Sports writer Victor Ratliff says Tulsa men’s basketball leaves it all on the court at exhibition match.
The Tulsa Men’s Basketball Team came out victorious over Missouri S&T in a frightening overtime match on Tuesday, Oct. 29. This match marked the very first time the Golden Hurricane had seen the court since this past spring, where it fell 79-84 to East Carolina in the first round of the American Conference Championship. The game against Missouri S&T was an exhibition match, therefore will not count towardtowards the overall records of the teams.
Tulsa started the game strong, gaining an immediate lead over the Miners, where it looked in rhythm and in control. Sophomore guard Tyshawn Archie, who had a very encouraging 7.2 points per game as a freshman last year, was on fire. Whenever he shot the ball, it went in the net, it was as simple as that. The Hurricane eventually capped off this explosive run with an electric alley-oop from guard Jaye Nash to forward Matt Reed, putting the fans on their feet and sending Missouri S&T to its bench a few seconds later for a much-needed timeout. This break put a halt to some of the Hurricane’s momentum, and the two squads traded shots until the whistle blew on the half, leaving the score 36-24.
Some people say exhibition games are useless; that teams should rest their starters, not put too much energy into the game, and leave their passion for the regular season. Clearly, Missouri S&T did not get the message. The Miners came out of the lockers hot, putting together an impressive 9-1 run a mere two minutes into the half, forcing a quick timeout from 3rd year TU head coach Eric Konkol. Tulsa looked like a mess for the next ten minutes. The Hurricane’s first half poise and control had seemingly been lost to rash decisions and bad miscommunications, and it seemed as if every open look it got was falling on the wrong side of the rim. Tulsa’s skid would eventually reach its lowest point yet, as a Missouri S&T three-pointer gave the Miners the 45-42 lead with just over ten minutes to play in the half. On the ropes against a D2 team in its first action of the season, the pressure was on for TU. And for a team without its top two scorers from an average 2023-2024 season, the next ten minutes would be the first real insight into what this squad is really made of.
With nine minutes to go, Tulsa guard Braeden Carrington made a huge block to keep the Golden Hurricane’s lead. But the Minnesota transfer was notn’t done yet. On the next play, he hauled in an offensive board and put in a layup to give TU a four-point lead. Then, after a quick defensive stop, Braeden Carrington drove down the court and, in a true heat check moment, dropped a contested three right in the basket, forcing a Miners timeout and one of the loudest Reynolds Center roars of the night. The squads would go back and forth until two minutes remained, where double-digit scoring Georgia State transfer, Dwon Odom, nailed a three-pointer to break the tie.
The Miners would tie it up again however, and, with seven seconds on the clock, Missouri S&T Guard Ryan Sroka nailed an on-the-move three pointer to give his team the 65-62 lead. Tulsa quickly inbounded the ball where last season’s highest returning scorer Keaston Willis drove down the court and took a three. He missed. The clock read 2.9 seconds, the Miners had the basketball for an inbound, and it seemed as if all hope was lost. But then, in a fantastic bit of inbound defense from the Golden Hurricane, the Missouri S&T inbounder was forced to chuck a pass halfway down the court. It came up just short of its intended target, instead falling into the open hands of Tyshawn Archie. And, just before the clock hit zero, with two men in his face, Archie stepped up into a double team and drilled a 35-foot three-pointer off the glass to send the game to overtime, and the Reynolds Center into absolute pandemonium.
The Golden Hurricane put forth a quality defensive effort in overtime, and with thirty seconds left, led 73-70. The Miners had one more shot to keep this one going, and despite an open layup and three-pointer, could not close the gap. TU would play the foul game, and escape with the 75-70 win.
There are two ways to look at this game. Firstly, you could take a more pessimistic approach, being concerned with the fact that, if not for a bad inbound decision and a miraculous shot from Tyshawn Archie, the Golden Hurricane would have lost to a D2 basketball team that had no business being in this game in the first place. If TU wants to have a shot at competing in the American Conference this year, it needs to be able to close out games like this. On the other hand, you could look at it through the lens that this was just an exhibition, and TU was just trying to use this as a tune-up game to see what it has, as the roster is composed of a lot of new guys and no set starters. And even though it did have its rough moments, the Hurricane showed a lot of promise on Tuesday night. Things appeared dire at times, but this team never gave up, never stopped fighting, and left it all on the court. Either way you look at it, this team is a very hard one to predict, and the range of outcomes for this season is incredibly vast. This team will have to rely on transfers such as Dwon Odom and Braeden Carrington, and younger players like Tyshawn Archie, Matt Reed, and Isaiah Barnes looking to take the next step. It will also need good seasons from veterans Keaston Willis and Jared Garcia if it hopes to keep that erratic and disarrayed second-half team off the court as much as possible this year. But no matter what happens, this team seems like it will be fun to watch, and if a fair few things fall the right way, could potentially make some noise in early, and even potentially late March.
Tulsa will play the season opener on Monday, Nov. 4th, where it will host Northeastern State at the Reynolds Center at 7 p.m.
