P.J. Haggerty's performance had the look of what a true Tulsa legend looks like.
Although Haggerty isn't quite there yet as a legend for his career, his incredible freshmen season continued. His 30 points and 10 rebounds boosted Tulsa to a 93-82 overtime victory over Rice on Saturday afternoon on Legends Day for TU in front of a crowd of 3,665 at the Reynolds Center.
With bonafide Tulsa greats like Gary Collier, Eric Coley and Jim King at the Reynolds Center, to name a few, the vibe certainly was there to lift Tulsa over the top against pesky Rice.
"We talk about it a lot, that we are the 113th team in Tulsa men's basketball history," said second-year Tulsa coach Eric Konkol. "We are a part of something so much bigger than ourselves. Our staff has taken a personal pride in making sure that our former players know that they are always welcome back."
Tulsa (13-12, 4-9 AAC) came through with its second win of the season over the Owls, although it was certainly a struggle to finally put away a Rice team that wouldn't go away.
"It means a lot. Coach Konkol told us about Legends Day and what it meant to the Tulsa community," Haggerty said. "We took it into the game, with them supporting us, we just tried to come out with a win and make everybody happy."
From a 43-43 halftime tie to a game where the lead seemingly was constantly changing hands in the second half, there was no escaping this was going to be a tough one for Tulsa.
The Hurricane last trailed 79-77 after two free throws by Keanu Dawes with 1:09 remaining, but Haggerty quickly came right back with a driving bucket with a minute left to tie the game at 79-79.
Two misses by Rice followed before Haggerty could grab the rebound, but his driving runner beore the buzzer missed, and it was on to overtime.
The Golden Hurricane's hot overtime start began with Isaiah Barnes draining a contested three-pointer 14 seconds into OT off an assist from Cobe Williams. Then it was Williams, who missed a three-pointer, who followed the miss with a rebound, that drew a foul at the 3:49 mark.
"We just told each other that we've got to come together and hit them first before they hit us, and that's what happened," Haggerty said. "We started scoring, and got a lot of big time stops. We took care of the ball tonight."
Two free throws later by Williams after Barnes' opening overtime three-pointer, and Tulsa was up 84-79. With Tulsa getting stops, Haggerty converted two free throws, and then a layup, followed by a shot clock beating three by Williams with 1:13 remaining in OT to put Tulsa up 91-80.
Two more Haggerty free throws led to a 13-0 overtime start before Rice finally scored with 19.9 seconds left.
Haggerty not only had a double-double, but also had 6 assists with only 1 turnover. He had a plus/minus ration of plus 20 in over 41 minutes of playing time. He came into the game averaging 19.8 points for the season, and 22.4 points in conference play.
Both teams played terrifically on offense for most of the game, with Tulsa hitting 11 of 24 three-pointers (45.8 percent), 22 of 26 free throws (84.6 percent), and 30 of 65 from the field (46.2 percent).
Rice (9-16, 3-9) was 30 of 66 from the field (45.5 percent), and 6 of 20 (30 percent) on three-pointers, as well as 16 of 23 on free throws (69.6 percent).
But it was in turnover ratio that Tulsa excelled the most on offense. Amazingly, TU went through the second half and overtime with only 1 turnover, and had only 5 turnovers for the game to go with 18 assists. Rice took care of the ball as well with only 9 turnovers.
"I thought our guys showed some toughness today," Konkol said. "P.J. was sensational, but we had so many contributions from so many different guys."
Tulsa looked like it might start to pull away early in the second half when it scored 10 consecutive points, including 7 straight by Matt Reed off the bench, to take a 53-47 lead. But Rice had the lead back with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Guard Traves Evee (6-foot-1) was the driving force for the Owls in the second half, with 15 of his team-high 21 points coming after the break. Like Evee, another fifth-year senior, Max Fiedler (6-11) had a good night, scoring 20 points, with 14 of those coming in the first half.
“I was very concerned about playing Rice because of all their movement, their action, and how you have to be so alert all the time,” said Konkol. “Give Rice credit, they’re one of the toughest covers. The way that they play, it’s so unique. The way that they shoot it and drive it, and how (Max) Fiedler orchestrates everything."
Williams, who has struggled for Tulsa the last few games, finally shook out of his slump with 11 points, adding 3 assists and 3 steals with no turnovers.
Other players in double figures in scoring were Jared Garcia with 14 points, and Barnes with 12 points.
Psychologically, it was incredibly important for Tulsa to prevail against a Rice team that, although it has talent, it is the only team Tulsa has beaten on the road in the last two seasons. A loss would have had Tulsa with a losing record this season, and would have sent TU into the rest of the season with a confidence problem.
"It's tough to beat a team twice in a year," Haggerty said.
As it is, the victory should energize Tulsa going into its next game, a Wednesday night road game at Wichita State (10-15, 2-10), which Tulsa defeated 79-68 on Jan. 31 at the Reynolds Center.
Tulsa's next home game is against Charlotte (16-8, 10-2) next Saturday night at 7 p.m. Tulsa lost 84-76 at Charlotte on Jan. 10 and got into a minor scuffle just after the end of the game with the 49ers.
