Know the Foe: Tulsa

Memphis hits the road again after back-to-back home wins over Temple and UTSA. The Tigers currently sit in second in the American Conference, but they’re getting ready for an important stretch in conference play, which starts on Wednesday against Tulsa.

The Hurricane enter the game with a 15-3 record, and they sit 3-2 in conference play after losing back-to-back games against North Texas and USF to start the month of January. Eric Konkol is in his fourth season at Tulsa, and the group is putting together its best season under his leadership.

Like most teams in the conference, Konkol had to replace most of his roster, and 12 of the 14 players on the roster are newcomers.

The Hurricane put together a 12-1 non-conference record, but their non-conference strength of schedule ranked No. 250, according to KenPom. The only top-100 opponent that Tulsa played in the offseason was Kansas State, which beat them by one point.

As a team, Tulsa is averaging 88.3 points, and it’s shooting 49.5 percent from the field, 39.7 percent from deep and 79 percent from the free-throw line. Three players are averaging more than 10 points per game, and senior forward David Green leads the team, averaging 16.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. 

Both guards, Tyler Riley and Miles Barnstable, also average more than 14 points per game, and they both shoot better than 40 percent from three-point range. Barnstable is the best three-point shooter on the team, currently shooting 45.6 percent from three on 5.7 attempts per game.

The Hurricane are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the country and are shooting 41.2 percent from deep this season, excluding the two games against non-DI opponents. They also take a lot of three-pointers and rank No. 59 in three-point distribution.

In the frontcourt, Tulsa has a 6-foot-10 center, Tyler Behrend, who averages 5.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. As a team, the Hurricane average 38.6 rebounds per game with a plus-8.4 rebounding margin.

Defensively, Konkol’s team allows 72.1 points per game, and opponents shoot 42.4 percent from the field and 33.5 percent from three-point range. They force 10.7 turnovers per game and score 13.4 points off turnovers per game. 

It’s been a struggle at times on the defensive end of the court, and Tulsa has allowed teams to score 75 or more points eight times this season.

Wednesday will be the first time the Hurricane have played a home game since losing to USF by 15 points on January 10.