In their home game for the week, Tulsa battled the No. 20 ranked USF Bulls. They weren’t fazed by the Bulls ranking in the first half, and held a two point lead at the halftime break.
The second half didn’t go quite as well as the first. The Bulls opened the third quarter on a 15–6 run, and doubled up Tulsa in the period. The Golden Hurricane tried to come back in the fourth quarter, but fell short, and lost 72–66.
For their last game of the regular season, Tulsa faced the Bearcats in Cincinnati. The first half was a tale of two quarters, and the Golden Hurricane played good defense in the first quarter, taking a 16–9 lead. In the second quarter, they gave up 20 points. At halftime, Tulsa led 32–29.
Tulsa’s offense flowed smoothly in the remaining two quarters, as they scored 22 points in each quarter. The Golden Hurricane had three players score double digits on the day (Ashley Clark with 27, Ashley Hughes with 14, and Kelsee Grovey with 10), and pulled away from the Bearcats for the 76–63 win to end the regular season on a high note.
Tulsa’s regular season record finished at 11–18 (8–10 American Athletic Conference). They hold the 6th place spot in the conference heading into the conference tournament in Connecticut this week. Their opponent and game time is still to be determined.
Meanwhile, the men’s basketball team recently faced off against the Temple Owls, who currently holds first place in conference rankings.
In the first half, Tulsa started out cold. Temple pulled ahead to a 10 point lead, and looked to be the better team. However, the Golden Hurricane started to chip away at the lead. Pat Birt hit a couple of shots, and Marquel Curtis also converted a couple times in this span, as Tulsa’s offense started to flow. By halftime, they had came all the way back, and taken a two point lead.
Tulsa kept up the pressure in the second half. They never gave up the lead, and played great defense, as they pushed forward to a double-digit lead. Temple didn’t have an answer, and the Golden Hurricane came away with the 74–55 victory.
With the win, Tulsa is only one game behind Temple in the American Athletic Conference standings, with a record of 19–9 (11–5 AAC). Two games are left, and the Golden Hurricane have to hope that either Memphis or Tulane can beat the Owls to force a tie at the top of the standings.
Also, the large margin of victory against the current first place team in the conference should look good in the eyes of the selection committee, as Tulsa continues to make their case for why they deserve a spot in the NCAA tournament.
