Tulane Hosts UNO On Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Dec 2, 2003 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2003
Tulane (3-0, 0-0 C-USA)
vs.
UNO (2-0, 0-0 Sun Belt)
Wednesday, December 3, 2003 ~ 7 p.m. (Central)
New Orleans, La. ~ Fogelman Arena
Official UNO Athletics Website
Green Wave Facts
2003-04 Record: 3-0
2002-03 Record: 16-15
2003-04 C-USA Record: 0-0
2002-03 C-USA Record: 8-8
Head Coach: Shawn Finney
Alma Mater/Year: Fairmont St/1985
Record at Tulane/Year: 42-51/4th
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
Baton Rouge, WSKR-AM, 1210
Lafayette, KROF-AM, 960
TELEVISION: None.
CATCH THE WAVE
Tulane and UNO meet on Wednesday evening in a battle for the Senators Cup, given to the winner of the annual city showdown. Tulane has opened its season with three straight victories, including Sunday night's 77-57 defeat of next-door neighbor Loyola.
SENATORS CUP
Wednesday's game is a battle for the Senators Cup, the prize for the winner of the annual Tulane-UNO rivalry. The Green Wave holds a slim 20-16 edge in the rivalry, with wins in three of the last five meetings. UNO won last year's meeting at Lakefront Arena as the home teams have won the last four contests.
BATTLE FOR UPTOWN
Tulane won the Battle for Uptown for the fourth straight year on Sunday, defeating Loyola, 77-57. Quincy Davis led the Green Wave with career-bests of 26 points and 14 rebounds as Tulane used its size to dominate, out-rebounding the Wolfpack, 53-34. Tulane opened the second half with a 26-5 run to put the game out of reach. Ben Benfield added 13 points and career-highs of eight rebounds and five assists.
FOR OPENERS
Following this year's season-opening win over Southern, the Wave's all-time record in opening games is 69-26 (.726), including wins in seven of its last eight opening games. Last year, Tulane fell on the road to Rice, 72-58. The Green Wave had a 21-year stretch with opening day wins from 1942-63.
Q-RATING Quincy Davis battled foul trouble in the first two games for the Green Wave, but on Sunday against Loyola, the 6-9 sophomore erupted with a monster game of 26 points and 14 rebounds, He connected on 12-of-18 shots, including five dunks in the victory. He tallied nine points, nine rebounds and three blocks in the Southern win and then, despite foul trouble, had 10 points and seven boards against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. He currently leads the Wave in scoring (15.0), rebounding (10.0) field-goal percentage (.679) and blocks (5). After seeing limited playing time early last season, he came into his own in February. A tenacious defender, Davis brought shot-blocking and rebounding to the Wave lineup and also tallied an 18-point, eight-rebound performance against Southern Miss.
DOUBLEHEADER DAYS
Tulane played its second of four men's and women's basketball doubleheaders on Saturday with the men stopping Arkansas-Pine Bluff and the women being edged by George Mason. Last Tuesday, the Green Wave women topped Oregon State and the men defeated Southern. The remaining twinbills are Saturday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Jan. 31.
WAVE CRASHES OVER GOLDEN LIONS
Big George Brown tallied his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Green Wave rolled to an 80-50 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday. Tulane jumped to a 16-1 lead as the Golden Lions missed their first 10 shots. The lead continued to grow throughout the first half, while Pine Bluff battled hard in the second stanza to keep the final margin at just 30. Tulane hit 52.7 percent of its shots and held UAPB to 26.2 percent shooting. The Wave also had an enormous 53-28 advantage on the boards.
Pine Bluff Recap and Box Score
STEPPING UP
Tulane had a pair of surprise heroes in the opener against Southern as Ben Benfield and Vytas Tatarunas both had major impacts on the Wave victory. Then on Saturday, George Brown was the unexpected leader of the Wave attack in the win over Pine Bluff. Brown finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds, surpassing his previous career-bests of 11 points and seven rebounds. Benfield entered Tuesday's Southern game with a career-high of 17 points, but finished with 21. His five three-pointers tied for the ninth-most threes in a game at Tulane. Tatarunas, meanwhile, collected 15 points and a career-best 12 rebounds on Tuesday and then 14 points and nine boards against UAPB. The sophomore from Lithuania had a total of 14 rebounds all of last season.
HOT STARTS
In its first two games, Tulane used red hot starts to pull away early, however, on Sunday against Loyola, the big spurt came to open the second half, as a 26-5 run put that game out of reach. Last Tuesday against Southern, the Green Wave jumped to a 12-0 lead, holding the Jaguars scoreless for the first 6:46 of the game. Then on Saturday, the Wave held Arkansas-Pine Bluff without a field goal for the first 7:31 of the game, building a 16-1 lead. In the first nine minutes of its two games, Tulane has shot 52.2 percent (12-for-23), while holdings its opponents to 13.0 percent (3-for-23) shooting, outscoring its foes, 33-8.
FINNEY VS. LOUISIANA
Shawn Finney and the Green Wave will face off against seven New Orleans schools this year. In his first three years at the helm of the Wave, Finney recorded an 8-3 mark against in-state opponents and improved to 10-3 with the Southern and Loyola wins.
NEW NAME, NEW GAME
After going by his given name of Vytautas during an up-and-down freshmen season, 6-6, 237-pound Vytas Tatarunas requested a switch to his more commonly used name and he has responded. Vytas (pronounced VEE-tis) has used his strength to bull his way to 12.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game, including a team-best 14 offensive rebounds. He was limited to just 20 minutes in the Loyola game due to foul trouble.
FEELING TIRED?
Tulane had eight players log career-bests in minutes played on Tuesday against Southern. Four of those were freshmen with no previous best, but four were returning players. Ben Benfield led the team with 32 minutes, surpassing his previous high of 21. Others to set their minute-records were Quincy Davis (30-20), Vytas Tatarunas (26-16) and Marcus Kinzer (29-25). On Saturday, George Brown logged a career-high 26 minutes in the UAPB victory.
FIRST TIME FOE
Arkansas-Pine Bluff is the only first-time opponent for the Green Wave in 2003-04 after having faced five first-time foes last season. The Pine Bluff win was the first win for Tulane against a team from Arkansas, having posting an 0-8 record against Arkansas and Arkansas State prior to Saturday's game.
STOPPING SOUTHERN
Ben Benfield scored a career-high 21 points to lead Tulane to a 78-72 victory over Southern on Tuesday. The junior sharp-shooter connected on 5-of-6 three-pointers, including four in the second half as Tulane shot 50 percent from the field while holding Southern to 41.9 percent shooting. The Green Wave also held a commanding 44-28 advantage on the boards. Sophomore Vytas Tatarunas registered his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while a jumper by freshman Troy Aaron with 28 seconds left made it 75-70 to ice the victory.
POINTING AT THE POINT
Junior Marcus Kinzer is settling into his role as Tulane's starting point guard, despite a knee injury which cut more than two weeks from his preseason preparation. After registering career-highs in nearly every category as a sophomore, the dazzling ball-handler is averaging 22.3 minutes, 7.0 points and a team-best 4.3 assists in the first three games of the year.
PTP-ER
Wayne Tinsley is the clear veteran on the Green Wave roster. The senior has been a three-year starter and with a start on Wednesday against UNO, he will crack the Top 10 in career starts at Tulane. He had career-bests in rebounding, assists, blocks, free-throw percentage and field-goal percentage last season. He is Tulane's top returnee in minutes, scoring, rebounds, assists, blocks and steals. The 6-5 senior had just 313 less minutes played (2,410) than the other 12 players on the Green Wave roster COMBINED (2,723 minutes).
THREE-POINT ACE
Senior Ivan Pjevcevic came on strong last season; over the final 15 games, the Belgrade native averaged 7.1 points and 3.7 rebounds with 10 starts as the Green Wave went 9-6 down the stretch. The 7-0 Pjevcevic ranked fifth in the league in three-point percentage at .425. His career three-point percentage of .434 entering this season was the best in school history. Unfortunately, just eight minutes into the Southern game, Pjevcevic suffered a knee injury and is not expected to play this weekend.
NEED THE ROOKIE CLASS
With five players lost to graduation, Tulane may rely heavily on a talented five-man recruiting class, which has been ranked as high as No. 29 in the nation. The group includes two guards, two forward and a swingman. Two of the players hail from Louisiana, while the others come from Texas, Minnesota and Mississippi.
BIG EASY CLASSICS
Tulane's schedule features an all-time high of 20 games in New Orleans. The team does not leave the state of Louisiana until a Jan. 10 game at TCU. The lone road game in the 11-game stretch to open the season is a visit to LSU in Baton Rouge. Included on the schedule are seven Louisiana foes, also a school record.
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
With the departure of five seniors from last year's team, the Green Wave must make up for the loss of nearly 70 percent of its scoring and 60 percent of its rebounding. Of a possible 6,250 minutes last year, the quintet of seniors played 3,908 minutes (62.5 percent). And, in league games, the seniors played 63.6 percent of the Wave's minutes.
MORE, MORE, MORE
Shawn Finney's first year at the helm of the Green Wave saw Tulane win just nine games. However, they improved to 14 victories in 2001-02 and then to 16 last season. The Wave is one of three teams in Conference USA to improve its win total in each of the last two years. Tulane's league wins have climbed each year as well, from two to five to eight last season.
DEFENSE IS THE KEY
Tulane was 9-3 last season when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting from the field. When opponents hit more than 50 percent of their shots, the Wave was just 1-5. In its victories, Tulane shot 49.6 percent from the field while holding foes to 38.3 percent shooting. In its losses, Tulane shot 43.9 percent while opponents hit 46.7 percent of their attempts from the field.
STAFF INTACT
The Tulane basketball coaching staff remains intact for the 2003-2004 season. Head coach Shawn Finney, in his fourth year at the helm of the Wave, welcomes back Jeff Reynolds and Wade O'Connor for their fourth years as well. Meanwhile, Steve Snell and administrative assistant Mark Dannhoff return for their third seasons.
PRO PLAYERS
The Green Wave has added multiple players to its professional ranks in the last few months. Linton Johnson, who completed his eligibility in 2002 and earned his degree this May, earned a spot on the Chicago Bulls roster as a free agent, while Brandon Spann is starring in Qatar's professional league. Waitari Marsh is also scheduled to play in Europe this season.
THE GRADUATES
Tulane had five seniors on its 2002-03 roster. Perhaps more impressive than their stats for the Green Wave has been their efforts in the classroom. Three of the players graduated in May: Waitari Marsh (media arts), Nick Sinville (organizational information technology) and Brandon Spann (media arts). Byron Parker (media arts), who is currently playing for the Wave football team, is on track to graduate in December, while Brandon Brown (sociology) is slated to earn his degree next May.
LAST WEEK VS. GLOBAL SPORTS
Tulane closed its exhibition schedule on Nov. 19 with a 69-54 loss to Global Sports. The Green Wave used all of its available players, with nine players seeing 10 minutes of action and scoring points. Projected starters Ivan Pjevcevic (did not play) and Marcus Kinzer (three minutes) were both hampered by injuries. Senior Wayne Tinsley led the Wave with 13 points, while sophomore Quincy Davis had eight points, four rebounds and six blocked shots. Tulane shot just 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, while Global nailed 49.1 percent (27-of-55) of its shots, including 55.6 percent (15-of-27) in the second half.
EXHIBITION OPENER VS. VASDA
In its exhibition opener, Tulane posted an 80-66 victory over Vasda. The Wave used 11 players, with 10 seeing double digits in minutes. Senior Ivan Pjevcevic led the squad with 14 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Quincy Davis added 12 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Seniors Wayne Tinsley and George Brown each chipped in with 10 points. Tulane shot just 43.2 percent (35-of-81) but held Vasda to 36.5 percent (23-of-63) shooting. The Wave also held a 53-39 advantage on the boards.
THE VOICE RETURNS
Sean Kelley, the Voice of the Green Wave, is back for his second season calling Green Wave men's basketball games. Kelley came to Tulane last year after working as a member of the Missouri Tiger Radio Network since 1999. Kelley worked in a variety of areas at Missouri, serving as host of the Tiger Gameday and Scoreboard Show in football, handling both play-by-play and color analyst duties in men's and women's basketball, and doing all play-by-play of Missouri baseball.