Whenever TU needs an easy win, dial up Temple at home. Because Tulsa clearly has Temple's number.

Jeriah Horne led Tulsa with 23 points and 7 rebounds as a relentless TU dominated Temple 70-44 on Friday night in front of 3,405 fans at the Reynolds Center.

For some reason, Tulsa (9-5, 1-0 AAC) destroys Temple at home. Every time. And what makes it interesting is that Temple (9-4, 1-1) usually has good teams. Temple was coming off a win at UCF.

Tulsa has made Temple its doormat In five games at the Reynolds Center since the 2015 season when the two teams have been in the same conference. In those five home wins, Tulsa has won by an average of 19.4 points. The lowest margin of victory for the Golden Hurricane's in those games has been 16 points.

Temple has gone to the NCAA tournament in two of those seasons (2019 and 2016), and is coming off a 23-8 season. But Tulsa is 6-0 against Temple at home, and 9-3 overall.

"Sometimes it's match-ups. I don't know," said Tulsa coach Frank Haith about trying to figure out why Tulsa clocks Temple every year at home. "They're a good team. They're a really good team. More than solid. This team has been to the NCAA Tournament many years. We beat a really good team. They're talented."

For Haith, Tulsa's success depends upon defense. And Tulsa was especially good in that department against Temple.

"I thought defensively we were outstanding. We had great, active hands," Haith said. "We were challenging shooters. we were rotating on drives, we were sealing down - we got a bunch of steals. That set the tone."

Tulsa's staple defense, the matchup zone, was augmented with effective man defense that Temple had trouble adjusting to.

"We played a lot of man, early. A lot of man. And that kind of got us going, early," Haith explained.

Tulsa had a whopping 13 steals (TU averages 7.8) against the Owls, with point guard Elijah Joiner leading the way with four. TU defended well in all areas, getting in the passing lanes, cutting off dribble penetration, as well as defending the three.

The Owls seemingly couldn't hit the broad side of barn all night, going five of 25 on three's, and shooting a season low 27.7 percent from the field.

"Offensively, I thought we shared the ball and we did some really nice things on that end of the floor," said Haith of Tulsa's 50.9 percent shooting from the field, and eight-of-21 performance (38.1 percent) on three's. "But it was all about our defense.

"We have to hang our hat on that. Our zone, it takes time for the young guys to get a grasp of everything we do with it. But our veterans are good, and now we're beginning to see our young guys get better at it."

The game was a laugher for Tulsa from the early stages. A 12-4 TU lead was extended to 20-9, then to 30-14, and wound up 35-17 at halftime. There was never any time in the game that Temple even hinted at getting back into it. Cutting the margin to 15 early in the half was as close as the Owls would come.

TU was up 20 midway through the second half, and it just got worse from there for Temple. It was a thorough domination.

Brandon Rachal had another terrific night. Tulsa's leading scorer, rebounder and defender (averaging 14.5 points, 7 rebounds, 2.1 steals) had 19 points, five rebounds, three assists and a steal. Rachal was eight-of-13 (61.5 percent) from the floor, including three-of-four on three-pointers. For the season, Rachal shoots 51.1 percent from the field, and 25.9 percent on three's.

"Brandon was great tonight," Haith said. "He guarded their best player, and he scored."

Temple's best player, 6-foot-8 guard Quinton Rose, averaging 14.4 points coming into the game, scored 12 points, but only two points in the decisive first half, including one of eight from the field in the first half.

Tulsa's inside game was strong against a tall Temple squad, with Martins Igbanu leading the way with 14 points and six rebounds, while going six-of-eight from the floor. It was a good sign for Igbanu, whose production has been down somewhat this season.

Last season, Igbanu averaged 12.5 points and 5.7 rebounds while shooting a strong 61.6 percent from the field. Igbanu's averages this season were 9.5 points and 3.9 rebounds coming into the game, with a 46.6 shooting percentage.

"It was good to see Martins be an effective scorer, but the thing I was excited about is that he had six boards," Haith said. "And that is what we need out of him. Rebounding the ball, but also a guy we throw the ball into in the low post."

Igbanu responded well to coming off the bench, as 7-footer Manny Ugboh got his second start of the season. The junior juco transfer didn't score, but had four rebounds and two blocked shots in 10 minutes. He was averaging 2.2 points and 1.5 rebounds in 8.4 minutes, but only had one blocked shot all season.

"Manny's presence is a factor out there," Haith said. "There are things he does that may not show up on the stat sheet always, but he effects guys when they shoot the ball in the paint area.That's a good combination of both of those guys (Ugboh and Igbanu).

"It was good see Manny get out there and play with some confidence. Because that's the one thing I think he's stuggled with, is his confidence, a little bit. But I think you will see him grow as a player and get better and better. He didn't score, but he had a nice low post move, just missed it, but what he does on the defensive end is what I like."

Tulsa's next game is at 6 p.m. Wednesday night at Cincinnati.