PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The American Athletic Conference added three mid-week men’s basketball victories as UConn, Tulane and Tulsa each won at home. The Huskies ran past Lafayette, 90-63, Tulane outscored UT-Martin, 87-74, and Tulsa defeated in-state rival Oklahoma State, 74-71. Temple and SMU were edged against local foes as the Owls fell to No. 21/21 Villanova, 69-59, and SMU was topped by TCU, 67-59.
Wednesday, December 5
UConn 90, Lafayette 63
UConn (7-2) wrapped up the final game of a five-game homestand with an impressive 90-63 showing over the Lafayette College Leopards (2-6) on Dec. 5 at the XL Center.
Senior Jalen Adams scored 21 points, sophomore Tyler Polley poured in a career-high 16 points on 6-for-12 shooting while classmate Alterique Gilbert dished out a career-high 11 assists to lead the charge for the Huskies.
Additionally, Christian Vital added 14 points and Josh Carlton and Brendan Adams tallied 11 points apiece as UConn ended the night with five players in double-figures.
Despite getting out to a sluggish start, UConn used a 12-0 run to turn an 18-14 lead into a 30-14 advantage. The Huskies' defensive pressure held Lafayette to just 8-31 from the field and forced seven turnovers, allowing the home team to head into the locker room with a 45-29 lead at the half.
Determined to chip away at the Husky lead, Lafayette came out in the second half guns-a-blazing, shooting at a 48 percent clip over the final 20 minutes. Despite the opponent's hot shooting, UConn forced 10 second half turnovers and shot 42 percent from the field en route to a 27-point victory.
Gilbert set a new career high in assists as he dropped 11 dimes in just 22 minutes of play.
Sophomore Tyler Polley tallied 16 points, also a new career high for him.
UConn scored 31 points off 17 Lafayette turnovers and scored 11 more second chance points (17-6).
Tulane 87, UT-Martin 74
Freshman guard Shakwon Barrett had a night to remember as he scored a career high 26 points to lead the Tulane men's basketball team to a convincing 87-74 win over UT-Martin Wednesday night at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
Seventeen of Barrett's points came in the second half, as the Toronto, Ontario native shot an incredible 10-of-11 from the floor and reached double-figures for the second time this season. He also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out three assists.
Tulane (3-5) also received strong performances from sophomore Caleb Daniels, redshirt senior Jordan Cornish and junior Samir Sehic as they chipped in with 17, 14 and 12 points, respectively. Daniels also pulled down a career high 10 rebounds to record the first double-double of his career.
Sehic also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to record his fourth career double-double and second of the year.
The Green Wave's 13-point win over UT-Martin (3-3) snapped a four-game losing streak.
Tulane opened up a seven-point halftime lead (38-31) thanks to a 51.9 percent first-half shooting effort. Coming out of the locker room, Tulane opened up a 15-point lead with 16:37 to go. Four minutes later, Tulane increased its lead to 21 points and never looked back.
Tulane outshot UT-Martin by 20 percent on the evening and held a considerable advantage on the boards, as it out rebounded the Skyhawks 46-33. The Green Wave were especially tough in their perimeter defense, holding UT-Martin to just 13.8 percent shooting (4-for-29) from beyond the arc.
The Skyhawks were led by Fatodd Lewis' 20 points, while Kevin Little added 15 off the bench.
Tulsa 74, Oklahoma State 71
DaQuan Jeffries scored 20 points and Tulsa held off a late charge from Oklahoma State for a 74-71 win over the Cowboys on Wednesday at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Jeffries went 6-of-8 from the floor and 8-of-9 at the free-throw line for his second game of at least 20 points this season for the Golden Hurricane (6-3), who improved to 6-0 at home. In all, Tulsa has now won its last 12 home games and 21 of its last 23 contests in the Reynolds Center.
Jeriah Horne came off the bench to score a season-best 16 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Lawson Korita (13 points/7 rebounds) and Martins Igbanu (10 points/8 rebounds) also scored in double-figures.
Tulsa outscored the Cowboys (4-4) in the paint 34-18 and TU forced 17 miscues by the visitors. The Hurricane turned it over just 11 times, including twice in the second half, against an OSU squad which came into the contest averaging 17.7 forced turnovers per contest.
Mike Cunningham came off the bench to lead Oklahoma State with 14 points. Thomas Dziagwa and Lindy Waters each finished with a dozen.
Oklahoma State hit 11 3-pointers, including three in the final minute to keep it close until the final buzzer.
Tulsa extended a 30-29 halftime lead with a 9-0 run, with points from four different players, to start the second half.
Curran Scott started the run with a triple following an offensive rebound from Jeffries. Sterling Taplin then knocked in two free throws before an offensive rebound and putback from Igbanu. Jeffries then capped the run with a layup that brought the crowd of 7,145 to its feet and gave the Hurricane a 39-29 cushion.
Tulsa would lead by as much as 12 during the second half and the lead hovered in and around double-digits for most of the final 20 minutes.
However, the Cowboys made a run down the stretch and trimmed the deficit to 63-61 with 1:10 left on the clock after a 7-0 spurt.
With about a minute remaining, Jeffries had perhaps the play of game. Taplin found the senior under the basket and Jeffries finished a dunk through contact. He completed the old-fashioned three-point play for a 66-61 advantage.
That's when the Cowboys caught fire from behind the arc, but Tulsa was able to offset OSU's three triples in the final minute by going 8-for-8 from the line in the final 35 seconds to seal the 74-71 win.
Temple 59, No. 21/21 Villanova 69
Going nearly four minutes without a point in a crucial stretch of the second half cost Temple men's basketball its chance for an upset of No. 21/21 Villanova as the Owls (7-2) lost 69-59 to the Wildcats (7-2) at Finneran Pavilion.
Sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis scored a game and season-high 19 points for Temple and sparked some impressive stretches of play by the Owls, but a second half lead slipped away in the latter part of the period.
Temple led by as many as seven early in the second half, and still led by four near the six-minute mark before suffering its shooting drought.
Over the final six minutes, Villanova out-scored the Owls 26-12 which included 15 free throws and a 12-0 Wildcat run.
Villanova finished 20-of-25 at the line while the Owls were just 9-for-12.
The Owls' bench had come up big in their last win at Saint Joseph's, but struggled at Villanova and scored just seven points while the Wildcats' bench scored 29.
Pierre-Louis hit 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line on his way to 19 points, also tying for the team lead with five rebounds.
Senior Shizz Alston, Jr. scored 15 points with three assists while junior Quinton Rose added 13 points and two steals.
SMU 59, TCU 67
Jaylen Fisher scored 12 of his 15 points after halftime as TCU rallied for a 67-59 win at SMU on Wednesday night, ending the Mustangs' four-game winning streak.
Fisher's third 3-pointer of the second half made it 49-47 with 10 1/2 minutes left, putting the Horned Frogs (6-1) ahead to stay. He hit from the right corner on a pass from Kouat Noi, who then hit a 3 of his own on the next TCU possession. Fisher scored all of his points with five 3-pointers overall.
JD Miller also had 15 points for TCU, while Noi finished with 12.
Jahmal McMurray had 19 points for SMU (6-4), while Isiaha Mike had 14. Feron Hunt added 11 points and eight rebounds.
SMU missed its first eight field goal attempts after halftime, but still had a 41-37 lead when Hunt drove for a layup to make it 41-37 with 13:27 left. TCU's only two made baskets in the half until that point were a pair of 3s by Fisher.
Soon after that TCU was in the lead for the first time since early in the game. Desmond Bane hit a 3-pointer from the left corner in front of the Frogs bench, then rebounded a missed Mustangs shot that led to his fast-break layup for a 42-41 lead.
The Mustangs had 10-point leads three different times in the first half. After their latest double-digit lead, TCU scored six in a row to cut it to 33-29 just before halftime when Alex Robinson had a layup, made a free throw and Fisher hit his first 3 of the game.
UPCOMING GAMES