American Conference/Ben Solomon

Men's Basketball

Best of Basketball No. 6: Tulsa Starts Conference Play 10-0

Over the next two weeks we will be counting down the top 10 moments from the 2014-15 basketball seasons. Each day we will be bringing you one moment from either the men or women that stood out to us this season.



#6: Tulsa's Start to Conference Play

Tulsa men's basketball had a lot of question marks coming into the season. An appearance in the NCAA tournament a year before left the Golden Hurricane hungry but a new coach and a new conference left some things up in the air. After being picked fifth in The American’s preseason coaches’ poll and starting the year 7-5 in non-conference action, a lot of people wondered how Tulsa would handle the heavy conference schedule.

Tulsa gets the win in OT over USF 78-71

A photo posted by American Athletic Conference (@american_conf) on


Conference play began and Tulsa started turning some heads. Three straight league wins turned into eight, which turned into 10. Tulsa went from December 31st to February 7th before suffering its first conference loss of the season, to SMU. Guard Shaquille Harrison, who had averaged 9.6 ppg a year ago, averaged 15.2 points in the first 10 conference games, adding a second scoring presence to Tulsa standout James Woodard and giving the Golden Hurricane the top-scoring backcourt in The American.
 
Bolstered by its 10-0 start, Tulsa remained either first or second in the American Athletic Conference standings throughout the season, culminating in a winner-take-all game against SMU for the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament to close the year. The Golden Hurricane ended up finishing second in the league  in its first year in The American, but its 10-game winning streak provided plenty of answers to any questions that lingered about Tulsa’s place in the conference.