Same mistaked come back to doom Golden Hurricane
Brian Green, Sports editor
On Saturday, the men’s basketball team lost to a familiar foe – itself.
The University of Tulsa committed too many unforced errors down the stretch, and the Golden Hurricane seized defeat from the jaws of victory.
TU played phenomenally well for 35 minutes of the game, but then the same demons came back to haunt the Golden Hurricane. After building a seven point advan-tage, TU fell apart. Rice put together a strong run and closed the gap to 49-47 at the seven minute mark. TU then sprang ahead 55-48 with 3:30 left in the game, but then fell apart once more, this time for good.
TU scored two points in the final 3:30 of the game, and committed several costly mistakes that could have easily been avoided. The TU defense collapsed, allowing Rice to grab offen-sive rebound after offensive rebound as well as penetrate for easy lay-ups.
In addition, on two con-secutive offensive trips, the Golden Hurricane failed to use the clock and take care of the ball. Brett McDade shot and missed a three-pointer with more than 15 sec-onds still on the shot clock, and Rice stole the ball from Guilherme Teichmann on TU’s next possession. Rice capitalized off the opportunity by tying the game at 55.
TU nearly lost the game in regulation, as only a lay-up by Vernell Davis and a missed wide-open three-pointer by Rice’s Harris at the buzzer kept the game tied.
But things got worse in overtime, as TU allowed Rice to build a seven-point lead with less than a minute to play. During a stretch spanning one minute, Rice rebounded a missed TU shot, missed four consecutive close shots, and grabbed four consecutive offensive rebounds before a foul sent Harris to the line for two easy free throws. During that span, Rice milked more than a minute off the clock, creating an insurmountable deficit for the Golden Hurricane.
TU’s offensive performance down the stretch was equally disappointing. TU scored four points in the final three minutes of the game, and just two points in the first four minutes of overtime. Over that stretch, Rice outscored TU 19-4. Somebody has to step up for TU when the Golden Hurricane needs a basket.
In the wins over UTEP and Boise State, Jarius Glenn established himself as TU’s go-to-guy. However, he disappeared during the last seven minutes of the game and overtime. Why wasn’t he involved in the offense when TU needed him most?
This game was not an isolated incident. These same problems have plagued the Golden Hurricane throughout this season, which begs several questions. How many times will oppo-nents blow past TU defenders for easy lay-ups before someone comes over to take a charge or block a shot? How many offensive rebounds will TU give up before players start boxing out? How many times will TU beat TU before things change?
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