Tulsa has proven that it is good enough to play everyone close, but is not yet good enough to close out games.

The Golden Hurricane had better turn things around, quickly, or the season could go into a free-fall.

Case in point was another close loss in a home game TU should not lose. TU couldn't close the deal against Temple, losing 69-64 in front of an announced crowd of 2,918 at the Reynolds Center on Wednesday night.

Tulsa (6-8, 0-3) was led by Jeriah Horne with 15 points and 7 rebounds, followed by Rey Idowu coming off the bench with 14 points (6 of 8 from the field) and 5 rebounds.

Most telling about the game was Sam Griffin and Horne - Tulsa's two leading scorers coming into the game at 16.9 and 16.8 points per game, respectively - were a combined 5 of 25 (20 percent) from the field, and 1 of 12 (8.3 percent) from beyond the arc. Horne was just 3 of 16.

Also telling is that Tulsa is 1-6 in games that have been decided by 5 points or less. That will change if Idowu has anything to say about it.

"We've been in a lot of close games, a lot of heartbreakers in the course of the season, but I think that experience will pay off, especially later in conference," Idowu said. "We're three games into conference, but I think we've learned some valuable lessons in conference and out of conference, and just what it takes to win, and what we've got to do to finish games the right way."

Not helping matters was the fact several TU players were coming off having Covid, which caused last Saturday's game at UCF to be postponed due to Covid on the TU team.

Griffin, who finished with 8 points, not only didn't start, but didn't play at all in the final few minutes of the game. When Griffin and Horne aren't at their best, an already borderline TU team becomes severely limited.

The brightest spot of the game was that LaDavius Draine is starting to show the long-awaited strong play the Golden Hurricane had hoped for coming into the season after he transferred from Southern Miss as their second all-time leader in three-pointers.

After starting the season scoring a total of 3 points in 7 games while playing a combined 37 minutes, Draine had scored 11 points in the previous 3 games in 28 total minutes.

Against Temple, Draine almost matched his previous season total of 14 points, scoring 12 points (4 of 4 on three-pointers), while registering 3 steals and 3 rebounds in 29 minutes after gaining his first start of the season. Draine was playing down the stretch and at the end of the game for the first time this season.

"LaDavius played a really good game for us tonight, and his best games for us are ahead of him," said Tulsa coach Frank Haith.

Tulsa was down by as many as 11 points at 31-20 late in the first half before coming back to cut the margin to 31-28 at halftime. Still, Tulsa appeared to be going nowhere in the second half, although still hanging in the game, down 38-34 after the first media timeout in the half at the 15:46 mark when Tulsa caught fire.

The crowd livened up after the Kiss Cam showed TU football coach Philip Montgomery giving his wife Ashli an enthusiastic, long kiss. After a made free throw by Temple coming out of the time out, TU went on an 11-1 run to take a 45-40 lead.

Temple (10-6, 3-2) was able to respond, however, and outscored TU 15-2 to take a 55-47 lead more than halfway through the half.

Tulsa was able to whittle the lead back down to 65-63 after a bucket by Idowu with 21.5 seconds remaining. Then Anthony Pritchard came up with what could have been the play of the game on the inbounds pass, drawing a charge with no time run off the clock while Temple standout Damian Dunn pushed off of Pritchard, trying to shake loose from tight defense.

With a chance to tie or take the lead, Horne drove the left baseline for an open layup with 16.4 seconds remaining in what would've tied the game. But the layup came up short, and Nick Jourdain hit two free throws to extend the Owls' lead to 4 points.

Horne was then fouled while trying to dunk the basketball, and made the first of two free throws, but missed the second with 11.3 second left, pulling Tulsa to within 3 at 67-64. But 44.7 percent free throw shooter Jahlil White made two free throws with 9.3 seconds left, and the game was over.

Dunn, Temple's leading scorer at 15.1 points per game, finished with 17 points. Jourdain scored a career high 23 points after coming into the game with an average of 5.5 points.

TU reserves Keyshawn Embery-Simpson and Josh Earley will miss the rest of the season due to academic ineligibility.

With a game against mighty No. 11 Houston coming Saturday, followed by playing at Cincinnati and at home against Memphis, and then a game at Tulane, Tulsa could very likely start off the conference season 0-7 before playing South Florida at home on Jan. 29.

The situation is dire, and somebody has to step up for the Golden Hurricane or the season could fall into the abyss.