As March Madness takes the world by storm, the Tulsa Golden Hurricane are making their way through their own circus — The National Invitation Tournament.
The University of Tulsa’s basketball team advanced to the NIT quarterfinals after defeating the University of Las Vegas Nevada 77-66 Sunday. It was their second consecutive win after defeating Stephen F. Austin 89-84 in a double-digit overtime comeback.
Guards Ade Popoola and Miles Barnstable led the way for the Golden Hurricane against the Rebels with each piling on 16 points, but the team found success through its rebounding.
Tulsa outrebounded the Rebels 49-23, including 18 offensive rebounds resulting in 16 second-chance points.
The Golden Hurricane, which compete in the American Athletic Conference, ended the regular season with a 26-7 record. They didn’t qualify for the NCAA Tournament, which ranks the quality of wins a team has to determine who will participate. The team last appeared in the NCAA tournament a decade ago.
NIT is a single-elimination contest featuring 32 of the best teams that didn’t make the cut for the NCAA Tournament. After several years of sub-500 records, this is the first time in 11 years the team has featured in the NIT.
Despite the fresh faces and the tournament drought, Tulsa isn’t a complete stranger to the environment. The program has won the NIT twice in its history, in 1981 and 2001. They’ll need to win three more games before they can call themselves champions a third time.
TU will now play Wichita State (24-11) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Reynolds Center, where they’ve won their past two tournament games. The Shockers beat the Golden Hurricane 81-68 March 14, making Tuesday’s contest a high-stakes rematch.
Tickets are available online for $35 each.
Ismael Lele is a Report for America corps member and writes about business in Tulsa for The Oklahoma Eagle. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting this link.
