Fast start not enough for Tulane at Tulsa, 72-64

TULSA, Okla. – The Tulane men’s basketball team suffered an American Athletic Conference road loss at Tulsa, 72-64, on Thursday night at the Reynolds Center.

Caleb Daniels recorded his third double-double of the season with 20 points over 10 rebounds with three assists, while Samir Sehic also reached double-figures with 14 points and nine boards.

Martins Igbanu and Curran Scott paced Tulsa (17-12, 7-9 AAC) with 19 points apiece.

The Green Wave (4-23, 0-15 AAC) got off to a hot start, as Daniels scored the team’s first five points and Tulane made four of its first six shots to build an early 10-1 lead capped by a corner 3-pointer by Crabtree.

The Golden Hurricane missed their first 11 shots from the floor, as the Wave continued their offensive barrage by making their first five shots from beyond the arc, including consecutive treys by Kevin Zhang to build a 19-3 lead and force Tulsa to call a timeout just eight minutes into the action.

The Hurricane picked up their defensive effort in the final 10 minutes of the first half, tying the game at 31 on a pair of free throws with 3:23 left. Following a pair of free throw makes by Crabtree, Tulsa grabbed its first lead of the night, 34-33, on a 3 by Jeriah Horne.

The Wave got one more basket before the intermission to take a 35-34 lead into the locker room.

Tulane shot 13-for-31 (.419) from the field, 5-for-11 (.455) beyond the 3-point line and held a 10-4 edge in points off turnovers at halftime, while Tulsa went 11-for-29 (.379) overall, 4-for-14 (.286) from deep and made eight of 11 (.727) free throws.

The early portion of the second half was a defensive battle at both ends, but the Hurricane took advantage of the Green Wave missing nine of 10 shots during a three-minute span and built their first double-digit advantage of the night, 57-47, an Elijah Joiner jumper with 8:18 remaining.

Trailing by a dozen with 4:09 to go, Tulane rushed out with a 7-0 scoring run on three-consecutive baskets, capped by a Daniels trey with 2:35 left to cut the deficit to 64-59.

Tulsa expanded its advantage back to 10 on two occasions, but the Green Wave drew no closer than eight points as the clock hit zeroes.

Tulane finished the night 26-for-62 (.419) overall and 8-for-22 (.364) from 3-point range, as Tulsa went 25-for-53 (.472) on the floor and 7-for-24 (.292) from outside while owning a 38-33 rebounding margin.

Tulane heads to Philadelphia for its final road game of the season on Sunday, March 3 at Temple. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m., at the Liacouras Center and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.