Controversial calls and physical defense make for a tight, but impressive game.
On Feb. 18, the Tulsa men’s basketball team took on the Charlotte 49ers in one of the few conference games remaining on the schedule. Considering Tulsa was tied for second, and Charlotte seated in fourth, it was bound to be an exciting matchup between two teams that still have great hopes for not only the conference but perhaps March Madness.
The first eight minutes were extremely chaotic, with seemingly every call the referees made being loudly booed down by the crowd. However, the Golden Hurricanes overcame that and pushed ahead in order to establish a big lead off of some exciting alley-oops and big dunks. There were even quite a few steals in order to swing the momentum back to Tulsa whenever Charlotte tried to get anything going.
The half ended 41-30, Tulsa well in the lead and having hit ten three-point shots in the first half alone. However, not everything went the way of the Golden Hurricanes. Myles Rigsby left the game with an injury about halfway into the period, and would not return for the rest of it. Afterwards, Coach Konkol would not specify what the injury was, only stating that Rigsby would undergo some testing to figure out what exactly happened.
In the second half, however, the 49ers came back with some dominant defense, even taking the lead a little over twelve minutes in. Once again, though, the Golden Hurricanes got hot with seven minutes left, putting Charlotte under a lot of pressure. Although the 49ers did manage to bring it close once more, Tulsa was ready to storm back out into the lead with just a minute left due to Tylen Riley hitting two free throws and then a three-point shot in order to take Tulsa five points above Charlotte. The 49ers would not be able to come back, and the game would end 79-74.
Miles Barnstable in particular showed up for the Golden Hurricanes, contributing 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals. His points were, obviously, necessary but his steals might have been more important. It didn’t matter whether Charlotte had been going on a strong run, or if even Barnstable had struggled shooting for a few minutes in the game; when Barnstable got the steal, the whole stadium could feel the dynamic shift. All this he did on his twenty-second birthday, with fans singing “Happy Birthday” to him when he was near the student section.
All in all, the Golden Hurricanes made eighteen three-point shots, tying the school record and setting a new record for the Reynolds Center. But more importantly, they stopped a three game skid against conference opponents with a quality win over a quality opponent. Especially considering how good the American Conference has been on the road (they were 48-38 through Wednesday’s slate of games), the Golden Hurricanes getting the win at home seemed even more important not just for team morale but for their case as the conference’s best team.
With four games left on the conference schedule, they still need South Florida and Wichita State to lose a few to win the conference. But, if they can turn this win into a strong end-of-season run, they could easily be set up for a dominant American Conference tournament. And at this point, with South Florida currently projected ahead of them in the field of 68 for March Madness, a win against them on the biggest stage seems like not only the best, but perhaps now the only way to secure their spot.
