TU Releases Men's Nonconference Hoops Schedule

The University of Tulsa's 2013-14 men's basketball schedule features 12 post-season tournament teams and 11 teams that posted at least 20 victories in the 2012-13 season, it was announced today.

Four conference champions – Creighton (MVC), Louisiana Tech (WAC), North Texas (Sun Belt) and Texas Southern (SWAC) – are among Tulsa's opponents. Among the post-season tournament teams on the Hurricane schedule are four NCAA teams, four NIT teams and three teams that advanced to the CollegeInsider.com Post-season Tournament. In addition, 11 TU opponents ended last season in the top-100 of the RPI, including non-conference foes Wichita State (18), Creighton (22), Oklahoma (44) and Maryland (62).

"We have put together a schedule for this season that will challenge us in the non-conference portion and prepare us for our conference schedule," TU Head Coach Danny Manning said.

Tulsa tips off the regular season against cross-town rival Oral Roberts on Sunday, November 10th with a 5:05 p.m. tip-off time. Tulsa leads the series 32-16 and has won the last four games, including a 17-point come-from-behind 72-68 victory a year ago at the ORU Mabee Center.

The Hurricane will then play four straight games against former Missouri Valley Conference opponents –– Missouri State, Wichita State, Creighton and Indiana State – including two on the road, one home game and one at a neutral site.

"To open the season at home against cross-town rival Oral Roberts is great for our team and our fans, and for the city of Tulsa," Manning said. "Then we play Wichita State at home, which made the Final Four last year. Those are two very good opponents to begin our home schedule, and should provide a lot of early-season excitement for our fans and good experience for our fairly young team."

Tulsa travels north across the Missouri border to face the Missouri State Bears on November 16th for the second game of the season as the Hurricane attempts to tie the overall series record at 19. The Hurricane won last year's home contest, 61-42, against the Bears making the series record stand at 19-18.

TU continues its most-played rivalry when 2013 Final Four participant Wichita State visits the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Wednesday, Nov. 20th. The series, which began in 1930-31, is nearly even through 122 contests as the Shockers took a 62-60 advantage with a home victory last season. WSU posted an overall 30-9 record a year ago, while losing to eventual NCAA Champion Louisville in the national semifinal game.

A road game at old Valley rival Creighton, now members of the Big East Conference, takes the Hurricane to Omaha, Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 23rd. Creighton won last year's game in Tulsa and went on to compile a 28-8 record, while winning the Missouri Valley Conference regular season and post-season titles. The two teams have played a total of 77 games as Tulsa leads the overall series 43-34.

Yet another MVC rival is on Tulsa's November slate as the Hurricane will face Indiana State in the first round of the Great Alaska Shootout in Anchorage, Alaska on Nov. 27th. Tulsa and ISU will be meeting for the 42nd time, but the two teams have not played since the 1995-96 campaign. Tulsa has a 27-14 series advantage against the Sycamores. In second round tournament action, Tulsa will face either TCU or Alaska-Anchorage on Nov. 29th, while the final tournament game will be played on Nov. 30th. Other tournament participants include Pepperdine, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Denver and Harvard.

Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center to begin the December portion of the schedule with back-to-back home games against Texas Southern (Dec. 4) and UALR (Dec. 7). Texas Southern won the Southwestern Athletic Conference regular season title last year with a league mark of 16-2, while UALR of the Sun Belt Conference finished the campaign with a 17-15 record.

This is the first meeting between Tulsa and Texas Southern, while the Tulsa and UALR stand at 3-3 in the series with each team winning on their own home court.

Tulsa travels two hours west on the Turner Turnpike to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, December 14th in the first of a new two-game series. The last meeting between the two schools came on Dec. 7, 2008 at the BOK Center in Tulsa as the No. 6-ranked Sooners claimed victory. OU leads the series 28-12.

Grand Canyon University is the final home game of the 2013 portion of the Golden Hurricane schedule, as the Antelopes come to town on Dec. 18th. GCU is coached by former NBA star Dan Majerle, who played 14 seasons in the NBA, including eight years with the Phoenix Suns. Majerle and Tulsa Head Coach Danny Manning were Suns teammates in the 1994-95 season.

Tulsa will close out the month of December with two road games, including one final game before the Christmas Holiday and one game following Christmas Day. Tulsa travels to TCU (Dec. 21) and Maryland (Dec. 29). Tulsa leads the series against the Horned Frogs, 22-10, and has won 10 of the last 12 meetings.

The only previous meeting against Maryland came in the 1964-65 season, as the Terps won that game 66-59 in Miami, Fla. The two head coaches, Manning for Tulsa and Maryland's Mark Turgeon, were teammates at the University of Kansas.

Tulsa will close out the non-conference schedule on the first Saturday of January with a home game against Cal State-Fullerton (Jan. 4). This is the fourth meeting between the two teams, as Tulsa leads the series against the Titans 3-1, but the schools have not met since the 1990-91 season.

"We are excited to have Oklahoma back on the schedule for the next two years," said Manning. "We will have some great opportunities to grow as a team through the first half of the season with road games at Missouri State, Creighton, Oklahoma, TCU and Maryland, as well as at the Great Alaska Shootout. With those first 14 games, we should be prepared for a new and challenging Conference USA slate this year."

Tulsa's Conference USA schedule will get started with consecutive home games against two 20+-win teams from last year, including 20-15 Tulane and 27-10 Southern Miss.

The C-USA slate this year has moved games to Thursday and Saturday, instead of the Wednesday-Saturday game dates that have been common the past eight years. The league schedule calls for teams to play 14 opponents once and a 15th opponent twice. Tulsa and North Texas will face off twice this year in the new-look Conference USA.

The Green Wave comes to town on Thursday, January 9th, followed by a visit from Southern Miss on Jan. 12th for the only meetings of the season between the teams. Tulane posted a 20-15 record last year and appeared in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament, while the Golden Eagles posted an overall 27-10 record and played in the NIT. Tulsa leads the Tulane series 10-5, and the Southern Miss series 6-5.

Tulsa takes to the road for a two-game swing against new C-USA member Charlotte (Jan. 16) and Marshall (Jan. 18). Tulsa has a 3-0 record against Charlotte, while the last meeting came on Jan. 10, 2009 when Tulsa captured a 65-50 victory in Charlotte. The 49ers posted an overall 21-12 record as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference last year and played in the post-season NIT. Tulsa leads the Marshall series 8-5, but the Thundering Herd has won the last two games.

Another new addition to C-USA, Middle Tennessee, winners of the Sun Belt Conference with an overall 28-6 record and 19-1 league mark a year ago, visits the Reynolds Center on Jan. 23rd. This is the first meeting between Tulsa and Middle Tennessee. UAB comes to town two days later to face the Hurricane on Saturday, Jan. 25th, as Tulsa will be trying to equal the series at eight games apiece.

Two of Tulsa's former conference opponents are back as C-USA foes in 2013-14. North Texas was a member of the old Missouri Valley Conference with the Hurricane, while Tulsa and Louisiana Tech were members of the Western Athletic Conference together.

Tulsa begins the month of February against the North Texas Mean Green (Feb. 1) at the Reynolds Center before taking to the road to face the La. Tech Bulldogs (Feb. 6). La. Tech posted a 27-7 record and finished the regular season in first place in the WAC with a 16-6 league mark, but played in the NIT after losing in the WAC Tournament. Tulsa leads the UNT series, 37-13, while La. Tech leads the series 6-4.

Tulsa continues the road trip two days later against the Rice Owls on Saturday, Feb. 8th. Tulsa leads the series against the Owls by a count of 27-6 and has won the last 14 games.

The Hurricane will then travel to the east coast to face East Carolina (Feb. 13) and C-USA newcomer Old Dominion (Feb. 15). The Pirates posted an overall 23-12 record last year and won the CollegeInsider.com post-season championship. Tulsa has a 10-2 series advantage against ECU. The Pirates snapped an eight-game series losing streak with a road win against the Hurricane last year, but Tulsa captured a 79-72 victory in the C-USA Championship quarterfinal game.

Tulsa closes out the month of February with three straight road games against C-USA newcomers Florida Atlantic (Feb. 20), FIU (Feb. 22) and longtime rival, the UTEP Miners, on Feb. 27th. Tulsa has never before played FAU, but has a 1-0 record against FIU with the lone victory coming in the 2009-10 season. Tulsa and UTEP have played a total of 47 times as the Hurricane leads the overall series 29-18.

With March Madness approaching, Tulsa closes out the regular season with two games in the month of March, including a Sunday home finale against C-USA newcomer UTSA (Mar. 2) and the second match-up of the season against North Texas with a road contest on March 6th. Tulsa leads the UTSA series 4-0 as the last meeting came in the 2010-11 campaign.

The league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship will be on the line, March 11-15, as Conference USA's 16 teams will converge on the city of El Paso, Texas, for the 2014 C-USA Championship.

Tulsa will play one exhibition game this year against the Haskell Indiana Nations on Oct. 31 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tip-off is slated for 7:05 p.m.