Timely defensive stops and rebounding down the stretch steers Tulsa to quarterfinal round against UNT. photo by Don Mooney
FORT WORTH, Texas – The Golden Hurricane men’s basketball team overcame a 12-point halftime deficit to beat the 7th-seeded Temple Owls in the second round of the American Athletic Conference Championship on Thursday evening in Dickies Arena 75-71.
Tulsa (13-19) advances to Friday’s quarterfinals, where the Hurricane will face the No. 2 seed North Texas in the 6 p.m. game on ESPNU. Temple ends its season with a 17-15 record. Tulsa wins the season series over the Owls 2-1.
Soph guard Tyshawn Archie leads Tulsa’s fast break pressuring Temple defense. photo by Don Mooney
Jared Garcia scored a team-high 20 points, including two late 3-pointers to help keep Tulsa’s season alive. Garcia was an efficient 7-of-10 from the filed while making 3-of- 5 from 3-point range. Dwon Odom added 14 points to go with eight assists. Keaston Willis scored 11. Freshman Ian Smikle grabbed seven rebounds to lead Tulsa, while Braeden Carrington had six on the glass.
Temple was led by a game-high 22 from Steve Settle. Zion Stanford added 17 and Shane Dezonie had 10.
Tulsa knocked down 47.3 percent of its efforts for the game, while Temple was 38.2 percent from the floor for the game despite a 53.8 percent first half. Neither team shot well from 3-point range, with Tulsa making just 4-of-16 (25 percent) and the Owls making 6-of-23 (26.1 percent). Tulsa made none of their seven first half efforts while the Owls missed on all 10 attempts in the second half.
photo by Don Mooney
The Hurricane needed every one of its 19 free throws, shooting 76.0 percent (19-of-25) from the charity stripe. Temple made 23-of-34 (67.6 percent).
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF …
Smikle came out with a quick four points, and Barnes converted an electric alley-oop off the feed from Odom. However, the Owls made their first three 3-point attempts to help take an early 11-8 lead at the first media timeout.
photo by Don Mooney
Tulsa kept up with Temple’s hot shooting for the half of the opening stanza, staying within striking distance and not letting the deficit grow larger than five. The Hurricane retook the lead at the 9:54 mark after Willis knocked down 4-of-5 from the charity stripe in the span of three seconds with a steal on the inbounds after the first sequence of free throws.
The Owls grabbed the lead back with a midrange jumper, but Archie found a hole in the lane and blew by the defense for a one-handed dunk to give Tulsa the 20-19 lead, the last it would own in the half. Temple came down and got a layup to take the 21-20 advantage with 8:57 to play.
Up 23-22 with 7:42 on the clock, the Owls outscored Tulsa 17-4 over the next 5:29 to take its largest lead of the half, 40-26. Tulsa would get a dunk from Justin Amadi and a pair of free throws from Odom as the Owls took a 42-30 lead to the locker rooms.
The Owls shot above 50 percent from the floor in the first half while holding TU to 39.3 percent from the floor. Tulsa did not make a 3-pointer in the half. Odom and Willis led the team with six points each.
IN THE SECOND HALF …
The first six minutes of the second half was for the most part teams trading buckets and the lead bouncing between 12 and eight for the Owls. Tulsa made its largest run of the game with 13:20 to play while trailing 54-44.
Odom knocked down a pair of free throws to start a 9-0 TU run that would cut the Temple lead down to one, 54-53 at the 10:27 mark. Archie continued the run Odom started with consecutive layups to force a timeout from the Owls. Garcia put an exclamation point on the run with a 3-pointer, the first of the game for the Hurricane. Temple retook the lead and the score would bounce between tied and a small Temple lead until Willis gave the Hurricane the lead with his lone 3-pointer of the night, knocking down the corner jumper with 4:32 on the clock. Again, the Owls responded with four straight free throws to go back ahead by three.
Grad student Dwon Odom challenges Temples defense scoring two of his 14 pts for the evening. photo by Don Mooney
The Owls led 67-65 with 2:33 to play when Odom found Garcia at the top of the key for his second 3-pointer of the night to put TU ahead for good, 68-67. On the next possession, Odom found Amadi for a layup to push the advantage to three. Temple’s last field goal came at the 1:22 mark on a Stanford layup to cut the TU lead to 70-69, but Garcia answered with another triple to give the Hurricane a four-point lead, 73-69, with a minute to play. The Owls split four free throws to get within two. Braeden Carrington went to the line for Tulsa and made both of his to push it back to four. Tulsa made two defensive stops to secure the 75-71 win.
Tulsa’s defense stepped up in the second half, holding the Owls to 24.1 percent from the field, making only seven field goals and zero 3-pointers despite 10 attempts. Meanwhile, Tulsa came out and knocked down 55.6 percent of its shots and a more efficient 4-of-9 (44.4 percent) on 3-pointers to help overcome the halftime deficit. Garcia scored 14 points in the second half, making three 3-pointers.
UP NEXT
The Golden Hurricane moves on to the Quarterfinals of the 2025 American Athletic Conference Basketball Championship. Tulsa faces the No. 2 team in The American, North Texas, on Friday evening in Dickies Arena. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and will air on ESPNU.