Once Upon A Time in America Betting Show
We've got New Year's Day college basketball action in the American Athletic Conference as the SMU Mustangs host the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Mustangs are 5-8 on the season and this is their first AAC game. The Golden Hurricane is 4-8 overall and 0-1 in the conference. SMU won all three games the two teams played last season, including a W in the conference tournament. Tipoff is at 3:00 p.m. EST at Moody Coliseum in Dallas.
Tulsa's season got off to a promising start as they hung around with Oregon State before losing 73-70. Then they had wins over Jackson Stat and Loyola. But then things went south as they lost 5 straight before stopping the skid with back to back wins over Central Michigan and Miss Valley State. However, the Golden Hurricane has lost 2 straight since then, falling to Loyola Marymount and then getting their doors blown in by national powerhouse Houston 89-50 last Thursday.
Tulsa falls to #3 Houston #LoyalAlwaysTruehttps://t.co/gOiNUOwcZ0
— Tulsa Basketball (@TUMBasketball) December 29, 2022
Houston, a conference rival, is the No. 3 team in the country, so a win was not expected. But a near 40 point loss is never good and not a confidence booster. Houston has one of the best defenses in the country and it showed as Tulsa shot just 34% from the floor and committed 14 turnovers to 6 for Houston. Bryant Selebangue was the only Tulsa player in double figures with 13 points and 9 rebounds. Leading scorer Sam Griffin, who averages 14.1 points per game, had only 8 in the game. Tulsa is ranked No. 220 by KenPom.