percent from the field.
"We didn't do a good job on him," Haith said of guarding Locke. "But we will tighten that up going into the tournament."
It was important for Tulsa to play the late added game to its schedule with its season finale at SMU canceled due to COVID-19 within the Mustang program. And it was good for Tulsa to have another game after yet another heartbreaking loss, this last time at UCF Tuesday night where Tulsa led late in the second half.
"In the tough losses we've had, we've lost 8 of our last 11, and 6 of those 8 we were within a possession," Haith said. "It's hard to get your team to keep getting up off the floor.
"I think this team has done well with that. After that Cincy loss, we went down to Central Florida and we played to win. After the tough loss to Central Florida, with one day prep, I thought we came back and competed."
Tulsa won't play again until next Thursday in the AAC tourney in Fort Worth.
