Central Ark Game Thread

[cmullinsTU]

Let’s get back to winning!!! I’m back and excited for a fresh game.

Hoping Jeffries gets back to form. And praying this long break has allowed the team to realize the importance of rebounding.

Here’s to hoping regardless of outcoming I can manage to not become a grumpy curmudgeon.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Glad to have u back after that extended holiday melt, missed u a lot. ❤

 

[cmullinsTU]

I couldn’t quit you (all)!!!

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Glad you had the foresight to put that "all' in there. ;0)

 

[URedskin54]

Wouldn’t be surprised if this game is tight. If we win by 10+ I’ll be very pleased

 

[Gmoney4WW]

Would be nice to see the team come out angry, but I doubt that'll happen. I don't know if anger is in this teams vocabulary of emotions.

 

[cmullinsTU]

I just want a W, but they have two players that will give us major match-up problems.

1. A scoring PG, #1 Jordan Howard, who is shooting 47% from 3 and averaging 26.8 ppg
2. A legit 7'0 center, #15 Hayden Koval, that is averaging 11.8 ppg and 5.6 rpg.

Hopefully, we scouted and defend Howard like we did Wilder of Western Michigan.

Central Arkansas is getting outrebounded at about the same rate as Tulsa. Will be interesting to see which team shows more effort on the boards today.

 

[lawpoke87]

Can’t find a Vegas line on this game. Assume we would be around a 5 point fav.

 

[goldenhurricane2]

I think we’ll win, but I don’t think it’ll be easy... central Arkansas isn’t awful.

 

[t-townpod]

6 minutes till tip. The lowest fan turnout of modern TU basketball I think. (Last 50 years)

 

[cmullinsTU]

6 minutes till tip. The lowest fan turnout of modern TU basketball I think. (Last 50 years)

Exhibition level bad? Or even worse than that?

 

[t-townpod]

Exhibition level bad? Or even worse than that?

Hmm. I suspect less than blue gold scrimmage

 

[seniorgolfer]

6 minutes till tip. The lowest fan turnout of modern TU basketball I think. (Last 50 years)

I can't find any TV/ESPN3 listing....

Is it being broadcast?

 

[t-townpod]

Koval Looks like a stud in warmups. Draining 3’s , mid range and agressive up and under dunks with ease.

 

[cmullinsTU]

I can't find any TV/ESPN3 listing....

Is it being broadcast?

Only available on tulsahurricane.com PPV or whatever it’s called. I’m watching there and it is working (been much better the past year or two)

 

[TU 1978]

I predicted 900 for basketball and 3,000 for football today. Tell me if I’m close.

 

[t-townpod]

Maybe a little low but close

 

[t-townpod]

Under 16 wholesale subs

 

[cmullinsTU]

Ball moving on offense better than the last couple of games. Interesting to see if Central Arkansas plays any zone defense.

 

[Weatherdemon]

Under 16 wholesale subs

So 13 of our first 17 points are benched.
Brilliant

 

[TU 1978]

Par for the course.

 

[Barlass]

6 minutes till tip. The lowest fan turnout of modern TU basketball I think. (Last 50 years)

It filled in a bit. I've seen worse crowds.

 

[Weatherdemon]

31-14.
Nice!

 

[TU_BLA]

Henderson is hitting early. Leave him in until he misses. Etou is the focus of UCAs defense and he’s found the open shooter for wide open looks a couple of times. Defensive intensity is great so far. Jackson is doing a nice job on #1 denying the ball.

Local has nothing for Junior defensively and we’ve denied him the ball in good space.

#1 has the green light from anywhere on the court. He shot about a 35 footer early in the clock. 55 for UCA is a jitterbug.

UCA is obviously trying to keep the ball out of the paint and it has opened up a bunch of the 10-15 footers which we seem to be hitting so far.

 

[Weatherdemon]

getting out rebounded 12-17. Not so nice

 

[t-townpod]

Really funny. Haith must have spent all week teaching how to box out but forgot to tell them to go after the ball after they do the box out

 

[cmullinsTU]

Really funny. Haith must have spent all week teaching how to box out but forgot to tell them to go after the ball after they do the box out

I’ve noticed that too. I don’t understand how you make it to the college level and have such poor rebounding fundamentals.

Do they not teach kids to box out and rebound anymore?

 

[TU_BLA]

We’re boxing out...we don’t jump for the rebound.

#1 just hit a 3 from Catoosa.

Our D is not bad today. We are denying he ball inside and forcing some really bad passes. We are also running after every make. Outside of a couple players UCA is rally struggling handling our transition.

 

[URedskin54]

We're doing a lot of the same bad things defensively and still not rebounding. UCA is just missing. We're doing a good job forcing TOs though

 

[Weatherdemon]

Rebounding at 16-19 now. A little better

 

[cmullinsTU]

Defensive game plan has clearly been to stop Howard (#1 for UCA). It has worked well so far and really disrupting UCA on offense. Jackson doing a great job on Howard.

 

[t-townpod]

Got a lead with UCa defending inside and excellent ball movement. They changed to Agre

 

[Gold*]

UCA brought fans. They are funny to listen to. It’s like if Rogers State went D1.

Refs were giving us a lot of calls and it seems like they tried to even it out. This has probably been over-officiated.

Taplin and Henderson have been great. Jefferies has done some things on defense. Etou has been good, but keeps getting his shot blocked.

I was really worried about this one, but so far, so good.

 

[goldenhurricane2]

Yeah their fans are morons... about what you’d expect from Conway Arkansas.

We’ve played well so far, hopefully we can keep our foot on their throat in the 2nd half and finish this off.

 

[TU_BLA]

Last 5 minutes was really disjointed for TU. Offensive sets were sort of whacked out.

I really wished our D rotation and double team came from somewhere unexpected. Always comes from the weak side and always allows the opposite side kick out. It is the thing we have all complained about for years. Better yet, let our interior guys just do their best to defend the guy 1v1. Every D1 college basketball team has kids who can shoot the 3. EVERY. ONE. Most teams have an 11th Guy I the rotation and that’s all they can do. Not every team has a refined big man who is always going to make 60% of his shots from inside of 8 feet. Play sound fundamental post defense and take your chances.

For everyone griping about our offense...Illinois State was an anomaly. We will probably have 5-6 games out of our 30 where we play that poorly on offense. This team can hit shots...and a lot of them. 47 points in the 1st half against a team that is probably as talented as Lamar and has some length.

 

[cmullinsTU]

Yeah their fans are morons... about what you’d expect from Conway Arkansas.

Their football fans and coach are morons too. I remember their coach being livid after we destroyed them a few years ago. He claimed “Tulsa only won because they used smoke and mirrors offense”

 

[TU_BLA]

Yeah their fans are morons... about what you’d expect from Conway Arkansas.

Their football fans and coach are morons too. I remember their coach being livid after we destroyed them a few years ago. He claimed “Tulsa only won because they used smoke and mirrors offense”

That smoke and mirrors offense is being used by one of their alum at a top 20 team right now (Memphis). Wonder if they taught Norvell the Conway Corn-rows hairstyle too

 

[Gold*]

We are mind numbingly bad at rebounds. I don’t get it. We have more talent than last year. Yeah, we don’t have Edogi and the Aussie, but no one really wept when TK left and the Aussie wasn’t going to start. It’s effort and focus. It’s like the entire team caught the Deandre Wrights.

 

[TU_BLA]

This is the Henderson I think we’ve all been waiting for to show up this year. Funny thing is when he gets dialed in offensively he picks up his defensive intensity as well. When he does that he makes it hard to take him out of the game. It’s a mental thing for him and I’m not sure why it’s so difficult for kids to focus on the game each day.

 

[Gold*]

Their football fans and coach are morons too. I remember their coach being livid after we destroyed them a few years ago. He claimed “Tulsa only won because they used smoke and mirrors offense”

And we ran the score up on them and they still talk about it like we talked about 100-6. It’s stupid. I had to drive to Little Rock a couple of years ago and listened to their football broadcast for a bit. They are the Homer Simpsons of Homers.