Oral Roberts @ Tulsa preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 28, 2016 ) Tulsa 79, Oral Roberts 65

Tulsa looks to bounce back from a season-opening loss when it hosts Oral Roberts in a non-conference contest on Monday. The Golden Hurricane tried to rally against Lamar after falling behind by double digits in the second half but fell short, while the Golden Eagles are coming off a victory over NAIA school Avila.

Center Albert Owens leads Oral Roberts' offensive attack as he is coming off 23-point, nine-rebound, two-block effort in the opener for new coach Paul Mills' squad, which has nine newcomers on its roster. Freshman point guard R.J. Fuqua is one of those new faces, and he made quite a splash in the opener by registering a school-record nine steals. Tulsa will counter at the point with junior Sterling Taplin, who recorded just one assist but scored a team-high 18 points in the season-opening setback. The Golden Hurricane have experience but not much size, with 6-8 forward Junior Etou - last season's leading scorer - being the tallest of the team's starters.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, No TV

ABOUT ORAL ROBERTS (1-0): The Golden Eagles got a boost from the return of Javan White after the forward sat out last season while dealing with problems with his left knee. The 6-10 White averaged 4.3 points as a freshman but looked a lot better in the opener, scoring nine points and grabbing 12 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench. White brings some extra size to the team's front line, allowing Owens and 6-8 sophomore Emmanuel Nzekwesi to be more aggressive and not worry about hurting the team if they get into foul trouble.

ABOUT TULSA (0-1): One of the areas with which coach Frank Haith was most unhappy in the season-opening loss was the team's lack of effort on the boards. Etou, last campaign's leading rebounder, was saddled with foul trouble and finished with just three boards, but no one else picked up the slack as sophomore forward Martins Igbanu led the way with seven rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. The Golden Hurricane lost the rebounding battle 42-28 and allowed Lamar 14 offensive boards that turned into 11 second-chance points in a seven-point setback.

TIP-INS

1. Owens is 17 points away from becoming the 34th player in Oral Roberts history to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his career.

2. Tulsa struggled from 3-point range in its opener, going 5-for-19 with only freshman G Elijah Joiner (2-for-3) hitting more than one shot from beyond the arc.

3. Haith is one of 20 active coaches that have taken at least three different teams to the NCAA Tournament, and he'll face three others from that list - Tubby Smith, Kelvin Sampson and Bruce Weber - this season.

PREDICTION: Tulsa 76, Oral Roberts 73