Men's Basketball Drops Tough Battle to Arizona State 80-71

Friday, November 18

Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

4 p.m. CT

Tulane University

1-3

Arizona State

3-1

Arizona State

Tulane

Men's Basketball Drops Tough Battle to Arizona State 80-71

Nov 18, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

Frazier went over 20 points for the first time

Printable Stats

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - Sophomore guard Melvin Frazier scored a career-high 22 points, but it was not enough as Tulane men's basketball fell 80-71 to Arizona State on Friday night in a Tire Pros Invitational consolation bracket game.

Frazier finished 6-of-13 from the floor and was 8-of-10 from the free throw line, while also snagging seven boards. Redshirt junior guard Cameron Reynolds finished one board shy of a double-double, adding 17 points and nine rebounds.

"These guys are a tough matchup because they're very skilled, they're small, they're quick, they shoot the ball well, space the floor," said head coach Mike Dunleavy, Sr. "In the first half when we had a couple bad stretches, they got that lead on us. I was pleased with the way our guys came back in the second half, but we just couldn't crack it. It was a combination of points off of turnovers and second-chance points, the disparity was too big a number to overcome."

Friday's game was eerily similar to Tulane's tournament opener against Oklahoma a day earlier. The Green Wave (1-3) grabbed a first-half lead, but a pair of scoring spurts by the Sun Devils (3-1) provided separation late in the first half.

Arizona State opened the game on an 8-1 run, but a 7-0 spurt by Tulane tied the game early. The Wave would take a two-point lead twice in the first half before the Sun Devils pulled away for a 40-29 halftime advantage.

Every time Tulane would chip away at the Arizona State lead, the Sun Devils always had an answer to keep the margin in double digits for the first seven minutes of the second half. A 12-3 run by the Green Wave cut Arizona State's lead to 56-54 with 9:13 to play. However, that would be as close as Tulane would get.

Arizona State scored 16 points off 18 Tulane turnovers, while also getting 12 second-chance points. The Wave did get 23 points from their bench, but were limited to four second-chance points and only eight points off turnovers.

Tulane has Saturday off before closing out tournament play on Sunday against Missouri at 11 a.m. on ESPN3. Next up, the Olive and Blue remain on the road with a pair of contests at Georgia Tech (Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra) and at in-town rival New Orleans (Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. on Cox Sports) before returning to Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse on Dec. 2 to take on St. John's. Tipoff for that game is set for at 7 p.m. on ESPNews.

Season and single-game tickets can be purchased by by clicking here to purchase, calling 504-861-WAVE (9283) or visiting the Tulane Ticket Office, located on the first floor of the James W. Wilson, Jr. Center, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Follow Tulane men's basketball on social media at @GreenWaveMBB on Twitter, GreenWaveMBB on Facebook and GreenWaveMBB on Instagram.

Green Wave Notes:
• Tulane hit 10 or more three-pointers for the third time in four games - 12 vs. North Carolina, 11 vs. Oklahoma and 10 vs. Arizona State.
• Sophomore G Melvin Frazier's career-high 22 points topped his previous high of 15 at USF on Jan. 12, 2016.
• Redshirt junior G Cameron Reynolds connected on five three-pointers for the second time this season. The other occurrence was vs. North Carolina on Nov. 11, 2016.