TU's front line leads Hurricane to 72-53 exhibition win

As first exhibition games go, it wasn’t terrible, but what was most clear was that the new version of TU hoops could share the name of the 70’s Saturday Night Live moniker “Not Ready for Prime Time Players.”

Junior Etou, Jaleel Wheeler and T.K. Edogi looked the most ready for Tulsa as they combined for 42 points in the Hurricane’s 72-53 victory over Oklahoma Christian on Wednesday night in front of 3,240 fans at the Reynolds Center.

Not enough TU players really stood out, however, against an overmatched OCU team. But with 13 players sharing time, including 10 with over 10 minutes, nothing was really alarming, either.

“Playing a lot of different lineups, the cohesiveness was going to be a little (shaky) when you’re playing that many guys and running guys in and out,” said third-year TU coach Frank Haith. "Was it smooth all the time? No, but I feel good about it.

“These games are what they are, but I was encouraged with our effort on the defensive end. I thought we scrapped hard. We dove for loose balls and tried to take charges. That’s going to carry us.”

Etou and Edogi, as expected, formed a solid starting interior game for Tulsa. Etou, a 6-7 transfer from Rutgers, led Tulsa with 17 points, including a three-pointer, and 10 rebounds, in only 19 minutes. Edogi, a 6-8 junior who redshirted last season, had 11 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots in just 16 minutes.

“You look at a guy like Junior Etou - we’ve been talking about him and you see his ability and what he’s capable of,” Haith said.

The inside game looked perhaps improved over last season’s NCAA tournament team that went 20-12. But with nine seniors gone, and only two players returning who got playing time last season, it was expected that the overall cohesiveness wasn’t going to be great.

The perimeter game is the most worrisome, as not enough players stepped up. Replacing stars Shaq Harrison and Juice Woodard won’t be easy.

Wheeler, a 6-4 juco transfer from Kilgore (TX) College, looked strong in registering totals of 14 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes. He made 6 of 11 shots from the field, including a three-pointer, and tied Etou at nine points for the scoring lead at halftime.

Normally a shooting guard, Wheeler had to play some point guard as Tulsa was without 6-4 juco transfer Corey Henderson, who was expected to start at that spot. Henderson, who played for Blinn (TX) College last year after playing for Wichita State as a freshman, has not yet been cleared to play by the NCAA.

Starting at point guard was sophomore Sterling Taplin, who averaged 2.6 points and 9.8 minutes per game in 29 games last season. Taplin looked solid against OCU with totals of 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four turnovers in 20 minutes.

“I thought Jaleel Wheeler played very well. I thought Sterling was very efficient,” Haith said.

Wheeler was brought in off the bench for his scoring punch, although his performance in the first two inter-squad scrimmages and this game show that he is a starting caliber player.

The starters were Pat Birt, Taplin, Lawson Korita, Etou and Edogi. Also playing over 10 minutes off the bench, besides Wheeler, were Martins Igbanu, Travis Atson, Geno Artison and Corey Haith.

Will Magnay, the 6-10 freshman from Australia, had the dubious distinction of fouling out in only three minutes of playing time while scoring two points and grabbing a rebound. Joseph Battle and walk-on Alex Foree played but did not score.

Birt, Tulsa’s leading returning scorer from last season at 12 points per game, was cold, finishing with two points on 1-of-6 shooting.

Igbanu had eight points and seven rebounds in 16 minutes. The 6-8 freshman continued his strong inside play that he has showed in the two open scrimmages.

Although Etou, Edogi and Igbanu all looked strong inside, the best inside player of the game was OCU’s John Moon. The 7-0 senior from Crescent (OK), who has drawn some interest from NBA teams, had 21 points and 14 rebounds.

“Our bigs fouled too much and we’ve got to get better there,” Haith said. “We gave up way too many offensive rebounds.”

Korita, a 6-5 freshman from Little Rock, and Artison, a 6-9 sophomore juco transfer, both failed to score from the field, and didn’t do much. Atson, a 6-5 freshman, hit a three-pointer.

Tulsa finished a woeful 4-of-24 on three-pointers, and gave up 19 offensive rebounds.

"We’re going to shoot the ball better than that, but I don’t know that we want to take 24 three's when we’re not shooting the ball as well,” Haith said. “That’s something we’ll learn and get better from. I’m encouraged. I’m hoping we take another step on Monday and be better than we were today and get ourselves ready for our home opener.”

Tulsa plays Northeastern State on Monday and opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 11 at home against Jacksonville State.