Tulsa World: Jordan, TU impressive to Thomas

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Jordan, TU impressive to Thomas

Tulsa's Ben Uzoh (left) drives around Florida International's Antoine Watson. Sunday Nov. 15, 2009 SHERRY BROWN / Tulsa World

By ERIC W. BOLIN World Correspondent
Published: 11/16/2009 2:20 AM
Last Modified: 11/16/2009 8:50 AM

Jerome Jordan is more than four inches taller than anyone he played against Sunday afternoon.

The height of the 7-foot center was a big reason Tulsa forced Florida International into just 23 percent shooting and a lopsided loss at the hands of the Golden Hurricane, 81-49.

The coach on the opposing sidelines who knows a thing or two about good players thought very highly of Jordan's game.

"He's got all the tools," FIU coach and two-time NBA champion Isiah Thomas said. "He's very impressive."

Jordan didn't need to use his height advantage much on the offensive end. His intimidating presence defensively was plenty. The Conference USA preseason player of the year had six blocks, seven rebounds and avoided the costly fouls that plagued him last year.

Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik would like to see his star do a little more offensively, though.

"I'd rather him be scoring the basketball," Wojcik said. "It's hard, though. He did get seven shots, but what do you do when two guys are running at you all the time?"

When Jordan did score, it was certainly authoritative.

Freshman swingman Bryson Pope found Jordan late in the first half with a spinning, behind-the-head pass and the senior big man put away a powerful two-handed slam. Minutes later, he showed off his own passing skills, zipping a quick pass to fellow big man Steven Idlet for another dunk.

But defensively, Jordan and company did everything they needed to. The Panthers managed just one field goal in the first 12 minutes of the second half.

"This is a very good basketball team," Thomas said of TU. "We weren't as good as we would have liked to have been and they were really good."

The Panthers' tallest healthy player, J.C. Otero, played only 11 minutes, which kept FIU from getting any semblance of an inside offensive attack. Forced, instead to shoot perimeter jumpers, the Panthers shot a paltry 20 percent from the field in the first half.

"Their defense was good and our offense was really bad," Thomas said. "Their length definitely bothered us. The shot-blocking ability of Jordan and the other guys, we were outmanned and outsized at every position."

Ben Uzoh led the Golden Hurricane with a quiet 20 points, as he collected 13 of them from the free-throw line. He also added seven rebounds and four assists. Justin Hurtt followed with 16 points of his own, including 12 in the first half.

Tulsa finishes a stretch of three games in five days with a Tuesday tip-off against Arkansas-Little Rock at 1 p.m. in a nationally televised game on ESPN.

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Vs. Arkansas- Little Rock

1 p.m. Tuesday

TV: ESPN-25

Radio: KRMG am740, fm102.3

By ERIC W. BOLIN World Correspondent

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Some reader comments for this story were copied from "TU men rout Florida International," which was published on 11/15/2009.

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