Tulsa’s Elijah Joiner scored 14 second-half points as TU thwarted a second half Temple rally for a 72-66 home victory February 16.

The win snapped a three-game Tulsa losing streak and improved the Golden Hurricane record to 10-9 overall and 7-7 in the American Athletic Conference, Temple fell to 4-8 overall and 3-9 in the league.

 “We really competed and we played hard on defense. We just weren’t shooting it great in first half, but our defense was really carrying us. We got to an 18-point lead in the second half, then there was a stretch we missed some easy buckets and they made some baskets’” said Tulsa coach Frank Haith. “I was proud of our effort. I think we got back to Tulsa basketball tonight. To win, this team has to play defense. We have to take care of the controllables and we did that.”

Tulsa hosted the Cincinnati Bearcats on February 24. Tulsa’s home game against East Carolina on Saturday was postponed. Tulsa is at Central Florida in Orlando on March 2 (time to be announced) on ESPN+ and at SMU at 2 p.m. on ESPN+ on March 7.

The American Athletic Conference Basketball Tournament will be March 11-14 in the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.