Better shooting and better inside play go hand-in-hand as far as Tulsa coach Frank Haith is concerned. And fortunately for TU and Haith, the Hurricane seems to be improved in both areas.
Sharpshooting point guard Sam Griffin scored 19 points to pace Tulsa in a 84-53 win over Northeastern State on Wednesday night in front of 2,500 at the Reynolds Center in the exhibition opener for TU.
The Golden Hurricane were wearing uniforms similar to the Nolan Richardson era of the early 1980's with blue and gold hurricane stripes down the sides on otherwise white uniforms.
Griffin, the UT Arlington transfer, finally got going early in the second half after Tulsa carried a 32-16 lead into halftime. Griffin scored 15 of his 19 points, including 3 of 4 three-pointers, in the second half where Tulsa increased the lead to 48-18 less than four minutes into the second half.
Jeriah Horne reminded fans what he can do after a year away from TU, scoring 15 points, including 3 of 6 behind the arc. Southern Miss transfer LaDavius Draine scored 7 points, making 1 of 3 three's.
"Sam, LaDavius and Jeriah are what we call Curry's," Haith said. "We had one guy like that last year. Now we've got three guys that can really, really shoot the ball and get it going. So that helps us."
Tulsa established its post game from the beginning, as 6-foot-7 Josh Earley, getting the start at center, scored 8 of TU's first 10 points to get out to a 10-2 lead. He split time with 6-9 Rey Idowu, who had 12 points and 7 rebounds, and 6-10 NEO A&M transfer Nikita Konstantynovskyi, who added 9 points and 7 rebounds.
The trio combined to make 12 of 21 (57.1 percent) from the field and finished with a combined 29 points and 16 rebounds. And even though NSU (5-17 in 2021 in NCAA Division II) wasn't the most talented team, TU wasn't going up against small college stiffs.
NSU's big men are 7-foot East Carolina transfer Edra Luster and 6-8 Arkansas transfer Emeka Obukwelu. Luster had 2 points, 5 rebounds and a blocked shot, while Obukwelu had 12 points and 6 rebounds.
"I wanted to establish our post guys," Haith said. "Those guys did a really good job scoring in the paint. It was important to get our post guys going so that can open it up for our perimeter guys.
"Josh had a rod put in his leg last year. I don't think people saw what he's capable of. He's been working really hard. I feel like we have three guys there, and Jeriah will play the five, too. I feel like we have a little bit more than we had there last year. So I'm excited about that."
Griffin, Horne, Earley, Keyshawn Embery-Simpson and Curtis Haywood started the game for Tulsa. Darien Jackson, Idowu, and freshman Webster product Anthony Pritchard were the first three off the bench, followed by 6-7 juco transfer Tim Dalger, Draine, and Konstantynovskyi in the first half.
Dalger had 6 points, including Tulsa's first three-pointer, Pritchard had 4 points, and Embery-Simpson had 3 points. Haywood and Jackson were scoreless, but Haywood had 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals, while Jackson had 5 rebounds and a steal.
"First time out I thought we were a little amped up, but our defense was really good," Haith said of holding NSU to 4 of 29 (13.8 percent) on three-pointers. "That's something we harped on since our Kansas scrimmage -- I thought we played pretty good defensively there, too.
"We've been really wanting to get better, particularly with our man defense. We didn't play any of our zone today, but we will. But I wanted to make sure we were really good, there."
The 32-16 first half wasn't pretty, and neither was most of the rest of the game. But Haith was overall pleased with his team, while knowing TU has a lot of room to grow.
"I've been a part of a bunch of these that haven't looked so well, so I was really encouraged with how we competed and started to create a little identity for this basketball team," Haith said.
Tulsa opens up the regular season next Wednesday night, Nov. 10, at 7 p.m. against Northwestern State at the Reynolds Center.
