Tulane University
ECU
Men's Basketball Battles ECU on ESPNews Wednesday Night
Jan 29, 2018 | Men's Basketball
| GAME 21: TULANE GREEN WAVE (12-8, 3-5 AAC) at EAST CAROLINA PIRATES (8-12, 2-7 AAC) |
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| Â When: | Â Jan. 31, 2018 | 5:30 p.m. (CT) |
| Â Where: | Â Greenville, N.C. | Minges Coliseum |
|  Watch: |  ESPNews / WatchESPN app |
|  Commentators: |  Will Flemming (Play-by-Play) and Julianne Viani (Color) |
|  Radio: |  1280 AM New Orleans | Listen Online | TuneIn app |
| Â Radio Talent: | Â Todd Graffagnini (Play-By-Play) |
| Â Live Stats: | Â Sidearm |
| Â Notes: | Â Tulane | ECUÂ | American Athletic Conference |
| Â Social Media: | Â Twitter: @GreenWaveMBB | #RollWave |
NEW ORLEANS - Following a six day hiatus between games, the Tulane men's basketball team closes the month of January with its fifth road tilt on the American Athletic Conference slate at East Carolina on Wednesday night.
Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. (CT) at Minges Coliseum, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNews with streaming available on the WatchESPN app. Will Flemming will call play-by-play action, while Julianne Viani provides color commentary.
HISTORY LESSON
• Wednesday's meeting between the Green Wave and Pirates will mark the 23rd all-time, as Tulane leads the series, 12-10. The Wave have lost three straight matchups, but have split the last six.
• Last season, the Pirates swept the regular season series with a 74-65 home win, before holding on for a 76-73 victory in New Orleans after the Wave missed a 3-pointer in the final seconds.
LAST TIME OUT
• Tulane trailed by 23 points with seven minutes remaining, and despite a furious rally that saw the Green Wave cut the deficit to just three points, they suffered an 80-75 home loss to USF last Thursday evening.
• Samir Sehic scored a career-high 23 points off the bench on 8-for-11 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range to go with seven rebounds, while Ray Ona Embo scored 15 points and grabbed eight boards. Cameron Reynolds contributed 11 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Melvin Frazier compiled 10 points, six rebounds, three steals and a pair of blocks. Colin Slater added 10 points and a career-high five assists off the bench.
• USF was led by Stephan Jiggetts' 23 points and five assists, as Terrance Samuel (16 points and 12 rebounds) and Payton Banks (14 points and 10 rebounds) produced double-doubles in the Bulls' first conference win of the season.
• The Green Wave made 12 of their final 16 shots on the night, while the Bulls did not make a field goal in the final seven minutes, as their final 18 points came at the free throw line.
SCOUTING THE PIRATES
• Picked to finish 11th in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll, East Carolina possesses six letterwinners from last year's team, including two starters.
• The Pirates currently rank last among the conference's 12 teams in 3-point field goal percentage (.277), while standing 11th in scoring margin (-5.9), free throw
percentage (.642), rebounding margin (-1.4), turnover margin (-2.3) and 3-pointers made per game (5.2).
• ECU is in its 14th game this season under the direction of interim head coach Michael Perry, after Jeff Lebo stepped down from his post after seven games into his eighth season.
FRAZIER, REYNOLDS AMONG THE AMERICAN'S TOP SCORING TANDEMS
• Melvin Frazier (17.1 PPG) and Cameron Reynolds (15.8 PPG) rank as the No. 1 scoring duo in the American Athletic Conference this season:
Players                                                         School     PPG
1. Melvin Frazier & Cameron Reynolds     Tulane     32.9
2. Jalen Adams & Terry Larrier                      UConn     32.7
3. Jalen Adams & Christian vital          UConn   32.2
4. Rob Gray & Devin Davis              Houston   31.2
  Shake Milton & Jarrey Foster                     SMU        31.2
AAC WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
• Tulane has had players named to the American Athletic Conference's weekly honor roll on four occasions this season, including Samir Sehic (Nov. 13), Cameron Reynolds (Jan. 8) and Melvin Frazier twice (Jan. 15 and Jan. 22).
MAN OF STEALS
• Melvin Frazier ranks first in the American Athletic Conference in steals (49) and steals per game (2.5), and has at least three heists in 10 contests this season.
• As a sophomore, Frazier finished the 2016-17 regular season No. 1 in the American Athletic Conference in steals per game (1.9), while his 55 takeaways ranked second overall.
BRINGING THE RAIN
• The Green Wave have made double-digit 3-pointers in seven games this season, including in three straight games against Alcorn State (14) on Nov. 29, at North Carolina (10) on Dec. 3 and vs. Southern (10) on Dec. 6.
• Tulane's 14 treys against Alcorn State and at Memphis on Jan. 9 were not only season highs, but tied for the third most in a single game in program history.
• The Wave have hit at least 14 3-pointers just six times in school history, with the most being 16 in a 2015 matchup against UCF.
ONA EMBO EMERGES
• Known for his defensive prowess as a freshman in 2016-17, sophomore point guard Ray Ona Embo has broken through on the offensive side of the ball in 2017-18.
• Ona Embo played in all 31 games and made 25 starts last season, averaging 6.4 points on 37 percent shooting overall, while making 25 percent (13 of 52) of his 3-pointers. In just 18 games as a sophomore, he's averaging 10.2 points per contest, while making 46 percent of his shots and 42 percent (38 of 91) of his attempts from beyond the arc.
