Tulsa vs. Northern Illinois tip at 7 p.m. Thursday at Reynolds Center

Tulsa vs. Northern Illinois tip at 7 p.m. Thursday at Reynolds Center

by

Tulsa welcomes Northern Illinois to the Reynolds Center on Thursday for the first meeting between the two programs, a 7 p.m. tipoff that could push the Golden Hurricane to 2-0 and nudge head coach Eric Konkol higher on the school’s all-time wins list. According to tulsahurricane.com, Tulsa arrives off a historic Monday night opener in which the team drained 19 three-pointers—a program record that also matched an American Conference single-game mark last set by Tulane against UTSA.

Konkol enters Thursday with 65 wins at Tulsa, and a victory over the Huskies would move him past Chet Benefiel (1932-39) for sole possession of 11th place on the program’s all-time coaching wins list.

The Golden Hurricane went 11-for-16 from beyond the arc in the second half, the third-best three-point shooting half in Reynolds Center history, with only two other occasions—both 7-for-10 halves, the most recent against East Carolina in 2017—coming closer to that level of precision.

A Historic Offensive Machine

The offensive explosion builds on a 2025-26 campaign that rewrote the program’s record book. Tulsa won 30 games last season—the second-most in school history behind only the 1999-00 Elite Eight squad under Bill Self—and became just the ninth program in American Conference history to reach that plateau. The 17-win improvement from the previous season ranked as the second-largest in the nation, trailing only Miami (FL)’s 19-win jump.

Nationally, Tulsa finished 16th in scoring offense (85.1 points per game), 18th in scoring margin (11.5), 16th in free throw percentage, 13th in made free throws per game (19.0), 19th in three-point percentage, and 23rd in three-pointers per game (10.5). The team’s 399 made threes shattered the conference record of 337 set by Houston in 2018-19, and the Golden Hurricane tied for fifth in the country with 26 games scoring 80 or more points. They also recorded 32 “Kill Shots”—runs of 10-0 or better—while last season’s starting five of Miles Barnstable, Tyler Behrend, David Green, Ade Popoola, and Tylen Riley finished fourth in the nation in plus-minus at +166.

Returning Firepower and New Faces

Guard Jaylen Lawal and forward Myles Rigsby combined for 13.5 points per game off the bench last season, accounting for 15.9 percent of Tulsa’s scoring. Lawal scored 279 points as a freshman—the ninth-most by a freshman in program history—and made 43 threes, third-most by a freshman on record, while earning three American Conference Freshman of the Week honors. Rigsby played a team-leading 18.6 minutes per game in 32 contests and shot 62-for-71 from the free throw line (.873), matching the sixth-best single-season percentage in program history with at least 65 attempts.

Also back are Cal Conroy and Leon Sifferlin, who saw limited action, and Carter Benton, who redshirted last season. The staff added Matty Carney as Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development and Recruiting—he helped develop 2025 NBA Draft pick Jeremiah Fears at Oklahoma—along with Dawson George as Associate Athletic Trainer.

From Darkness to the Postseason

After finishing 2024-25 ranked No. 271 in the final NET, Tulsa posted the largest final NET increase in the nation, climbing to No. 51. The Golden Hurricane reached the NIT finals—their first postseason appearance in a decade—and captured the American Conference semifinals for the first time since 2014-15. They went undefeated in December at 7-0, the first perfect month since January 2015 and the first undefeated December since Nolan Richardson’s 1983 squad went 7-0 en route to a 27-4 finish. Tulsa also won 10 straight games at one point, the first double-digit winning streak since 2014-15, and appeared in the NCAA Tournament First Four in 2016 before falling to Michigan 67-62.

Tulsa entered this season No. 27 in the initial NET—the program’s highest ever—after being tabbed eighth a year ago and finishing tied for second. Bart Torvik projects a 22-10 overall record and an 11-7 conference mark, ranking Tulsa second in the American and 90th nationally, while KenPom slotted the Golden Hurricane at No. 111, their highest preseason KenPom ranking since 2021-22.

Game Schedules Broadcast Options Shift

Thursday’s game tips at 7 p.m. at the Reynolds Center, which now seats 7,593 after the addition of four premium suites behind the benches this offseason. Fans can catch the action on 99.5 FM KVOO Big Country, the Learfield Network, the Varsity Network App, or ESPN+, with Bruce Howard and J.R. Rollo handling radio play-by-play and Chad McKee and Pooh Williamson calling the television broadcast.

Win or lose, the Golden Hurricane turn immediately to their crosstown rival, hosting Oral Roberts in the Mayor’s Cup the following Wednesday.

Worth a look

Read next