Green Wave Hosts Skip Prosser Tournament this Weekend
Dec 9, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 9, 2011
NEW ORLEANS - Looking to rebound from Tuesday's loss at Wofford, the Tulane men's basketball team hosts the Skip Prosser Tournament in Fogelman Arena this weekend and welcomes Southern, MacMurray and Jacksonville State.
The Green Wave (9-1) will face Division III MacMurray Saturday at 7 p.m. CT and Jacksonville State Sunday at 7 p.m. CT. The tournament gets underway Friday night when Southern and MacMurray square off at 7 p.m. in Fogelman Arena. Saturday's first game at 4:30 p.m. will feature Jacksonville State and Southern.
The tournament is named for Skip Prosser, a coach who had a 291-146 record in 14 seasons at Wake Forest, Loyola (Maryland) and Xavier (Ohio). He is the only coach in NCAA history to take three schools to the NCAA Tournament in his first season at each school.
When Prosser died of a heart attack in the summer 2007, Tulane head coach Ed Conroy was the last to coach against him, in May of that year. The game was played in the Persian Gulf four years ago in Operation Hardwood IV, a college outreach program for U.S. troops in the region. Conroy and Prosser coached teams of military players in the championship.
Conroy has since won the Prosser Award, given annually to "a Division I head coach who best represents the high standards of the coaching profession," while he was at the Citadel.
"Skip was someone that was a great friend and someone that I had a ton of respect for," Conroy said. "The fact that our players can take part in this tournament and learn about him and what he stood for and keep his memory alive is something I'm very proud of. I'm glad we were able to put this together and hopefully it is something that will grow each year and include a variety of teams."
Tulane saw its nine-game win streak snapped at Wofford Tuesday night, 61-50. Ricky Tarrant led the way with 13 points, while Kendall Timmons added 11 points and Josh Davis recorded his 10th double figure scoring game this season with 10 points.
Timmons leads the Green Wave with 13.9 points per game, while Davis is averaging a double double with 13.6 points and 10.4 rebounds per outing. Tarrant is posting 11.6 points a game to go with 3.2 assists a contest.
MacMurray, located in Jacksonville, Ill., and a member of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, is 4-2 overall this season and 2-0 in the conference. The Highlanders are led by Dylan Burton's 10.7 points per game and Brady Slage's 10.0 points and 6.0 rebounds an outing.
This will be the first meeting between the two schools.
"I know everyone will get to benefit from this weekend," Conroy added. "I know our team will with back to back games after practice before we head into a 10 day break for exams. We need to get out there and keep building on our depth and get some guys some more game experience."
Following the tournament Tulane has 10 days off before traveling to Central New York to face Syracuse in the Carrier Dome on Dec. 22.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Tulane (9-1)
G 2 Ricky Tarrant 6-1 180 Fr. 11.6 ppg 3.3 rpg 3.2 apg
G 5 Jordan Callahan 6-0 190 Jr. 10.5 ppg 2.7 rpg 2.4 apg
G 22 Kendall Timmons 6-5 210 Jr. 13.9 ppg 4.3 rpg 2.2 apg
F 00 Josh Davis 6-8 215 So. 13.6 ppg 10.4 rpg 2.7 apg
F 41 Tomás Brůha 7-0 230 Jr. 8.1 ppg 5.4 rpg 55.6 Fg%
MacMurray (4-2)
G 23 Clint Lee 6-0 185 Sr. 12.3 ppg 3.5 apg Decatur, Ill.
G 24 Cody Best 6-3 175 Jr. 4.8 ppg 2.0 rpg Staunton, Ill.
F 21 Cole Busch 6-7 210 So. 6.7 ppg 5.0 rpg Auburn, Ill.
F 25 Brady Slagle 6-6 185 So. 10.0 ppg 6.0 rpg Winchester, Ill.
F 32 Dylan Burton 6-5 190 So. 10.7 ppg 3.5 rpg Girard, Ill.
