Tulsa uses balanced attack to get past Loyola, 88-77

One play signaled that the Keaston and Cobe show was here finally for the Tulsa home fans.

And it typified what was a fun 88-77 win for Tulsa over a strong Loyola-Chicago Tuesday night in front of 2,822 fans at the Reynolds Center.

On the play, Cobe Williams leaped and caught a Loyola transition pass in mid-air around the free throw line for the steal. He then raced up court and dished to Willis, who drained the three-pointer with 3:47 remaining in the first half, giving Tulsa a 37-27 lead.

"We can read each other's minds, we can look at each other and know what we're thinking," said Willis of himself and Williams, who are in their third season playing together.

"I can just read when he's about to pass, when he's about to shoot. We both wanted to come here and lead these guys. We're a really good duo."

Willis led Tulsa with 15 points in just his second game back from recovering from a metatarsal foot bone fracture. It was Tulsa fans' first chance to see him and Williams together at the Reynolds Center after making up a dynamic tandem at Louisiana Tech the previous two seasons - the first one was under TU coach Erik Konkol.

After scoring 10 points at ORU Saturday night in his first game back from injury, Willis drained his first shot at the Reynolds Center after coming off the bench. It was a long range, contested three-pointer on an assist from Tyshawn Archie that increased Tulsa's early lead to 15-7 with 14:55 remaining in the first half.

The other half of the duo, Cobe Williams, didn't have a great offensive night, scoring only 7 points in a team-high 31 minutes, but did add 4 assists to only 2 turnovers, and had 2 steals and 2 rebounds. He came into the game averaging 14.8 points.

And speaking of Archie, the 6-foot true freshman guard had another dynamic night, scoring 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the floor, including 2 of 3 on three-pointers. Playing only 17 minutes, Archie also had 3 assists and only one turnover, 2 steals, and 2 rebounds.

Whenever Archie is in the game, he gives the Golden Hurricane an energy with his quickness and playmaking ability at point guard.

"He's an electric guy. He's a guy you try to put in space in certain areas," Konkol said of Archie. "He's growing. He's maturing. He's learning the details of the game, especially on the defensive end. But he's just going to keep getting better and better."

The 6-foot-3 Willis was 3 of 5 beyond the arc, and 6 of 9 from the line, and added 5 rebounds and 2 steals in 24 minutes.

"I thought the guys did a really good job of finding Keaston," Konkol said. "He's got big time range. Some of those three's he shot were from the parking lot. He can really stretch the floor like that."

Tulsa (5-2) rebounded after tough losses at ORU and Little Rock. With Willis finally on the court, Tulsa's lineup is evolving, and should certainly shoot the ball better.

The Golden Hurricane was 14 of 29 on three-pointers (48.3 percent), 26 of 51 from the field (51 percent), and got to the free throw line a lot, making 22 of 33.

Loyola-Chicago (5-4) is only a year removed from going to the NCAA Tournament, and two years removed from the Sweet 16 in 2021. And the Ramblers went to the Final Four in 2018.

A Rambers' assistant was overheard saying after the game, "Tulsa played like they were desperate to win the game. We didn't have that same type of effort."

Loyola, playing out of the Atlantic 10 conference for its second year after moving from the Missouri Valley Conference, has only lost to quality teams this season. The Ramblers previously lost No. 9 ranked Florida Atlantic 75-62, to No. 8 ranked Creighton 88-65, and to Boston College 71-68.

Like Tulsa, the Ramblers had a rough season last year (10-21), and actually lost to TU last season. But Loyola has a talented young team.

Jayden Dawson, a 6-4 sophomore guard, had 26 points and 7 rebounds to lead Loyola, including an incredible 8 of 11 on three-pointers. He had a plus/minus ratio of plus 10 in 28 minutes. He was averaging only 6 points coming into the game.

TU had a very balanced attack, with leading scorer P.J. Haggerty (16.7 per game) scoring 14 points, while Jared Garcia had 13 points and 6 rebounds, and Isaiah Barnes had 14 points (3 of 5 on three's). Matthew Reed had 7 points.

"It was a special thing to see, spreading the ball around. It was a total team effort," Konkol said.

It was a different TU starting lineup against Loyola, as the Golden Hurricane went smaller to match the quick Ramblers. Carlous Williams started in place of Reed, with Garcia moving to the 5 spot.

The Golden Hurricane only played 9 players, as Mo Keita and Jesaiah McWright didn't play.

Next up for Tulsa is Oklahoma State (3-5) at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City on Sunday at 5:30 p.m.