Key Points In Tulsa's Second Half Win Against UConn

Senior guard James Woodard scored a team-high 20 points in leading Tulsa back from a seven-point second-half deficit to beat the UConn Huskies, 60-51, Thursday night in front of 5,192 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. Tulsa improved to 11-6 overall and 3-2 in the American Athletic Conference while UConn fell to 11-5 and 2-2 in league play.
 
Woodard's three-pointer with 5:17 remaining in the contest knotted the score at 46 while he hit another trey for the Hurricane the next time down the court to give Tulsa its first lead in the second half, 49-46, with 4:34 left to play. From that point, the Hurricane outscored UConn 11-5 the rest of the way for the victory. Woodard's third three-pointer in that stretch gave Tulsa its largest lead at nine points, 57-48, with just under a minute left on the game clock.
 
In the final 8:23 of the game, Tulsa outscored UConn 22-7, while knocking down 6-of-10 field goals, including three treys, all from Woodard, and 7-of-10 from the free throw line, while the Huskies made just two of 12 field goals in that same stretch.
 
Woodard added a team-high nine rebounds in his 31 minutes, while Shaquille Harrison scored 13 points, grabbed eight rebounds and had three assists for the Hurricane. UConn's sterling Gibbs shared game-highs coring honors with 20 points while Shonn Miller added 14 points for the Huskies.
 
"Obviously, it was a great program win for us. Our passion and resiliency was unbelievable. I think that our guys fed off our crowd and their energy in the building. It is just a tremendous win for us. Shots weren't falling, and I thought that our guys just really stayed with it," said Tulsa Head Coach Frank Haith. "Defensively, we were terrific, and we rebounded the ball well. UConn is a terrific team. We don't get the credit for how tough our league is, but this is a heck of a win for our program. I am really proud of our guys, and these two guys (Woodard and Harrison) were terrific down the stretch."
 
The first half was a game of runs for both teams, starting out on an 8-0 UConn run, followed by a 7-0 Tulsa run, 10-0 for the Huskies and then an 11-0 Tulsa run before the two teams exchanged baskets and the lead in the final 3:10 of the first half.
 
UConn jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game before the Hurricane scored the next seven points to make the score 8-7 at the 15:37 mark. The Huskies rattled off the next 10 points to take an 18-7 lead with 12:17 remaining before halftime. Rashad Ray's three-pointer at the 10:31 mark ended the Tulsa drought to make the score 18-10 and begin a 12-3 run for the Hurricane over the next six minutes. Pat Birt's three-pointer at the 4:03 mark gave Tulsa its first lead at 22-21.
 
The two team's closed out the first half in a 26-26 tie. Birt and Harrison led the Hurricane with six first-half points while Miller and Gibbs led the Huskies with eight points apiece.  UConn out-rebounded the Hurricane 20-13 in the first 20 minutes, but Tulsa outscored the Huskies 12-2 off turnovers.
 
The Huskies began the second half on another run, this time scoring the first seven points to take a 33-26 lead before James Woodard scored Tulsa's first second-half points on two free throws. UConn held the lead until Woodard's three-pointer with just over five minutes to play tied the score.

Tulsa is off this weekend before going on the road for a Tuesday night game at East Carolina. The game will be aired on ESPNews. The Hurricane returns to the Reynolds Center for a Sunday, Jan. 24, 2 p.m. game against UCF.