Green Wave Men Battle UNO on Thursday Evening
Dec 4, 2002 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2002
Tulane (3-2, 0-0 C-USA)
vs.
New Orleans (4-0, 0-0 Sun Belt)
December 5, 2002 ~ 7 p.m. (Central)
New Orleans, La. ~ Lakefront Arena
Official UNO Athletics Website
Green Wave Facts
2002-03 Record: 3-2
2001-02 Record: 14-15
2001-02 C-USA Record: 5-11
Head Coach: Shawn Finney
Alma Mater/Year: Fairmont St/1985
Record at Tulane/Year: 26-38/3rd
Overall Record/Years: Same
President: Scott Cowen
Athletic Director: Rick Dickson
Basketball SID: John Sudsbury
Direct Phone: 504-314-7271
SID Fax: 504-865-5512
SID E-Mail: jsudsbu@tulane.edu
Ticket Office Phone: 504-861-WAVE
RADIO:
New Orleans, WTIX-AM, 690
New Orleans, WTIX-FM, 94.3
Northshore, WJSH-FM, 104.7
Baton Rouge, WSKR-AM, 1210
Lafayette, KROF-AM, 960
TELEVISION: None
THE SENATORS CUP
Thursday's reward to the winner of the battle between Big Easy rivals Tulane and UNO will be the Senators Cup, presented by the sponsors of the event: Louisiana state senators Francis Heitmeier (UNO grad) and John Hainkel (Tulane grad). The two teams have split their last two meetings, with the home team winning each time.
UNO BREAKDOWN
Second-year head coach Monte Towe has guided UNO to wins in its first four games behind All-American candidate Hector Romero's 24.3 points per game, as well as juco transfer Johnell Smith, who is averaging 16.8 points per outing. The Privateers had a strong season last year (15-14) led by the efforts of Romero, who averaged a double-double and earned Sun Belt Player of the Year honors.
UNIVERSITY HOOPS CLASSIC
Tulane had a strong showing at the University Hoops Classic over Thanksgiving weekend at Fogelman Arena. The Wave finished third place in an event, which was won by UCF on a last second shot. Brandon Brown and Brandon Spann both earned all-tournament honors as Brown averaged 18.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 69 percent from the field. Spann, meanwhile, had 16.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game. Junior Ivan Pjevcevic also had a strong tourney, twice establishing career-highs and averaging 10.7 points per game, including 6-of-9 three-point shooting in the three games.
NO HOME TOURNAMENT MEMORIES
The University Hoops Classic will be the first men's basketball tournament ever hosted by the Green Wave. Tulane's women's team hosted the Conference USA Championship in 1999. Tulane was a regular in Sugar Bowl Tournaments, however, those were hosted by the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl Tournament was only played at Municipal Auditorium, Loyola Gym or the Superdome, never in Fogelman.
SUNDAY'S SEMO GAME
The Green Wave played perhaps its best game of the year on Sunday, cruising to an 81-60 victory over Southeast Missouri to claim third place at the University Hoops Classic. Brandon Brown scored 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting and added nine rebounds in the victory, while Brandon Spann had 14 points and nine assists and junior Ivan Pjevcevic scored a career-high 15 points. The Wave nailed 64.2 percent of its shots, while holding the Indians to 43.6 percent shooting.
HELPING HAND
Senior Brandon Brown led the Green Wave in scoring, rebounding and field-goal percentage last year and this year he has picked up where he left off. In addition to leading the team in those categories, however, he has dished out 21 assists. Last year, he had a TOTAL of just 43 assists. Brown's total is behind only Brandon Spann's 23 assists on the team.
ONE THOUSAND POINTS
Brandon Spann, who entered the season needing 50 points for 1,000 in his career, reached that impressive milestone in the first half of the UCF game with a free throw with 6:36 to go. He now has 1,026 career points, 23rd all-time at Tulane. The New Orleans native leads the team in assists (23) and is second in scoring (15.2 ppg).
PARKER UPS HIS PLAY
Senior Byron Parker has stepped up his play this season. After averaging just 6.1 minutes last season, he is currently playing 20.0 minutes per game in 2002-03. He has established new career highs in nearly every category, but his biggest contribution may be his high energy defense, which has sparked the Green Wave in its first five games. In the UCF game he had career-highs of five steals and two blocked shots; the 6-1 leaper now leads the team in blocks with five. Parker took charge against Loyola, establishing new career-highs in points (7), rebounds (4), assists (2) and steals (3).
JUST CALL HIM EVEN
Junior Ivan Pjevcevic has been a major surprise for the Wave this year, averaging 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds after averaging 1.6 and 1.0 in his first two years. The 6-11 shooter's last name may be a mouthful (pee-EV-cha-vich), so just remember his first name is pronounced EE-ven, as in Even and Odd, and not EYE-van. Ivan tallied career bests of 15 points and six rebounds against Southeast Missouri on Sunday. He had established a career-high with 12 points against Maine.
SITTING SIX
Green Wave freshman Vytautas Tatarunas is not eligible to play in Tulane's first six games according to NCAA requirements. NCAA rules require that players who play for certain European club teams must sit out a certain percentage of collegiate games before becoming eligible. Tatarunas will be eligible to see game action beginning Dec. 7 against Vanderbilt.
THE UCF GAME
A lack of offensive rhythm continued to plague the Green Wave, which fell, 66-61, to UCF on Friday evening in round tow of the University Hoops Classic. Tulane shot just 37.3 percent from the field overall and 31.8 percent in the first half. Tulane used an early second half run to take its first lead of the game at 41-39, but then went over six minutes without a point as the Golden Knights scored just enough to take charge of the contest. Brandon Brown and Brandon Spann each had 17 points and five assists, while Brown added a team-high eight rebounds. Sophomore Ben Benfield scored a career-high 13 points.
THE MAINE GAME
Tulane took advantage of its size and power on Thursday in its opener at the University Hoops Classic with an 84-65 victory over Maine. The Wave dominated in the paint and out-rebounded the Black Bears, 44-26, to offset 12 three-points by the foe. Maine attempted just 18 shots from inside the arc (37 from downtown). Brandon Brown tallied his first double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Brandon Spann had 18 and Nick Sinville scored 17.
BRAGGING RIGHTS
Tulane and Loyola met for the third straight year to battle for Uptown bragging rights on Monday evening at Fogelman Arena. The Green Wave struggled with the tenacious Wolfpack, but still managed to earn a 74-58 victory. Brandon Brown and Nick Sinville each tallied 16 points, while Brandon Spann added 15. The Wave held Loyola to just 35.5 percent shooting.
BIG EASY CLASSICS
New Orleans fans have the opportunity to catch the Wave 21 times without leaving the city this season. In addition to 18 Fogelman Arena games (including two exhibitions), two games will be played at the New Orleans Arena and one will be played on the road at Lakefront Arena.
RIVALRY RETURNS
Tulane and LSU will meet on the hardwood for the first time in 20 years this season. The Green Wave and the Tigers will play as part of the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic on Dec. 28th at the New Orleans Arena. Game time is 2:30 p.m. and the renewed rivalry will be broadcast nationally on Fox Sports Net. The last meeting was an 83-72 victory by Tulane in the first round of the 1982 NIT Tournament in Baton Rouge.
BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!
In addition to the LSU game, Tulane will also host Kentucky in the New Orleans Arena (Dec. 10). Wave coach Shawn Finney will once again match wits with his mentor, Tubby Smith. Finney assisted Smith for 12 years, including three years at Kentucky where they won the 1998 NCAA Championship.
OTHER BIG GAMES
In addition to LSU and Kentucky, Georgia Tech, Marquette, Memphis, Houston and next-door-neighbor Loyola are all part of the action-packed Green Wave schedule for 2002-2003.
MAJOR STRIDES
Tulane's men's basketball team made an impressive jump last season. After posting a 9-21 record in Shawn Finney's first year as head coach, the Green Wave improved to 14-15 last year and won just its second Conference USA playoff game in league history.
WE'RE BACK
The Green Wave returns its entire starting lineup from last season. Included in that quintet are four seniors, as well as junior Wayne Tinsley, who has started 58 of his 59 career games.
70 IS THE KEY
When scoring 70 or more points last year, the Green Wave posted a 12-4 record. However, in games where points were more scarce, the team record was just 2-11.
DO IT AGAIN?
Senior big man Brandon Brown made a huge jump last season, from blue-collar workhorse to C-USA star. Brown led the Green Wave with 14.8 points per game and 7.4 rebounds per game while connecting on 55.3 percent of his field-goal attempts. As a sophomore, the 6-8 Louisiana native averaged 11.8 points and 6.6 rebounds per game.
HOME COOKIN'
The Green Wave has four players from the state of Louisiana, including three members of its starting lineup. Brandon Spann is a New Orleans native who attended Jesuit High School, located less than three miles from Fogelman Arena. Spann's older brother, Tookie, played baseball and football at Tulane from 1985-87. Brandon Brown is from Houma, located 60 miles southwest of New Orleans; Nick Sinville's hometown of Shreveport is 340 miles northwest of the Big Easy. The other Bayou State product is Ben Benfield, who is from River Ridge, a New Orleans suburb.
GREAT RATES
In the latest graduation rates figures released by the NCAA, Tulane once again ranks among the national leaders in terms of graduating its student-athletes, and also its men's basketball players. In fact, Tulane's graduation rate of 64% for the four-class average ranks it second among Conference USA programs. The Wave's 100% number for the 1995-96 cohort alone matches two other C-USA schools. The Green Wave's graduation rate of 78% for all student-athletes was 12th nationally and ranked ahead of all other Louisiana and Conference USA schools.
COACHES POLL
Tulane was selected No. 2 in the National Division in a preseason poll of Conference USA Coaches. The Green Wave is behind only Memphis, while Cincinnati was tabbed as the preseason favorite in the American Division and overall.
CONFERENCE USA COACHES PRESEASON POLL
NATIONAL
1. Memphis
2. Tulane
3. Houston
4. TCU
5. South Florida
6. Southern Miss
7. UAB
AMERICAN
1. Cincinnati
2. Marquette
3. Louisville
4. Charlotte
5. Saint Louis
6. East Carolina
7. DePaul
PRESEASON RANKINGS
Tulane has been picked anywhere from second to fourth in the National Division of Conference USA by various publications. Street & Smith's and Basketball Times both selected the Green Wave as the second place team behind Memphis in the division. Athlon's and Blue Ribbon Basketball rank the Wave third and The Sporting News and Lindy's tab Tulane as No. 4.
