TU To Host No. 14 Cincinnati In AAC Clash Wednesday Night

THE GAME  . . .
•   The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (12-8, 6-2 AAC) is in the midst of a three-game homestand with 1st place and #14 Cincinnati the second game of that stretch, followed Saturday by 2nd place SMU.
•   Tulsa is coming off of a 77-66 home win over UCF on Saturday, while Cincinnati moved to 19-2 overall and 8-0 in league play on Sunday with a home win over USF.
•   Tulsa is in third place in The American with a 6-2 league mark, behind first-place Cincinnati (8-0) and second-place SMU (8-1).
•   The last top-20 team to visit the Reynolds Center was #16 SMU last year as the Mustangs won 81-69 . . . Tulsa's last win vs. top-20 at the Reynolds Center was #9 Wichita State last season on Nov. 17, 2015 as the Hurricane won 77-67.
•   Tulsa's last overall win vs. a top-20 team was on the road over #16 SMU last Feb. 10, 2016.
 
THE SERIES . . .
•   This is the 35th meeting between Tulsa and Cincinnati, as the Bearcats lead the series 23-11.
•   UC had a series-long 14 game winning streak from Jan. 1958 thru Feb. 1963, when the two schools were members of the MVC.
•   The teams split last year's meetings with both winning on their home courts, Tulsa claiming a 70-68 OT win and Cincinnati winning 76-57 at home.
 
TULSA IN THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE . . .
•   Tulsa is in its third season as a member of the American Athletic Conference, after finishing its first year in second-place and placing in a tie for third-place a year ago.
•   Tulsa has an overall 32-12 record in its third season of American play.
•   Tulsa had league records of 14-4 in 2014-15 and 12-6 in 2015-16.
•   In the preseason coaches poll, Tulsa was picked to finish 9th in the league . . . so far Tulsa has defeated teams picked above them –– UConn (2nd), Memphis (5th), Temple (6th) and UCF(8th).
 
COACH HAITH GETS 50th WIN AT TULSA . . .
•   While capturing its American Athletic Conference-opening win over UConn this year, it was also the 50th win for Frank Haith as the Tulsa head coach.
•   Haith now has a 55-31 record in his third season as the Hurricane head coach.
•   In his first two years, Haith led Tulsa to over 20 wins both years, including 23 in his first year and 20 victories a year ago.
•   Haith averaged 21.5 wins in his first two years, while Tulsa made the NIT in 2014 and NCAAs in 2015.
 
FRIENDLY CONFINES OF THE REYNOLDS CENTER . . .
•   Since joining the American Athletic Conference for the 2014-15 season, Frank Haith's Hurricane teams have compiled an overall 19-3 record against league opponents in its three seasons.
•   Tulsa posted a 7-2 mark in the 2014-15 campaign, an 8-1 record last year and is 4-0 this year.
•   Two of the three home losses have come against a nationally-ranked SMU team, ranked #23 in 2014-15 and #18 in 2015-16 . . . the other loss was to Cincinnati in 2014-15.
•   Tulsa has won its last 12 games, dating back to last year, in AAC home games.
 
QUICK HITTERS . . .
•   Tulsa is playing its 106th season of basketball.
•   Tulsa features only three players on its roster that appeared in a game at TU prior to this season – Pat Birt, TK Edogi and Sterling Taplin.
•   Tulsa graduated 9 seniors after last year's 20-12 season and NCAA tournament appearance, including losing 81-percent of its scoring and 78-percent of its rebounding.
•   Tulsa has 10 newcomers to its roster, including two juniors, three sophomores and five freshmen.
•   Tulsa has used 7 different starting lineups through 20 games this year.
•   Ten players have made their Tulsa debuts this season . . . they have accounted for 65.5 percent of Tulsa's total points, scoring 921 of Tulsa's 1,407 points thru 20 games.
•   Tulsa has out-rebounded 11 of its 20 opponents this season, winning 8 of those games . . . among those 11 games, Tulsa has had 6 double-digit rebounding margins, including a high of 21 more than ORU.
•   After allowing its first two opponents this season to average 82.0 points, both losses, Tulsa has held its next 18 opponents to a 69.0 scoring average.
 
LOOKING AT NUMBERS . . .
•   Tulsa's 77 points in its win over UCF was the most points allowed this season by UCF, bettering the previous high of 74.
•   Tulsa shot 42.6% against a UCF team that came into the contest leading the nation for FG% defense, allowing opponents to just 34.8%.
•   Junior TK Edogi is shooting .686 from the field on 55 attempts, while shooting .643 from the free throw line on 28 attempts.
•   Edogi has made 11 of his last 15 free throws for a .733 percentage.
•   Tulsa is shooting 71.5-percent from the free throw line at home and .734 on the road.
•   The Hurricane has a .454 field goal percentage at home, while hitting .414 on the road.
•   Sterling Taplin shoots .526 from the field and .500 from 3-point range in 10 home games.
•   Taplin has a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio overall this year, and has a 2.6 ratio in home games.
•   Tulsa leads the American Athletic Conference in league games with a free throw percentage of .786.
•   Tulsa also ranks second in league games for scoring offense with an average of 73.0 points.
 
LAST TIME OUT . . .
•   Tulsa overcame a six-point deficit in the final seven minutes and went on for a 77-66 win over the UCF Knights.
•   The win kept Tulsa in sole possession of third-place in the American Athletic Conference
•   Senior Pat Birt led four double-figure scorers with 19 points to pace the Hurricane, followed by Corey Henderson's 14, Junior Etou's 12 and TK Edogi's 10 points.
•   In the final 6:28, Tulsa overcame a 57-51 deficit and out-scored the Knights 26-9 for the 11-point victory.
•   In that time span, the Hurricane connected on 18-of-19 free throws, while receiving two critical traditional three-point plays.
•   Edogi gave Tulsa a six-point lead on a dunk and free throw with 2:11 left in the game, while Jaleel Wheeler's layup and free throw put Tulsa ahead 69-62 with 1:04 remaining on the clock.
•   From that point, a dunk off of a steal by Edogi and six consecutive free throws by Birt and the Hurricane was able to secure their eighth home win of the season.
•   Tulsa scored 23 points off of 16 UCF turnovers and the Hurricane bench tied for its most scoring production of the season with a 42-to-15 edge over the Knights.
•   Tulsa's 77 points was the most scored against the Knights this year, bettering the previous high of 74 points.
•   Tulsa shot 43-percent from the field, 35-percent from three-point range and 86-percent from the free throw line for the game.

TULSA IN ITS' 19TH SEASON AT THE DONALD W. REYNOLDS CENTER . . .  
•   The 2016-17 season is the 19th for Tulsa in the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
•   The Hurricane has posted an overall 224-67 record in their home arena for a .769 winning percentage.
•   Tulsa won its 100th game at the Reynolds Center on Jan. 27, 2007 with a 70-66 win over SMU.
•   TU won its 200th game at the Reynolds Center on Feb. 18, 2015 with a 69-58 victory over East Carolina.
•   In Tulsa's 224 wins, 144 have been by double digits.
•   Tulsa has a 103-29 non-conference record for a .780 winning percentage.
•   Tulsa has won 139 of its last 170 home games at the Reynolds Center.
•   The Hurricane had a Reynolds Center-best 28-game non-conference home-court winning streak snapped on December 30, 2008 against BYU . . . the loss also snapped an overall 18-game home winning streak.
•   Tulsa won 23 straight home games from the 2008-09 season beginning with a 69-50 win over Marshall on Jan. 17, 2009 until the 2009-10 season when the streak was snapped with a 93-86 loss against Memphis on Feb. 13, 2010.