The Tulsa Golden Hurricane will tip-off the 100th year of basketball at the school in 2010-11 with three consecutive home games against teams that posted 20+ victories a year ago, it was announced today.
 
Tulsa will face some new opponents (Appalachian State, Princeton and Weber State), but will renew and continue some old rivalries (Wichita State, OSU, TCU, ORU and Missouri State) as the school revealed its' non-conference schedule for the 2010-11 campaign. Six of Tulsa's seven non-league home opponents posted at least 20 wins last year.
 
"We feel really good about our non-conference schedule. Of our 11 definite opponents, eight won 20 or more games a year ago and six of those teams finished the season among the top-100 in the RPI ratings," said Tulsa Head Coach Doug Wojcik. "In addition, we'll have an opportunity to possibly play three more teams - Murray State, UNLV and Virginia Tech - ranked among the top-60 in the RPI at the 76 Classic in November."
 
"This is an exciting schedule for our team and our fans as we celebrate the great tradition in our 100th season of basketball at TU," added Wojcik.
 
The Hurricane will tip-off the regular season on Friday, November 12th against first-time opponent Appalachian State and new coach Jason Capel. The Mountaineers posted a 24-13 record and won the South Division of the Southern Conference last season. Tulsa and ASU played one common opponent a year ago, Marshall, as Tulsa posted a 2-1 record against the Thundering Herd and the Mountaineers won the only meeting.
 
For the second straight year, Tulsa will be a part of ESPN's "24 Hours of Basketball". This year, the Hurricane will play cross-town rival Oral Roberts (20-13) at 11 am on Tuesday, Nov. 16th. Tulsa has won the last two meetings, including a 57-52 victory last year at the Mabee Center, and has a 30-16 advantage in the series.
 
The third straight home game to start the season comes against Missouri State. The Bears, 24-12 and champions of the CollegeInsider.com post-season tournament a year ago, come to town on Friday, Nov. 19th, to close out the three-game home-stand for the Hurricane.
 
Tulsa will then go west for the Fourth Annual 76 Classic in Anaheim, California, over the Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 25-28. The tournament features five post-season tournament teams from a year ago, including three NCAA teams and two NIT squads. The field includes UNLV (25-9, NCAA), Virginia Tech (25-9, NIT), Oklahoma State (22-11, NCAA), Murray State (31-5, NCAA), Tulsa (23-12, NIT), DePaul (8-23), Stanford (14-18) and Cal State Northridge (11-21). Three games will be played over four days (Nov. 25, 26 and 28th) at the 7,500-seat Anaheim Convention Center. All 12 games will be televised on the ESPN's family of networks.

A week later, Tulsa travels to Little Rock, Arkansas to face the UALR Trojans on December 5th. The Hurricane returns to Tulsa to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a neutral site game at the downtown BOK Center on Wednesday, Dec. 8th. Tulsa corralled the Cowboys last year at the Reynolds Center by a score of 86-65.
 
On Sunday, Dec. 12th, Tulsa will meet the Princeton Tigers for the first time in school history in a 1 pm match-up at the Reynolds Center. Princeton posted a 22-9 record last year and finished in second-place in the Ivy League. The Tigers have made 29 post-season tournament appearances in school history, including 23 times in the NCAA.
 
Tulsa will host 2010 Big Sky Conference Champion Weber State on Thursday, Dec. 16th. Weber State posted a 20-11 record lat year and finished the regular season in first place in the Big Sky with a 13-3 mark, but fell in the tournament championship game against Montana. Like the Hurricane, Weber State played in the NIT.
 
The Hurricane will renew its' longest rivalry in school history when Tulsa travels up I-35 to play Wichita State on Tuesday, Dec. 21st. This will be the 120th meeting between the two schools as Tulsa leads the series by one game, 60-59.
 
WSU is coming off of a 25-10 season that saw the Shockers finish in second-place in the Missouri Valley Conference and advance to the post-season NIT.
 
Tulsa will return for a home contest just before Christmas as the Hurricane plays host to Texas-San Antonio (19-11) on Thursday, Dec. 23rd. It will be the fourth meeting against the Roadrunners, as Tulsa leads the series 3-0.
 
After a six-day layoff for the Holidays, Tulsa returns to the Reynolds Center for a match-up against former Western Athletic Conference rival, TCU. The Horned Frogs, now a member of the Mountain West Conference, posted a 13-19 mark last year. It's the first meeting between the two schools since the 2003-04 campaign, as Tulsa leads the series 19-10.
 
The final non-conference game will take the Hurricane to Tempe, Arizona, as Conference USA play would have already begun. The Hurricane will play the Arizona State Sun Devils on Wednesday, January 12th, for only the third time in school history. Tulsa leads the series 2-0 after capturing a 69-67 win in the 2000 season opener.

The Sun Devils posted a 22-11 mark last year and has made three straight post-season appearances.
 
Arizona State, Wichita State and UALR will return games to Tulsa in 2011-12, while the Hurricane will visit ORU, Oklahoma State, Missouri State and TCU next season.
 
The Conference USA schedule for all 12 league schools will be announced at a later date.
 
The 2010-11 season is the 100th year of basketball for The University of Tulsa. Formerly known as Kendall College, the basketball team played its' first game in 1907-08 (Tulsa did not field teams for four seasons). Tulsa has played 2,323 games in school history and has advanced to post-season play 26 times, while winning two NIT titles (1981 and 2001) and one CBI crown (2008).
 

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2010-11 Tulsa Men's Basketball Non-Conference Schedule
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE ONLY
 
Date    Day    Opponent (2009-10 Record)    Time
NOVEMBER
1      Mon.    Exhibition (Tentative)    TBA
8      Mon.    Exhibition (Tentative)    TBA
12      Fri.        Appalachian State (24-13)    7 pm
16      Tues.    Oral Roberts (20-13)    11 am
19      Fri.        Missouri State (24-12)    7 pm
25      Thurs.    at 76 Classic @ Anaheim, Calif.    TBA   
26      Fri.     at 76 Classic @ Anaheim, Calif.    TBA  
28      Sun.    at 76 Classic @ Anaheim, Calif.    TBA  
 
DECEMBER
5      Sun.    at Arkansas-Little Rock (8-22)    TBA
8      Wed.    Oklahoma State @ BOK Center (22-11)    7 pm
12      Sun.    Princeton (22-9)    1 pm
16      Thurs.    Weber State (20-11)    7 pm
21      Tues.    at Wichita State (25-10)    TBA
23      Thurs.    Texas-San Antonio (19-11)    7 pm
30      Thurs.    TCU (13-19)    7 pm

JANUARY
12      Wed.    at Arizona State (22-11)    TBA

Tulsa trailed by 15 at the half but outscored Rice 47-21 in the 2nd to win their Conference USA opener 73-62 over the Owls Wednesday night at the BOK Center. Justin Hurtt scored17 including an electric dunk in the second half to key TU to the win. The Hurricane outshot Rice in the second half 52% to 33% and forced 16 turnovers.

Hear what head coach Doug Wojcik had to say by by clicking here.

TU will face Marshall in the quarterfinals on Thursday night at 6:30 with a 6:00 pre-game on KRMG.

Look below for the entire schedule.

We've heard from the coaches but what about the players? On Tuesday, the teams had the chance to practice on the court at the BOK Center. Before they began, Tulsa's Ben Uzoh, Justin Hurtt, and Jerome Jordan talked about the tournament and their team.

Justin Hurtt scored a career high 34 points as Tulsa broke its losing streak and beat East Carolina 85-73. Hurtt was red hot, connecting on 11-16 shots including an amazing 7-11 from three point range. Jerome Jordan added 15 while Joe Richard put in 13.

The Hurricane shot 54% from the field and a remarkable 55% from three. Next up for Tulsa is senior night on Wednesday at the Reynolds Center against SMU.