Sports editor Jaralynn Tammi Morellano says the Golden Hurricane suffered another loss.
The University of Tulsa’s men’s basketball team hit another bump in its road curse, its sloppy basketball handling leading to a 79-63 loss at the Charles Koch Arena at Wichita State. The Golden Hurricane’s record was brought down to an even 13-13 overall (4-10 in the American) on Wednesday. The Shockers were able to improve its record 11-16 (3-11 in the American), but Wichita still sits right below Tulsa in conference standings (as of Wednesday).
PJ Haggerty continued to perform as Tulsa’s lead scorer. In addition to his 24 points, he had seven rebounds, two assists and four steals. Another rising freshman for the Golden Hurricane is Tyshawn Archie, who scored 14 points along with one assist and two steals. The underclassmen of Tulsa seem to run the court, the third person shooting in the double digits being Isaiah Barnes with ten points and three steals. Despite the Golden Hurricane attempting to close the gap, Wichita kept the lead for most of the game when Tulsa had a season-high of 22 turnovers.
The Shockers earned the first points of the game. However, Carlous Williams evened the scoreboard with a dunk to cut off any early momentum. The lead was traded back-and-forth, Tulsa taking it 5-4 and again at 7-6 within the first five minutes.
Wichita would continue to steal the lead, but Archie and Haggerty would keep the Golden Hurricane in the loop, tying the game 14 and 16. Haggerty’s jumper would be the last time the Shockers would not have the lead. Wichita would respond to Haggerty’s efforts with a 9-0 scoring run to take the score to 16-25 with eight minutes left in the half.
Haggerty would go on a 5-0 run to keep Tulsa close behind, trailing Wichita 25-29. The Golden Hurricane’s efforts proved futile as the Shockers went on another nine-point streak with 1:50 on the clock. With Wichita playing on its home court, its fan-filled audience fanned its roaring flame as the Shockers outscored Tulsa 14-1 to take the half 26-43.
The Golden Hurricane refused to cut its losses and came out scoring four points to bring the game to a 13-point gap. Wichita would only make it harder for Tulsa and responded with four points of its own to bring back its 18-point lead. The Shockers continued to pummel the Golden Hurricane and outscore it 14-2 to bring its lead to a whopping 25 points.
With 12 minutes left in the game, Haggerty pulled a 3-point play to bring the score 57-35.
Wichita would beat down the Golden Hurricane’s scoring opportunities and maintain a consistent lead. Tulsa continued to slip up and could not bring the Shocker’s lead below 18 points. A pair of free throws from Archie and Jesaiah McWright would finally bring the Golden Hurricane within 18 points of the Shockers. Tulsa would ultimately fall to Wichita by 16 points.
The game put the Golden Hurricane at 78-64 in the all-time standing competitive history between Tulsa and Wichita State. After Tulsa’s epic loss, it continued to host Charlotte on Saturday. TU was able to steal the lead and bring the score to a victorious 69-67 in the last five seconds.
