Hurley ejected; Huskies lose at Tulsa again

TULSA, Okla. — Dan Hurley got booted out of his own birthday party Wednesday night.

Wasn’t much of a party, really, as the UConn coach’s first trip to the state of Oklahoma went about how each of UConn’s previous four trips had gone.

Spoiled by a loss to Tulsa. On Hurley’s

46th birthday, no less.

Neither Hurley nor Tulsa coach Frank Haith were there to stick around for the end of Tulsa’s 89-83 victory over the Huskies at Reynolds Center. The two head coaches were ejected from the game with 11:19 to play after jawing with each other for a few moments, and eventually getting hit with double technicals.

It appeared Hurley originally was upset about Haith straying a bit too far out of the coach’s box on the sideline. Haith voiced his disagreement and the two had words from afar and got hit with T’s.

Hurley seemed to try to go over to shake hands with Haith, but the crowd and players seemed to think he was going after his counterpart. A ref separated Hurley from Haith, more words were exchanged and, at some point, both coaches got a second T and were tossed.

It’s the second time in his first 18 games as UConn head coach that Hurley has been ejected.

As for the game, it was a somewhat familiar script when UConn plays at Tulsa: the Golden Hurricane shot the lights out, paced by an individual career-high scoring effort.

Jeriah Horne, a 6-foot-7 sophomore who began his career at Nebraska, finished with 27 points. His prior career-best was 18.

The Golden Hurricane have won all five meetings with UConn at home since joining the American Athletic Conference in 2014-15.

UConn (10-8, 1-4 AAC) had no answer for Horne. He scored in a variety of ways, against a variety of different Husky defenders, en route to 17 first-half points. Tulsa (12-6, 2-3) hit seven of its first 10 shots for the game, then closed out the half hitting six of its last eight, including its final four, to own a 42-37 lead.

The Huskies hit just one of their first eight shots to open the latter half, including all five 3-point at-

tempts — some of them wide-open looks. Tulsa took advantage and used a 9-0 run to open up a 17point (61-44) lead with 12:09 to play.

About a minute later, both head coaches had been bounced from the game. UConn made a last-ditch comeback attempt and closed to six with 28 seconds left, but came up short. Jalen Adams finished with 27 for UConn, though too many were in what wound up a somewhat empty comeback bid.

RIM RATTLINGS

The results of a CT scan on Kassoum Yakwe’s right foot was much more positive than expected, and the grad transfer forward still could return to action this season.

It was originally thought that Yakwe’s foot fracture, which occured during shootaround in Tampa on Jan. 1, was likely a season-ending injury. However, a CT scan revealed the fracture was not as bad as originally believed. Yakwe, a 6-foot-7 shot-blocker who transferred this season from St. John’s, will have another X-ray next week. If that goes well, he could be put on a program that could get him back playing at some point this season.

⏩ The 2019 Hoophall Classic begins on Thursday at Blake Arena on the Springfield College campus. Many of the top prep teams in the country will converge there over the next few days, and several UConn targets and commits will be playing.

On Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Precious Achiuwa, a national top-10 power forward and coveted UConn target, will be on display when his Montverde Academy fasces Imhotep Charter School. Of course, UConn will be hosting Tulane at the same time at Gampel Pavilion.

Sunday might be the best day for UConn fans to see some future and potential future Huskies. At 10:45 a.m., Putnam Science Academy — led by Hassan Diarra (Mamadou’s brother), Kareem Reid and Demarr Langford, Jr. — will face St. Thomas More. At 12:30 p.m., Brewster Academy, led by Terrence Clarke and Jamal Mashburn, Jr., face Achiuwa and Montverde.

At 2:15 p.m., Woodstock Academy, led by prime Husky big man target Tre Mitchell and forward Matt Cross, who holds a UConn offer, takes on Northfield Mount Hermon School.

At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Kofi Cockburn (who recetly spured UConn’s offer and committed to Illinois) leads Oak Hill Academy into action against IMG Academy. And at 9 p.m., UConn commit James Bouknight and MacDuffie School takes on Wilbraham and Monson Academy.