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Three Questions: Where Does Tulsa Hold an Edge over OSU?

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The Oklahoma State men’s basketball team returns to Gallagher-Iba Arena on Tuesday to face in-state foe Tulsa.

The Cowboys are coming off their biggest win in more than a year, after knocking off previously undefeated No. 19 Florida State 71-70 in Orlando on Saturday.

This will be the fourth–straight year the Cowboys and the Golden Hurricane have faced off, and the eighth time in the last 10 years. During that stretch, OSU is 5-2.

Despite the regularity of the two teams playing, this Tulsa team looks a bit different than last year. To help figure out what makes them tick, I asked Hunter Hart of Reign Cane Sports to answer a few questions about this year’s Golden Hurricane squad.


Phillip Slavin: Tulsa isn’t statistically terrible or great at any one thing. What is their biggest strength and biggest weakness this season?

Hunter Hart:  “I would say that Tulsa’s biggest strength this year is their depth. TU’s team is made up of a lot of really solid basketball players, nine of whom can contribute in a major way. One illustration of the depth is sophomore guard Lawson Korita. This time last year, Korita played 25 minutes in the game vs Oklahoma State, scoring 9 points. This year he is averaging only 8 minutes per game. This isn’t because he’s no longer a capable player, but rather the emergence of freshman Elijah Joiner and transfer Curran Scott has relegated Korita to the fifth-best option at guard. This depth allows Tulsa to play around with lineups, and find a spark when the starters are struggling.

“You’re right, the stats tell us that Tulsa isn’t terrible in any category. However, from the games I’ve seen I would say that defending the 3-point line continues to be an issue for Haith’s defense. In most of our games this season, Haith has run a zone defense for a majority of the game. It is a good scheme, but the success of it is built entirely on whether or not the opposing team makes 3-pointers. The reason we held K-State to 54 points (25 below their season average) was because the Wildcats went 4-31 from beyond the arc, not because of stifling defense.”

PS: Statistically, OSU and TU are pretty evenly matched. OSU averages 78 points per game compared to 77 for TU. OSU is averaging 17 assists to Tulsa’s 13, while both average 38 rebounds per game. With that being said, where does Tulsa have an edge in this game?

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Sterling Taplin [USATSI]

HH: “Tulsa has the edge at the point guard position, not necessarily in skill but in experience. Junior Guard Sterling Taplin is three-year contributor and two-year starter for TU, and he has Haith’s full confidence to be the primarily ball handler and maestro of the offense. I’ve watched a couple of OSU games this year and Kendall Smith and Brandon Averette are quality players, but neither one has the advantage of having three years in the same system like Taplin does.”

PS: Junior Etou leads Tulsa in points and rebounds per game. More importantly, despite taking more shots than last year, his shooting percentage is up from 49 percent to 58 percent. What makes him such an effective scorer?

HH: “Etou has been phenomenal this year. Over the summer he slimmed down and became more muscular, and that has really translated to a stronger, more athletic play-style. Etou is a prolific scorer because he is strong enough to bully his way to the rim, and has a soft touch to finish once he gets there.”

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Junior Etou [USATSI]

“The biggest improvement I’ve seen from Etou this year is that he no longer settles for jumpers. He is taking more shots this year, but his 3-pointers attempted per game is down from 3.2 last year to 2.2 this year. This has led to him shooting a higher percentage from the field as you mentioned, and his free throws attempted per game has increased from 4.6 to 8.4.”

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