Playing in an empty Reynolds Center might not have been the first choice for Tulsa’s basketball season this year, but like many things over the past year, the Golden Hurricane is making the best of the situation.
Losing the opening two games was not the ideal way to begin the season as Tulsa tried to build on the success of last season. However, this was the way the season began. Despite only losing by a combined total of 16 points, Tulsa dropped the first game of the season against Texas Christian University (TCU) by a score of 70-65 and the second game of the season against the University of South Carolina by a score of 69-58.
The Golden Hurricane bounced back in game three when they beat The University of Texas at Arlington by a score of 79-64 claiming their first win of the then young season. However, after two postponed games, they were unable to continue the winning momentum as they dropped the next game at Wichita State 69-65.
The next game began the best stretch of basketball that the Golden Hurricane has played this season thus far as they beat Northwestern State 82-55 and Memphis 56-49. Following these games, Tulsa had an impressive 102-45 win over Southwest Christian University and then beat the Number 5 ranked University of Houston 65-64 in Tulsa’s greatest feat to speak of yet. Following this Tulsa had two road wins, a 70-66 victory at Cincinnati and a 61-51 win at the University of South Florida. This capped a six-game winning streak for the Golden Hurricane.
After winning six consecutive games, Tulsa traveled to Wichita where they lost again to Wichita State, this time 72-53. Back at home, Tulsa beat Memphis by one point with a score of 58-57. The next game was in Houston where Tulsa lost 86-59. According to the original schedule, Tulsa was supposed to have a game against Tulane last Saturday, but that was postponed to a later date.
As of now, Tulsa is fourth in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) with a record of 8-5 – two and a half games behind Houston and in a position to come back and potentially win the conference. Brandon Rachal has been leading Tulsa with the most points per game at 14.8 points per game, Elijah Joiner has been leading Tulsa with the most assists per game at 3.8 assists per game and Rey Idowu has been leading Tulsa with the highest field goal percentage at 55.3 percent.
Going forward from here, Tulsa travels to play Temple on Tuesday at noon and East Carolina University on Saturday at 11 a.m.. The Golden Hurricane return to the Reynolds Center to play the University of South Florida on Feb. 3 at 8 p.m..
