Watching Tulsa basketball this week makes TU fans wonder what could have been.
Playing its best basketball of the season, TU won for the second consecutive game, this time hanging on to beat UTSA 80-76 on Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 2,827 at the Reynolds Center.
“It was a great win, and obviously a great week,” said Tulsa coach Eric Konkol. “I thought when we got shots, our guys were ready to knock them down.”
If only TU could have played like this all season.
Tulsa (11-15, 5-8 AAC) benefitted from the strong play of the trio of upperclassmen consisting of Keaston Willis, Dwon Odom, and Isaiah Barnes. All three were terrific this week.
Add another upperclassman, Jared Garcia, to the mix of standout performances this game, and the Golden Hurricane is going to be tough to defeat when they all play well.
Certainly, TU looked like a different team from its last home game where it got manhandled at home last Saturday afternoon by Florida Atlantic.
Willis again scored 19 points, like he did in TU’s upset win at Temple Wednesday night. In that game, Tulsa handed the Owls their only home loss of the season.
Barnes scored 18 points (7 of 10 from the field) and added 8 rebounds after scoring 14 at Temple. Odom scored 16 points again while displaying a gutty performance at point guard. Garcia had 16 points while going 7 of 8 from the field.
“I think I was making good decisions,” Barnes said of his strong performance. “Also, all credit to my teammates. We’ve been finding each other. And when we find each other, we’re pretty hard to stop.”
Konkol was certainly impressed with Barnes, who has continued to get better after returning a few games ago from a hand injury.
“I thought Isaiah Barnes, this week, his performance at Temple, and backing right up with his performance today, showed a lot of leadership and a lot of growth,” Konkol said.
The game against UTSA (10-15, 4-9) was basically won in the first half. The Golden Hurricane led by as many as 19, and held a 40-23 halftime lead. Both offensively and defensively, TU played its best first half of the season.
However, when Texas-San Antonio sharpshooters Marcus Millender, Primo Spears, and Raekwon Horton got going in the second half, it was game on. Tulsa did everything it could to hang on, and not let the Roadrunners catch up.
Horton led UTSA with 20 points, while Millender’s 19 points and Spears’ 18 points were mostly scored in the second half. Difficult, well-guarded shots began to fall as the TU lead dwindled.
Tulsa certainly remembered Spears, who dropped 40 points on the Golden Hurricane a little over a month ago in TU’s victory at UTSA where the Golden Hurricane overcame a 16-point second half deficit.
The Roadrunners were able to close the margin to just 4 points at 56-52 midway through the second half, but Tulsa was soon able to get the lead back between 7 and 11 points for most of the remainder of the second half.
It was only with 1:34 remaining where UTSA closed the margin back to 5 points. The Roadrunners again cut it to 5 with 29.7 seconds left. And it was a 3-point lead with 16.1 seconds left at 77-74. And again at 79-76 with 8.8 seconds remaining.
But UTSA never got a chance, with the ball, to tie the game. Tulsa made enough free throws down the stretch to make sure that didn’t happen.
With the season winding down, it looks like Tulsa has finally figured out how to play with its current lineup. A bit too late to realistically carve out a winning season. But it is nice to see, nevertheless.
If Tulsa had only been able to take care of business at home against the likes of Little Rock, Southern, Rice, and East Carolina (OT loss), and on a neutral court against Georgia State, this season would be tons different. Just win 4 of those 5 games, and Tulsa is 15-11 instead of 11-15.
Concentrating on what Tulsa does have, it starts with Odom. He is a dynamic point guard. Fun to watch. And Willis is finally hitting his stride in what Tulsa fans had waited for when he transferred to TU.
Barnes and Garcia are back from injuries. Although somewhat inconsistent, Barnes and Garcia, when playing well, make Tulsa a different team.
Tulsa next plays Wednesday night at North Texas (18-6, 9-3) in Denton. UTSA is the only team to defeat UNT in Denton this season. Then Tulsa plays at Rice (12-13, 3-9) Saturday afternoon in Houston.
