Tulane University
(8-12, 1-6)
UConn
(13-5, 4-2)
MBB: Tulane falls at UConn, 60-42
Jan 19, 2016 | Men's Basketball
HARTFORD, Conn. -- Trouble on the offensive end continued for the Tulane men's basketball team, as it fell to the UConn Huskies, 60-42, Tuesday night at the XL Center. A strong second half from senior Louis Dabney helped him lead the Green Wave with 15 points, while Shonn Miller paced the Huskies with 18 points on the night.
UConn (13-5, 4-2 American) struck first in the game, but wasn't able to connect again for the next 3:27. Sophomore Dylan Osetkowski drained a three to get Tulane (8-12, 1-6 American) on the board, and Dabney followed it up with a jumper to extend the early lead. UConn's Daniel Hamilton ended his team's lull with a three before the first media timeout of the game. The long-range jumper sparked an 11-0 run for the Huskies in which four different players would contribute.
Redshirt junior Malik Morgan broke up the scoring stint, but the Green Wave couldn't get anything going consistently on offense. Neither team ended the first half on a high note offensively, as UConn went one for its last seven attempts to close out the period, and Tulane made one of its final nine shots from the field. Despite UConn taking a 32-18 lead into the break, the two teams were even on the boards in the first half, each grabbing 22.
Tulane got out to a strong start in the second half, as Dabney came out hot after scoring just three points in the first half. The Green Wave put together a 10-4 run with eight of those coming from Dabney, including a pair of threes, to get them back within eight with 15:19 left to play.
Tulane was able to get back within seven as the Huskies went four minutes without a field goal, but a pair of free throws and later a three with 7:05 to play from Rodney Purvis prevented the Green Wave from getting back within two possessions.
Back-to-back threes from freshman Melvin Frazier in the last two minutes of the game would be Tulane's only field goals in the final 10 minutes of play. The Green Wave finished the game shooting 25.9-percent from the field, but was able to UConn to just 35.8-percent shooting from the field on the night.
A strong defensive effort by the Green Wave limited UConn's leading scorer Rodney Purvis to just seven points in the game and held Hamilton, who averages over 12 a game, to just seven points while also forcing him to commit six of the team's eight turnovers.
UConn took the slight rebounding edge in the game, 39-38, as Tulane used a team effort to compete on the boards without forward Jernard Jarreau available. Morgan, junior Ryan Smith and freshman Blake Paul each had six boards in the game.
The Green Wave will return to the road on Sunday, Jan. 24 to take on Cincinnati at 11 a.m.
