By Fred L. Jones, Jr.
fjones@theoklahoma.net
The Golden Hurricane hired Frank Haith from Missouri on April 17, 2014 to replace Danny Manning, who had resigned to take the Wake Forest job after the 2013–14 season.
The team has long been successful, especially since the hiring of Nolan Richardson in 1980. Many big-name coaches previously worked at Tulsa, like University of Kansas coach Bill Self and Minnesota coach Tubby Smith. The Hurricane have been to the NCAA Tournament 14 times in their history. In addition, they have won two National Invitation Tournaments, in 1981 and 2001, and one CBI tournament. In 2005, Street & Smith’s named the University of Tulsa as the 59th best college basketball program of all time.
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane celebrated its Seniors in the mens basketball program Sunday March 3rd in a pregame recognition ceremony. The 4 seniors are team manager Evan Shebester, he has been a manager with the team for all 4 years and, his tireless efforts behind the scenes have helped contribute to the success of Head Coach Frank Haiths program. He will graduate in May with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Senior Alexx Foree, a forward from Fort Smith, Arkansas. He also began his time his time with the men’s basketball team as a student-manager during the 2015-17 season and earned his spot as a walk-on prior to the 2016-17 season. He has been named to the deans list twice and the Athletics Doctor Honor roll 4 times and he will graduate in May with a degree in Petroleum Engineering.
DaQuan Jefferies, a forward from Edmond, Oklahoma. In two seasons with the Hurricane he has appeared in 53 games with 37 starts, and he has totaled more than 600 points and 400 rebounds. Jefferies is leading the team in scoring, rebounding, steals and blocks this season and ranks 15th on the school’s career blacks list with 69. Jefferies has scored in double figures 32 times with 3 double-doubles with the Hurricane. Jefferies was named the American Conference Player of the Week once this year, and his dunks have been a mainstay on ESPN’s Sports centers top 10.
Sterling Taplin, a guard from East Amherst, New York. Taplin has played in 121 games for the Hurricane and has made 94 starts. Taplin is the 38th player in program history to score at least 1,000 career points and he ranks 5th on the schools assist charts and had a career high 10 assist in a game earlier this season. Taplin is a 4-year letterman and a 3-year starter He has helped guide the Hurricane to 71 wins and has scored in double figures 50 times. Taplin has been named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll and will graduate this summer with a degree in Film Studies.
