Oklahoma State vs Tulsa Basketball Recap

If the college basketball world needed proof that a team other than Memphis could potentially rule the roost in Conference USA, it might have received Defense Exhibit A on a significant Wednesday night at the Donald Reynolds Center.

Make that "Offense Exhibit A."

An Oklahoma State outfit that reached the second round of last year's NCAA Tournament came to Tulsa, Okla., to take on coach Doug Wojcik's Golden Hurricane. The in-state encounter would test Tulsa's toughness, but after 40 minutes, only the Cowboys' credentials were being questioned. An emphatic 21-point romp over a Big 12 foe sent a ripple of revolt through C-USA, giving upstarts the belief that Memphis's place at the top of the league might be in danger this season.

Just how did Tulsa craft this coup against coach Travis Ford's forces, a shot across the bow at the men from Memphis? In a word, shooting.

After a relatively even start to this game through the first 14-plus minutes, Tulsa whipped up a storm to take control of this tussle. Up by only four points (29-25) with 5:35 left in the first half, the Golden Hurricane hit five straight field goal attempts - three of them from 3-point range - to produce a 13-3 run in just over three minutes. The shooting spree carried the home team to a 42-28 lead with 2:31 remaining, cementing Tulsa's advantage for the rest of the evening.

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Oklahoma State made one last push at the beginning of the second half. Holding the Hurricane scoreless for the first 3:43 of the half, the Cowboys crept within nine points (46-37) at the 16:17 mark, but that would be the last time the boys from the Big 12 trailed by single digits. As soon as Tulsa forward Bishop Wheatley (who finished with 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting) broke the ice and pushed the lead back to 11 at 48-37, Wojcik's roster walloped OSU the rest of the way. After its scoring drought at the beginning of the second half, Tulsa uncorked an 11-2 run over the next four minutes to lead by a 57-39 margin with 12:17 left. Oklahoma State never made another credible reply, and the new contender in Conference USA had just bagged the kind of win that could produce an at-large NCAA Tournament berth in mid-March.

There are no assurances that Conference USA will have more than one team in the Big Show this season, and it's far too early to anoint a 6-1 Tulsa team as the favorite in this low-profile league. Yet, a 21-point popping of Oklahoma State will carry a fair amount of mileage. As long as the Golden Hurricane have enough stamina in the tank for the months ahead, and can capture the consistency that's proven to be elusive in prior seasons - seasons that ended in the NIT - Wojcik and Co. just might be able to make C-USA a story of something more than "Memphis and the Eleven Dwarfs."

By: Matt Zemek
Big 12 Fans Staff Writer