Balanced attack lead Tulsa to win vs. Loyola

TULSA–– Keaston Willis’ 15 points led five double-figure scorers as Tulsa handed Loyola Chicago an 88-77 loss on Tuesday night in front of 2,822 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Tulsa improved to 5-2 on the season, equaling its entire win total from a year ago, while Loyola Chicago dropped to 5-4 on the year.

Willis knocked down 3-of-6 from the field, all from beyond the arc, and was 6-of9 from the charity stripe for his 15 points. PJ Haggerty and Isaiah Barnes scored 14 apiece, Jared Garcia had 13 and a team-high six boards and Tyshawn Archie tallied 12 points.

ULC was led by Jayden Dawson’s 26 points.

“A really good win for our team,” said Tulsa Head Coach Eric Konkol. “I’m so proud of them for a number of reasons. One, just to be able to bounce back and get back to work after our last game. We knew that we’d go through some growing pains with a young group. Just to be able to play in front of our fans – thank them very, very much, because they were very empowering tonight.

“Loyola (Chicago) is a team who has played some really good games. They’ve been very competitive. They’ve got a lot of balance. We knew we were going to have our hands full defensively. I thought our guys played really, really hard, got the key stops and then they shared it against their pressure to make 14 3-point shots. It was a really special thing to see for our group. It was spread around. It was a total team effort for us tonight.”

Tulsa jumped out to an early 7-0 lead and had a 20-9 advantage in the first seven minutes, before holding on to just a three-point halftime lead, 42-39. Just like the first half, Tulsa started the second 20 minutes with a 13-3 run and a 55-42 lead with just under four minutes gone in the half.