TULSA, Okla. - After coming off a nail-biting loss to their old WAC foe Stephen F. Austin, the Aggies were looking to get their first road win of the season against Tulsa. Unfortunately, the Aggies are still looking for their first road victory as the Golden Hurricane topped the Aggies, 65-59, at the Reynolds Center on Friday night.  

From the tip the Aggies made their presence known early and took a game high 16-point lead with 7:48 left in the first half. Coming out of halftime, the Aggies held a four-point lead, but Tulsa slowly wore down NM State in the second half and took the lead back with 6:21 left on the clock. Unfortunely, the Aggies were not able to take control of the lead again and fell on the road 65-59.  

First Half  

• Coming out of the gate, Tulsa struck first with Jared Garcia throwing down a two-handed jam to set the tone for a physical game. After Brandon Suggs got the Aggies on the board with two free throws, Kaosi Ezeagu went to work with two post-move baskets back-to-back to help the Aggies take a 6-4 lead over the Golden Hurricane. 

• Later in the first half after two free throws from Jordan Rawls, the Aggies took charge to orchestrate a 9-3 run and take a 17-9 lead. The Aggies spread the ball around and got points from four different players in this span of the run. NM State did not waste much time before imposing its will as they shot 40% from the field while holding the Golden Hurricane to a 23.1% rate heading into the second media timeout. The Aggies also committed zero turnovers during the first eight-plus minutes while forcing Tulsa into nine turnovers of its own. 

• While a nine-point Aggie run was in effect, Tulsa's Isaiah Barnes missed a three pointer. On the next possession Robert Carpenter answered back with a dart from beyond the arc to bring the Aggies to their biggest lead of the game, 29-13 with 7:48 left in the first half. Femi Odukale and Robert Carpenter both added five points in the stretch.  

• Later in the first half after Jared Garcia and Cobe Williams made back-to-back three pointers for Tulsa, Garcia made two free throws that slimmed the lead to 23-29 with 4:30 left in the first half. Later, PJ Haggerty converted an and-one to bring Tulsa within five points with 2:20 left in the half. The Aggies would eventually enter the break with a four-point advantage instead of highlighting something they did again. 

Second Half 

• After playing just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Brandon Suggs led the way for the Aggies to start half number two, putting up five points in the opening minutes of action. PJ Haggerty of the Golden Hurricane kept them in the contest with six free throws to make it a 44-39 game with 15:29 remaining.  

• Going 0-3 in 12 first-half minutes, Atlanta product Jaden Harris entered the game and quickly put in his first points of the night, getting a layup from the left side of the lane to go down. The next possession, Harris found Kaosi Ezeagu with a great pass underneath for a two-handed slam. This gave the Aggies their largest lead of the second half, 54-49 with 8:53 still on the clock.  

• With a lot of game left to play, Tulsa didn't wait to respond in kind, going on a 9-0 run fueled by a quartet of Aggie turnovers. After going 0-6 as a team to begin the second half, Cobe Williams knocked down a triple from the left wing to make it 58-54 in favor of the Golden Hurricanes with 5:35 remaining. 

• A free throw from Seton Hall transfer Femi Odukale ended the Tulsa scoring run (58-55) and put himself at ten points on the night, the first Aggie to score in double-digits. This became his first night with 10+ points since a Dec. 2 road contest against New Mexico.  

• Putting up 17 points in the first 11 minutes of second half action, NM State failed to record a field goal for more than eight and a half minutes until a layup by Kaosi Ezeagu made it a 62-59 game with just 42 ticks left.  

• Despite holding an edge in field goal percentage (37%-34%), second chance points (11-4), points in the paint (34-26) and rebounding (41-36), the Aggies were unable to overcome going 4-27 (14.8%) from beyond the arc and 15 turnovers. The Golden Hurricane took advantage of 19 NM State fouls, making 25 free throws on 28 attempts (89.3%). 

NUMBERS OF NOTE 

• Going 9-10 (.900) from the charity stripe in Friday's contest, the Aggies put up their second best free-throw shooting performance of the season – second only to a 5-5 (1.000) mark in the season opener against Kentucky. 

• Femi Odukale led all Aggies with 12 points, adding in seven rebounds and a pair of assists. In eight contests with NM State this season, the senior from Brooklyn is averaging 11.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.4 assists in just 23 minutes a game. 

• For the fourth time this season, the Aggies recorded four blocks, led by a pair from junior big man Robert Carpenter – tying his season high. 

• The Aggies fell to 0-6 in road contests on the year, extending their losing streak to 13 matches in away games dating back to a Dec. 14, 2022 date with RV Saint Mary's. NM State's last road win came against Atlantic 10 opponent Duquesne, a 73-60 victory in Pittsburgh. The squad's next chance to notch an away game victory comes on Jan. 11, a CUSA contest with FIU in Miami.  

UP NEXT 

The Aggies will play their last non-conference matchup of the 2023-24 season on Saturday, Dec. 30 against California Baptist. This marks NM State's last matchup in the WAC/CUSA Scheduling Initiative, and reunites conference mates – the Lancers joined the Aggies in the Western Athletic Conference in 2018, before NM State departed for CUSA. 

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