TU basketball: Etou leads Hurricane to win over Tulane in AAC Tournament


by Tulsa World Sports Writer Kelly Hines
@kellyhinestw
/kellyhinestw

Posted: Thursday March 9, 2017 8:12 pm

HARTFORD, Conn. — The aggressive version of Junior Etou emerged at precisely the right time.

The University of Tulsa’s top scorer and rebounder delivered a critical sequence late in Thursday’s 66-60 win against Tulane in the first round of the American Athletic Conference tournament.

With his team clinging to a narrow lead, Etou took a pass on the perimeter and decisively attacked the rim, softly laying in a basket. On the other end, he stood tall in the lane and took a charge.

“He’s our guy,” coach Frank Haith said. “When the game’s on the line and we need big plays, we want him to step up and make those kind of plays. … Those two bang-bang plays were really big for us.”

Seventh-seeded Tulsa, which advanced to play No. 2 seed Cincinnati at 6 p.m. Friday in the quarterfinals, displayed a much-improved effort that was absent at Tulane five days earlier in the regular-season finale.

Particularly on the defensive end, the Hurricane (15-16) played significantly better than it did in Sunday’s loss, allowing six fewer 3-pointers and a decrease of 18.3 percent on field goals.

“I think we wrapped up our defense today,” forward TK Edogi said. “We were really disappointed we lost to them and just knew we wanted to get them back today.”

In front of a mostly neutral XL Center crowd watching teams from more than 1,400 miles away, Tulsa jumped out to an early nine-point advantage before becoming ice-cold from the field. The Hurricane missed 18 of its last 19 shots before halftime and was held without a field goal for more than 12 minutes.

Despite the shooting struggles, Tulsa maintained slim margins and extended its cushion with six consecutive makes early in the second half to take a 34-27 lead. Pat Birt started to heat up, connecting on three attempts in a row before getting into foul trouble.

“We had a lot better movement,” Birt said. “Last game I noticed we were a little stagnant. It was hard to be aggressive on drives. Defense was staying (put). Today it opened up the gap for everyone and opened up the offense for us as well.”

With Birt on the bench with four fouls, the Hurricane couldn’t provide enough separation from Tulane (6-25) and trailed for the first time on a 3-pointer from Malik Morgan midway through the second half.

A technical on Green Wave coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. resulted in an 8-1 run for Tulsa, but Tulane got within four before Etou’s back-to-back plays with three minutes left. The Hurricane’s defense didn’t allow a field goal the rest of the way.

“There have been times all year where we had good possessions, and then when adversity hits, we’ve let up on the defensive end,” Haith said. “I don’t think that happened. Maybe a couple possessions we lost some principle things, but I thought our effort was good throughout the ball game.”

After avenging its most recent defeat, Tulsa plays a Cincinnati team that prevailed in both meetings this season, including a comeback win Feb. 1 at the Reynolds Center that launched a six-game spiral.

“They play with great intensity,” Haith said. “We have to have the same kind of intensity that we had tonight tomorrow night against a very talented team.”

Kelly Hines

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[i]kelly.hines@tulsaworld.com[/i]

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