Tulsa Golden Hurricane
Wednesday, December 3, 7:00pm
Tulsa, OK
Last Season: Tulsa went 21-13 a year ago under coach Danny Manning, and tied for first in Conference USA with a 13-3 mark. They advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2003, capping an impressive turnaround — Manning rebuilt the team in just two seasons on the job, and after sharing the regular season title and winning the conference tournament title, he was honored with the C-USA Coach of the Year Award.
Last Meeting/All-Time Series: These schools have a long history from their days in the Valley; they’ve met 78 times, with Tulsa holding a 43-35 edge. A year ago in Omaha, Creighton got a career-high 19 points from Austin Chatman in an 82-72 win.
Head Coach: Somewhat shockingly, Frank Haith left Missouri for Tulsa to replace Manning. Haith coached three seasons at Missouri with a gleaming 76-28 record, but his Tigers were bounced from the 2012 tourney by 15 seed Norfolk State in the first game (as a #2 seed!), from the 2013 tourney by eight-seed Colorado State in the first game, and then missed the NCAA Tournament entirely in 2014 despite high expectations. The consensus seems to be that Haith saw the writing on the wall and got out on his own before he was pushed out. If so, he picked a smart landing spot — Manning left a stacked roster for Haith to work with.
Top Returners: Tulsa returns 11 players and four starters from its’ NCAA Tourney team of a year ago, and is set up for what could potentially be a nice three-year run followed by massive rebuilding — they have a whopping nine juniors on this year’s team, and just two sophomores and three freshmen among the underclassmen.
James Woodard led the team in scoring at 15.5 points a game last year, and the 6’3″ guard returns to lead the backcourt. A second-team All-CUSA selection a year ago, Woodard was remarkably consistent, scoring in double-figures 30 times, including 27 games in a row. He was the Golden Hurricane’s leading scorer in 20 games, and their leading rebounder in 15. The Jays got a taste of the latter a year ago, when Woodard led Tulsa with six rebounds in the game in Omaha.
Second-leading scorer Rashad Smith also returns, after averaging 12.0 points and 4.9 rebounds last year. Smith scored 21 points — including 13 in the second half — on 9-14 shooting in the game with Creighton last year, one of eight games where he scored 18 or more points.
Also back: Shaquille Harrison (9.6 points/3.9 rebounds/3.3 assists), D’Andre Wright (7.4 points/3.9 boards), Rashad Ray (6.8 points/2.1 rebounds/2.5 assists), and Brandon Swannegan (4.0 points/1.5 blocks). Like I said, they return a ton of production.
Key Losses: The only starter not back is Tim Peete, a 6’4″ guard who averaged solid numbers — 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds a game. The bigger loss might very well be sixth-man Pat Swilling, Jr., whose great size (6’3″, 225 lbs.) allowed him to score tough buckets in the paint. Swilling averaged 8.6 points a year ago, and scored 18 in the game in Omaha.
Key Additions: With so many returnees, there’s not much room for new guys. Tulsa’s three newcomers are:
- Keondre Dew, a 6’8″ forward who was ranked as the #12 player in Florida coming out of high school and averaged 17 points and 2.5 assists as a senior
- Micah Littlejohn, a 6’6″ guard from Mansfield, Texas who was an All-District player after averaging 22 points and 8 rebounds as a senior
- Corey Haith, who transferred to Tulsa from Missouri when his father took the Golden Hurricane job. He’s an injury-plagued guard that tore his ACL a year ago, and will sit out this year after transferring.