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Tulane Arrives in Iowa For Hawkeye Challenge
Dec 1, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2005
IOWA CITY, Iowa - The Tulane men's basketball team continues its first road trip of the season this weekend, playing in the Hawkeye Challenge at the University of Iowa. The Green Wave will face Valparaiso in the opening round on Friday at 5:45 p.m. Host Iowa and Fairfield play in the other game with the championship and consolation slated for Saturday.
Friday's game will be available live on the Tulane-ISP Radio Network -- WSKR-AM 1210 Baton Rouge; WJSH-FM 104.7 Hammond/North Shore; KROF-AM 960 Lafayette. However, Tulane's New Orleans affiliate, WTIX AM 690 remains off the air due to hurricane damages. The radio call is also available at www.TulaneGreenWave.com through the CSTV All-Access package.
Tulane played at Butler in Indianapolis on Wednesday night, falling 82-61, and then bussed five hours to Iowa with a pit-stop for practice on the way.
"We would have liked to have had two or three days to practice and prepare for the first game of the tournament," Tulane head coach Dave Dickerson said. "Usually, you would like to have a practice designated for each team in the tournament, but due to our schedule, we don't have that option.
"That is not a big concern though; we are concentrating on Tulane, not on our opponents right now. We have deficiencies that we must address before we are able to win any game, regardless of opponent. We need to do a better job defensively and not allow penetration. We have to do a better job of not committing senseless fouls."
Tulane has been whistled for 80 fouls in three games this season and opponents are out-scoring the Green Wave 26.3-19.3 per game from the charity stripe. Tulane had a season-high 30 fouls against Texas A&M and followed that up with 27 against the Bulldogs on Wednesday.
Valparaiso has many similarities to Butler as far as reputation. Both are mid-major programs from Indiana which have made their names known through NCAA Tournament upsets. However, their styles are much different this season.
"Valpo will be a contrast to Butler in the fact that Butler was perimeter oriented with one excellent inside player," Dickerson said. "Valpo has two very good big men that will be pose problems for us, but it could be a better match-up for our team."
Valparaiso returns all five starters from last year's 15-16 team which finished third in Mid-Continent Conference. The Crusaders have opened the 2005-06 season with a pair of victories, 74-68 on the road at Indiana Univ.-Fort Wayne and 111-41 at home against Indiana-South Bend. Dan Oppland, a 6-8 senior forward, leads the team with 24.0 points per game, while 6-11 center Mohamed Kone has 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds per outing. Eight different players have hit three-pointers for Valpo this year.
Following this weekend's tournament, the Green Wave returns to its temporary home of College Station, Texas, to host TCU in another non-league match-up on Wednesday evening at Reed Arena.
