A year ago, Tulsa made its noise thanks in part to a solid defense -- not a league-leading defense, but one that ranked near the top in most defensive categories.

So far in the 2010-11 season, defense hasn't exactly been the highlight of many Golden Hurricane games.

But that wasn't the case in a Jan. 8 win over Rice, a trend coach Doug Wojcik hopes continues in the coming weeks.

"I am proud of our team with our alertness defensively," Wojcik said after the 75-64 win. "That's two opponents in a row that we've held in (below 40 percent) shooting-wise. We shot free throws extremely well. I thought we showed a lot of alertness to what we were trying to do defensively to them."

Through Jan. 8, Tulsa still ranked ahead of just one team (Memphis) in points allowed per game, surrendering 70.1 a night. And the defensive field-goal percentage (42.1) ranked just ninth in the league. But in the team's two C-USA games, a Jan. 5 loss to UTEP and the Rice win, the team was allowing opponents to shoot just 38.0 percent from the floor.

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