Tulsa holds off Little Rock, 88-78

Tulsa’s aggressiveness in taking it to the hole, combined with refs who weren’t shy to blow their whistle, turned Tulsa’s game with Little Rock into a free throw shooting contest Monday night.

Martins Igbanu scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds - his third career double-double - including making 11 of 12 free throws, as he and TU overcame a slow start to defeat Little Rock 88-78 in front of a crowd of 3,118 at the Reynolds Center.

Igbanu scored 20 of his team-high 23 points in the second half on six of seven shooting in the half, as well as making all eight of his free throws in the half. He was 0 for 1 from the field in the first half.

“I think for the first two baskets I had in the second half I kind of hesitated, sucker faked (pump faked) a little bit, and I heard coach (TU coach Frank Haith) yelling 'just go up' right there, so I knew to go up right away,” said the 6-foot-8 Igbanu. “From there, it was just a matter of having a feel for it, knowing if somebody is around, just go up with it.”

As Tulsa kept feeding the ball to Igbanu in the second half, the tall front line of the Trojans couldn’t contain him, as Igbanu repeatedly went over and around Little Rock defenders to score and/or get fouled.

Tulsa (4-0) didn’t convert a field goal attempt in the first 8:30 of the game, falling behind 16-4 in a nightmarish offensive start to the game. Lawson Korita finally broke the streak with 11:30 left in the first half on a three-pointer, and Tulsa at last got something going.

“I think the biggest thing is not panicking,” Haith said of the slow start. “You can’t panic and take quick shots. Stay true to yourself. There’s not a 10-point shot.”

Still, Little Rock (2-2) held the lead until early in the second half when the Golden Hurricane once-and-for-all woke up from their daze. Tulsa’s low point in the second half was being down 44-37 in the first minute of the half.

But a bucket by Curran Scott started a 10-0 run, including Chris Barnes’ put back with 17:16 remaining that gave the Golden Hurricane the lead for good. It was also TU’s first lead of the game.

TU slowly built up its lead, going up by 10 at 68-58 with just under 10 minutes left. From that point on, TU’s smallest lead was six points, and the Golden Hurricane extended the lead to 13 points twice late in the half around the four and three minute marks.

Besides a slow start on offense, Tulsa’s biggest problem was stopping Florida Gulf Coast transfer Rayjon Tucker. The 6-5 junior guard had 21 points in the first half, connecting on seven of 11 shots from the field, including three of four on three-pointers. It’s a good thing for Tulsa’s sake that he made only four of his eight free throws in the half.

Averaging 16.7 points coming into the game, Tucker was on pace to more than double that total. But Tulsa clamped down on him in the second half, holding him to one of six from the field in the final half, as Tucker finished with 24 points and 10 rebounds.

“First of all, we needed to get back and set our defense,” Haith said. "Our transition defense wasn’t very good. They scored a lot of buckets in transition.

“We did a much better job of containing him (Tucker, in the second half). He’s a fierce driver. He made a couple of threes, but his game is getting in the paint area. I think we did a much better job keeping him in front of us. He was definitely the focal point of our defense in the second half. It was all about staying in front of him, making him take contested jump shots.”

Getting to the free throw line proved to be the difference in the game. Tulsa made 15 of 20 from the stripe in the second half after making 12 of 19 in the first half, finishing 27 of 39 (69.2 percent) for the game. Little Rock made only seven of 17 from the line in the first half, but made eight of 11 in the second half to finish 15 of 28 (53.6 percent) for the game.

Tulsa was able to win despite the Trojans shooting 51.8 percent from the field for the game. Tulsa made 48.3 percent for the game, but shot 58.6 percent in the second half.

Another key Golden Hurricane performer was DaQuan Jeffries, who had 15 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Also in double figures was point guard Sterling Taplin, who had 10 points, mostly on incredibly difficult drives, and he had eight assists and only one turnover.

The key first half player was Jeriah Horne, who had all of his 10 points and five rebounds in the first half. The 6-7 Horne added two blocks and two steals - one apiece in each category in each half. The Nebraska transfer also added two second half assists.

Also making strong contributions were Scott, Korita and Barnes, who had nine, eight and six points, respectively.

Tulsa won its second consecutive game in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitational. TU defeated California Baptist 82-79 in the first round Friday afternoon. The Golden Hurricane plays No. 6 Nevada in the third round of the tourney at 3 p.m. on Thanksgiving, and plays either Southern Illinois or UMass in the fourth and final game of the tourney on Friday.