2010 Preview: Top Three Games From 2009

Originally Published: Oct 22, 2010 5:0 PM CDT

Bobby Lewis
Oklahoma Sports Reporter

TULSA, Oklahoma – The 2009 men’s basketball season was a roller coaster ride for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The team hovered around the top of the conference all season, hosted the conference tournament and made the postseason for third consecutive season.

Here are the top three games from a year ago:


December 2nd – 86-65 W vs. Oklahoma State
This was one of the highest attended games of the season for the Golden Hurricane, and not all of the fans that showed up to the Reynolds Center went home happy. Tons of Poke fans dressed in orange flooded the turnstiles to see their Cowboys take on TU. They thought it’d be an easy win for the sharp shooters from Stillwater.

Doug Wojcik’s team had other ideas.

Tulsa blew out the Cowboys. The Golden Hurricane starters outscored the entire OSU team and TU got 13 big points from Steven Idlet off the bench. Tulsa never trailed in the game and sent the OSU fans home unhappy. The win was part of TU’s 9-1 start to the season and helped them start the season off the right way.


January 20th – 57-52 W at Oral Roberts
Tulsa could have lost this game easily. ORU was handling the Golden Hurricane’s two stars, Ben Uzoh and Jerome Jordan for most of the night and built a 15 point lead in the second half.

But, Tulsa didn’t give in. Jordan scored 12 of his 17 points in the final 20 minutes to help lead the Golden Hurricane to the Mayor’s Cup win. His biggest play of the night may have been a pass. With 19 seconds left to play, he dropped a pass off to Idlet for a dunk that put ORU away for good.

Tulsa won a game for the first time that season after trailing at halftime and won back-to-back Mayor's Cup games for the first time since winning three in a row from 2000 to 2002.


March 10th – 73-62 W vs. Rice
Tulsa’s round one game in the C-USA Tournament wasn’t going very well. TU, the fifth seed, trailed Rice, the 12th seed, by 15 points at halftime in its own city. But Justin Hurttwasn’t letting his team lose.

The junior came out on fire and finished the game with 17 points to lead Tulsa back to victory. The win was important for the Golden Hurricane’s postseason hopes since the team likely needed to go deep in the league tournament to garner enough interest for a national tournament to take them.

Hurtt’s slam dunk over a Rice defender brought the BOK Center to its feet and sealed the Tulsa win. They outscored the Owls 47-21 in the second half.


The Golden Hurricane will look to make some new memories this season. The team begins its season at home on November 1st.

For more on Tulsa’s 2010 outlook:
2010 Team Preview:
Tulsa’s Ready for C-USA Title run

Tulsa’s Best Player:
Justin Hurtt

TU’s Biggest Departures:
Jerome Jordan/Ben Uzoh

TU’s Biggest Additions:
Freshmen and Transfers Ready to Play

Bottom Three Games from 2009:
Coming 10/28

Three games to look forward to in 2010:
Coming 10/29