TU Looks For Fifth Straight Win Against East Carolina

THE GAME  . . .
•   The Tulsa Golden Hurricane (11-7, 5-1 AAC) has won its last four games, including a 79-67 road win at USF on Saturday.
•   Tulsa is in third place in The American, but second in the loss column just percentage points behind a 7-1 SMU team (.875 for SMU and .833 for Tulsa) . . . Cincinnati leads with a 7-0 record.
•   East Carolina has an overall 9-11 record and a 1-6 mark in AAC play.
 
THE SERIES . . .
•   This is the 18th meeting between Tulsa and East Carolina.
•   Tulsa leads the series 15-2, including winning the last six games.
•   After losing the first game in Greenville, the Hurricane has won the last five games on ECU's home court for a 5-1 road record.
•   Tulsa also has an 8-1 record in Tulsa and a 2-0 mark at a neutral site.
•   Tulsa has an overall win margin of 12.5 points in the series and a 7.4 margin in its 5 road wins.
 
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 31-11 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 ninth in the league . . . Tulsa has already defeated teams picked above them –– UConn (2nd), Memphis (5th) and Temple (6th).
 
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 53-30 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.
 
GAME WINNERS . . .
•   Sterling Taplin has knocked down two game-winning baskets within the first 16 games of the season.
•   Both of the last-second wins ended with identical scores of 70-68
•   The latest was on Saturday, Jan. 14, Tulsa's 16th game, as the Hurricane claimed a road win at Temple 70-68 . . . with the score tied at 68 since the 2:24 mark, Taplin scored on a layup with 0:04 on the clock to get the win as a long three-pointer for Temple fell short at the buzzer.
•   Taplin's first game-winning basket came against Illinois State when the Hurricane mounted a 14-point comeback in the second half.
•   In that game, Taplin knocked down a layup with 0:11 on the game clock to give Tulsa a 69-67 win . . . Tulsa's Corey Henderson added a free throw after a technical foul to make it a three-point lead.
 
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 6 different starting lineups through 18 games this year.
•   Tulsa's current starting lineup – Etou, Magnay, Birt, Wheeler and Taplin – has posted a 6-1 record as the starters.
•   Ten players have made their Tulsa debuts this season . . . they have accounted for 65.1 percent of Tulsa's total points, scoring 823 of Tulsa's 1,264 points thru 18 games.
•   Tulsa has out-rebounded 11 of its 18 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 16 opponents to a 68.8 scoring average.
 
LAST TIME OUT . . .
•   Corey Henderson came off the bench to score a career-high 22 points in a 79-67 road win over USF.
•   Henderson converted 7-of-12 from the field, 3-of-5 from three-point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line in 26 minutes. He led a Hurricane bench that outscored the USF reserves 37-12.
•   Eleven players scored for the Hurricane. Pat Birt added 15 points, Junior Etou 11 points and Sterling Taplin scored 10 for the Hurricane.
•   Tulsa built a 15-point first-half lead, and held a 35-30 lead at halftime.
•   Tulsa's lead dissipated to one point when the Bulls made it 38-37 with 16:01 left on the game clock. The game remained within single digits for the next 10 minutes.
•   Henderson's hit a 3-pointer that gave the Hurricane a 70-59 lead with 3:03 to play.
•   Tulsa knocked in six straight free throws to put the game out of reach with a 15-point lead at the 1:01 mark.
 
HENDERSON TURNS IN CAREER-HIGH . . .
•   Junior transfer Corey Henderson scored a career-high 22 points and added 4 assists in a reserve role in a 79-67 win over USF.
•   For his performance last week against Tulane and USF, averaging 15 points and 2.5 assists, Henderson was named to the AAC's weekly honor roll.
•   It was Henderson's 5th double-figure scoring game of the season.
•   He also led Tulsa in scoring vs. Houston with 16 points on 4-of-10 from the field, 3-of-6 from 3-point range and 5-of-5 at the free throw line.
•   He is one of six Tulsa player to lead the Hurricane in scoring in at least one game this year.
•   Henderson averages 7.9 points in 20.9 minutes per game this season.