University of Tulsa Men’s Basketball Faces Tulane in New Orleans

Sam Griffin/Men's Basketball | University of Tulsa

By Press release submission

Jan 7, 2023

The University of Tulsa men's basketball team is set to take on the Tulane Green Wave on Wednesday evening inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Tipoff for the American Athletic Conference matchup is set for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
Jack Benjamin and David Grubb will bring fans the action. Bruce Howard and JR Rollo will broadcast the radio call on Big Country 99.5 FM and The Varsity Network app.

The Golden Hurricane (4-9, 0-2 The American) visit Tulane in the midst of a two-game losing streak in conference play, three games overall. The Green Wave (8-5, 1-1 The American) dropped its conference opener at Cincinnati but bounced back to knock off Memphis on Sunday in Tulane's home opener.

Tulsa and Tulane have met 33 times prior to Wednesday, and the Hurricane holds a 24-9 advantage in the series, including an 8-4 record as the road team. Tulane, however, is on a three-game winning streak in the series, which includes the lone matchup in 2021-22 when Tulsa fell 97-63 in the Devlin Fieldhouse. Sam Griffin had paced Tulsa in the matchup with 21 points on five 3-pointers. He also dished out a team-high five assists. Tim Dalger had nine points with five rebounds.

TU will look to bounce back from a pair of tough games to start the conference season. On Sunday, the Hurricane played its first road league game, falling to SMU 92-67. The Mustangs outscored Tulsa by 18 in the second half and buried the Hurricane under a barrage of 3-pointers, knocking down 14 against what was a top-10 3-point defense in the nation.

Griffin and Bryant Selebangue powered the Tulsa offense with 22 points from Griffin and a career-high 21 from Selebangue. Selebangue also pulled down nine rebounds. Sophomore Anthony Pritchard stuffed the box score with nine points, four rebounds, five assists and six steals. However, Tulsa shot just 41.8 percent from the floor and hit only six threes on 30-percent shooting from deep. The defense also struggled to contain an SMU team who enjoyed shooting percentages of 58 and 54 from the floor and 3-point range while having five players finish in double figures.

Griffin continues to lead Tulsa in scoring for the season, averaging 15.0 points per game. He's joined in double figures by Selebangue and Brandon Betson, who average 11.8 and 10.5, respectively. Selebangue's 8.2 rebounds leads TU and ranks him second in the conference. He's also one of the more accurate shooters, recording a third-best 63.6 field goal percentage.

Betson's 3-point marksmanship has him leading the conference with a 46.0 percent success rate on long balls. He's converted 29 3-pointers, which is second on the team to Griffin, who has 34. In seven of his past eight games, Betson has made at least two 3-pointers, including three games where he's knocked down three and one with five.

Sion James' career day helped Tulane respond to a loss in the conference opener with a win over Memphis, 96-89, in the Green Wave's home opener. James dropped a career-high 30 points on eight shots while adding seven assists and six rebounds. Tulane held off the Tigers down the stretch, employing its fantastic free throw shooting to keep Memphis at an arm's length. The Green Wave shoot 80.9 percent from the charity stripe this season.

Tulane likes to score, and the Green Wave can score in bunches. They put up 79.8 points to per contest to lead the conference and rank 39th in the nation. Tulane also takes good care of the ball, holding a 1.5 turnover to assist ratio, which tops the country and places them 18th in national rankings.

Four Green Wave average double figures in scoring, led by Jalen Cook's 17.6 points per game. Jaylen Forbes is not far behind, scoring 17.4 a night. Joining them in double figures is Kevin Cross (14.6) and James (12.0). Cross is also the team's leader in rebounds, grabbing 6.1 off the glass a game.

After taking on Tulane, Tulsa won't be back in action for six days until the Hurricane welcomes Temple to the Donald W. Reynolds Center for a conference showdown on Jan. 10. Tipoff for the Tuesday night matchup against the Owls is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN+ and Big Country 99.5 FM.