Tulane travels to Mississippi State
Dec 18, 2015 | Men's Basketball
| Game 12: Tulane Green Wave (6-5) vs Mississippi State Bulldogs (4-5) | |
| When | Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015 | 3:00 p.m. CT |
| Where | Starkville, Miss. | Humphrey Coliseum |
| Watch | SEC Network - Matt Stewart (PxP), Mark Wise (A) |
| Listen | Fox Sports 1280 AM - Todd Graffagnini (PxP) |
| Live Stats | Live Stats |
| Printable Notes | Tulane | American | Mississippi State |
| Social Media | @GreenWaveMBB  | #RollWave | @HailStateMBK |
NEW ORLEANS -- The Tulane men's basketball team will keep the road swing going on Saturday afternoon in Starkville, Mississippi. Both the Green Wave and Bulldogs will look to bounce back after suffering midweek losses to Atlantic Coast Conference opponents. Tulane is coming off a 96-72 loss at No. 11 North Carolina. Louis Dabney against paced the Green Wave, this time scoring 18 points. Mississippi State fell at Florida State Wednesday night, 90-66. Corey Sword led the way for the now 4-5 Bulldogs with 20 points against the Seminoles.
NOTEWORTHY
- Assistant coach Shammond Williams, who played for the Tar Heels from 1994-98, returned to North Carolina for the first time as a coach.
- Louis Dabney became the first player this season to score 20-plus points when he scored 24 Monday night.
- The Green Wave finished the Challenge in Music City with a 3-1 record, going 2-1 during games in Nashville.
- Senior Louis Dabney averaged 11.0 ppg and 3.2 rpg through the weekend and earned All-Tournament Team honors as well as a spot on the American Weekly Honor Roll.
- Tulane came back from being down 26 points to edge out Stephen F. Austin in Nashville, marking the biggest comeback in school history.
- Tulane committed just seven turnovers in the game against Mercer, marking the team's lowest game total for the stat all season and the first time this year the number has been kept to single digits.
-Louis Dabney now sits at 26th all-time at Tulane with 1,132 career points.
-In the opener against Alabama A&M, Louis Dabney became the 35th player in Tulane history to surpass the 1,000 career point mark.
THE OPPONENT
Mississippi State enters the weekend at 4-5 on the year and is coming off of a 90-66 loss at Florida State on Wednesday night. Craig Sword led the way in the game with 20 points against the Seminoles. Three of the team's four wins on the year have come at home, falling only to Southern in their own gym, a team Tulane also fell to earlier this season on the road.
THE SERIES
Saturday marks the 94TH all-time meeting between the Bulldogs and Green Wave. Mississippi State leads the series, 39-54. The two teams first met on Feb. 8, 1909. Tulane took the opener 19-16 in Starkville. The Green Wave hold a 14-27 all-time record in games played in Starkville. The two teams met for the first time in over ten years last season, and Tulane earned a 59-54 victory over the Bulldogs.
LAST TIME OUT
The Green Wave faced their first ranked opponent of the season Wednesday night, falling at No. 11 North Carolina, 96-72. It was the first time the two teams had met in over ten years. North Carolina began to pull away in the first half after a 10-2 run and kept the difference in double-digits for the majority of the half. Senior Louis Dabney got the Green Wave within 20 at the half when he banked one in at the buzzer from just inside half court. The Tar Heels continued to roll in the second half, putting the game away with a 20-4 run in less than three minutes midway through the half.
RETURNING ON THE OTHER SIDE
Tulane assistant coach Shammond Williams returned to Chapel Hill for the first time as a coach. Williams played for the Tar Heels from 1994-1998 and helped the Heels get to three Final Fours during his career. Williams was recently dethroned as North Carolina's all-time leader in three-pointers made (223).
TULANE AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS
The Green Wave hold an 11-48 record since 1989 against opponents ranked in the AP Rankings. Most recently, Tulane fell at No. 11 North Carolina, 96-72.
PERFECT SHOOTING
Malik Morgan didn't miss a shot en-route to a 14-point performance against Georgia Tech. He went 6-for-6 from the field, including a pair of threes, on the day. It was the first time a Tulane player has had a perfect performance from the field since Eric Vianney went 6-for-6 against Rice on Jan. 10, 2009.
