The most intriguing thing about Tulsa’s game against Mississippi Valley State was to see actually how bad an opponent can be.

As it turns out, MVS was as bad as advertised. And Tulsa played relatively well.

Matt Reed led TU with 15 points, all in the second half, and grabbed 9 rebounds as the Golden Hurricane won 93-48 over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday afternoon in front of an announced crowd of 2,777 at the Reynolds Center.

Tulsa (5-7) got a much-needed victory and confidence boost, although beating MVSU may not really mean much. Still, a win is a win. And it is better than losing, which Tulsa has been doing a lot of lately, with four consecutive losses coming into the game.

Just how bad is Mississippi Valley State (2-10)? The Delta Devils lost by 72 points, 111-39, to Missouri. Several other 40-point losses are on the docket as well. When your only wins are against Mississippi University for Women, and Oakwood, that says something.

Anyway, Tulsa found its shooting touch at home after dreadful home performances in the last three home games against Little Rock, OSU and Southern.

MVSU shot 30 percent from the field. Tulsa shot 51.6. A lot of them were easy buckets. TU was 11 of 33 (33 percent) on 3-pointers, so it wasn’t like the Golden Hurricane was out of their minds.

Tulsa did win 79-50 at home over a Mississippi Valley State team last year that finished 1-30.

The Golden Hurricane were obviously more talented. TU, a team that struggles to get rebounds, out-rebounded MVSU 52-23. If there was a fight for a board, Tulsa was going to get it.

When walk-on’s Ben Radford, who got on the scoreboard with a field goal late, and Cal Conroy get in for the first time of the year, it is party time for the Golden Hurricane.

“Those two guys work extremely hard,’ said Tulsa coach Eric Konkol of Radford and Conroy, the latter the son of TU assistant coach Duffy Conroy. “All the weightlifting and practices. They have their role on the team. Any time you get a chance to get them in the game, it is a good thing.”

Ian Smikle (6-10, Fr.) started and had an early impact, scoring the first two points with a dunk. Smikle, who scored the first 5 points of the game, ended up with 9 points and 6 rebounds.

Leading 26-4 early, and 39-16 at halftime, Reed’s 15 second half points came in 11 minutes to lead a TU offense that scored 54 points in the half. Reed made 4 of his 5 three-point attempts, and was 5 of 9 from the field, overall, in 16 minutes.

“It is really nice to see. He’s put together two really good games in a row now,” said Konkol of the 6-10 Reed, who didn’t score in the three previous games before UCF, where he scored 10 in TU’s last game.

“He works really hard. He’s been pressing a little bit. He came in with a nice poise. He picked his spots, he got on the glass. He took good shots. I always tell the team, the higher the quality of shot, the higher chance it has to go in. He did a nice job.”

Tyshawn Archie provided spark from the beginning, as the dynamic little guard finished with 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 turnovers, and 1 blocked shot in almost 21 minutes.

Guard Antonio Sisk (6-1, Jr.), who averages 5.1 points, led Jerry Rice’s former school with 15 points in 38 minutes.

Tulsa's next game is at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 28 against Southwest Christian at the Reynolds Center.