It was another disappointing night for the Tulsa Golden Hurricane as they played the Tulane Green Wave last Wednesday night at the Reynolds Center. For the third time in the month of February, Tulsa lost while playing at home. They had not lost three straight home games since the 2016-2017 season.
Tulane opened the scoring to begin the game, but Tulsa immediately responded by tying the game at two points each. Over the next few minutes, Tulsa and Tulane went back and forth as to who held the lead. Just past the halfway point of the first quarter, Tulsa had a four-point lead. However, this was as large a lead as they would get during the entire game as Tulane came roaring back with a 15-0 run, which they carried into a 38-25 halftime lead.
Coming out of the halftime break, Tulsa rebounded and began to catch up to Tulane with Elijah Joiner, Brandon Rachal, Darrien Jackson and Rey Idowu bringing Tulsa to within three points. Despite coming this close, however, Tulsa was unable to take the lead as Tulane began to increase their lead. While later in the game Tulsa was able to climb back within eight points, they ultimately lost the game by ten with Tulane winning by a score of 58-48.
After the game, Golden Hurricane Coach Frank Haith said, “We’re a team that’s not confident right now. It’s hard to win when you go to the line seven times and you only make two free throws and you’re 4-of-21 from 3. I thought we had some good looks, but we’re just not shooting well and we’re just not confident.” He continued his post game discussion by saying, “We’re all struggling right now and when you’re struggling with your confidence you’ve got to have good leadership and you’ve got to fight a little bit harder.”
Brandon Rachal had his fifth double-double of the season, scoring 10 points and receiving 10 rebounds. Elijah Joiner scored nine points; Rey Idowu, Darien Jackson and Keyshawn Embry-Simpson scored seven points and Emmanuel Ugboh scored four points for Tulsa.
After this week of American Athletic Conference (AAC) play, Tulsa has fallen to sixth place in the AAC with an overall record of 9-9 including a 6-7 record in conference play. They are five games back of the conference leader — the Houston Cougars.
The Golden Hurricane will be back in action again on Tuesday, Feb. 16 when they will play the Temple Owls at 6 p.m. on ESPNU as they will be seeking their first win in the month of February.
