Tulane University
(7) Temple
Men's Basketball Meets Temple in American Athletic Conference Championship First Round on ESPNU
Mar 7, 2018 | Men's Basketball
| GAME 31: (10) TULANE GREEN WAVE (14-16, 5-13 AAC) vs. (7) TEMPLE OWLS (16-14, 8-10 AAC) |
|
| Â When: | Â March 8, 2018 | 6 p.m. (CT) |
| Â Where: | Â Orlando, Fla. | Amway Center |
| Â Watch: | Â ESPNU / WatchESPNÂ app |
| Â Commentators: | Â Mike Corey (Play-by-Play) and Mark Adams (Color) |
|  Radio: |  Sirius Ch. 138 | XM Ch. 202 | 1280 AM New Orleans | Listen Online | TuneIn app |
| Â Radio Talent: | Â Todd Graffagnini (Play-By-Play) |
| Â Live Stats: | Â Statbroadcast |
|  Notes: |  Tulane | Temple | American Athletic Conference |
| Â Social Media: | Â Twitter: @GreenWaveMBB | #RollWave |
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane men's basketball team returns to the Amway Center in Orlando for the first time since its run to the 2016 American Athletic Conference Championship semifinals, as the 10th-seeded Green Wave meet the No. 7 seed Temple in the first round on Thursday, March 8.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6Â p.m. (CT), and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU with streaming on the WatchESPN app. Mike Corey will call play-by-play action, while Mark Adams provides color commentary.
HISTORY LESSON
• Thursday's meeting between the Green Wave and Owls will be the 12th all-time, as Temple leads the series, 8-3, as winners in four of the last five head-to-head matchups.
• The teams opened conference play in Philadelphia on Dec. 28, as Tulane surrendered the first basket of the game but never trailed for the final 38 minutes in an 85-75 win over Temple - its first in the series since 1996. The Green Wave shot a perfect 15-for-15 from the free throw line and an impressive 15-for-24 (.625) overall in the second half, while tallying a season-high 22 assists to just 10 turnovers on 31 field goals made.
• Temple returned the favor in New Orleans on Feb. 4 with an 83-76 win despite a game-high 20 points by Jordan Cornish and a pair of double-doubles by Samir Sehic (18 points & 10 rebounds) and Cameron Reynolds (16 points & 10 rebounds). Melvin Frazier played just four minutes before leaving with an injury. Nate Pierre Louis scored 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting off the bench, while Shizz Alston, Jr., posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists for the Owls.
LAST TIME OUT
• Tulane team dropped its regular season finale at UCF, 60-51, on Sunday afternoon, as Melvin Frazier posted his fifth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Ray Ona Embo compiled 11 points, five rebounds and four assists.
• B.J. Taylor led all players with 19 points and six rebounds, while A.J. Davis put up 11 points and six boards for the Knights.
• The Green Wave owned a 40-32 rebounding advantage, but were outscored by the Knights, 26-24, in the paint, 20-11 off turnovers and 21-11 off the bench.
SCOUTING THE OWLS
• Temple enters Thursday's contest following back-to-back road losses at UConn and Tulsa to close the regular season, and has dropped four of its last five.
• The Owls rank second in the conference in field goal percentage defense (.318) and third in steals per game (6.8),, as well and turnover margin (+1.9) and fourth in 3-pointers made (8.2) but are 10th in field goal percentage (.422), and last in rebounding margin (-3.7).
• Sophomore Quinton Rose stands fifth in steals per game (1.6 and seventh in scoring (14.9), as senior Obi Enechionyia is third in blocks (1.4), fifth in free throw percentage (.818) and eighth in rebounding (6.1).
FRAZIER CLAIMS CONFERENCE HARDWARE
• Melvin Frazier became just the second Tulane player ever to be named an All-American Athletic Conference Team selection as a second team pick for the 2017-18 campaign.
• The first was Louis Dabney, who was also picked to the second team during the Green Wave's debut season in the league in 2014-15.
THE AMERICAN'S MOST IMPROVED PART II
• Melvin Frazier was named the 2018 American Athletic Conference Most Improved Player of the Year following a poll of the league's 12 head coaches, marking the second year in a row a player on Mike Dunleavy's roster received the award after Cameron Reynolds garnered the honor following his breakthrough season in 2016-17.
Stat Category                    2016-17   2017-18
Scoring                                                     11.5             15.9
FG Pct. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .438 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .558
3FG Pct. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .264 Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .386
Rebounding                                               4.6             5.6
Assists/Gm                                                1.5             2.9
Steals/Gm                                                 1.9              2.2
CLEANING UP IN THE CLASSROOM
• Tulane was named the recipient of the American Athletic Conference's Team Academic Excellence Award for the 2017-18 season, an honor given annually to one of the conference's 12 institutions sponsoring men's basketball that achieves the highest cumulative grade point average.
• Over the last three academic semesters, the Green Wave have registered some of the highest combined GPA marks ever recorded, falling just shy of the 3.0 threshold.
REYNOLDS JOINS 1,000-POINT/600-REBOUND CLUB
• Redshirt senior Cameron Reynolds scored his 1,000th career point in the 81-65 win over Alcorn State on Nov. 29 to become the 36th player in program history to do it.
• On March 4 at UCF, passed Al Andrews (1963-67) and John Sutter (1968-71) for 15th and 14th place, respectively, on the all-time scoring list to get to 1,348 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the game to eclipse 600 for his career.
• Just 17 players in Tulane history have amassed 600 rebounds, while only 13 of them also scored 1,000 points.Â
DANIELS RECEIVES AAC ROOKIE OF THE WEEK NOD
• Caleb Daniels was named American Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week on Monday, February 26 after averaging 12 points and three assists per game off the bench, while shooting 60 percent from the field and 50 percent from 3-point range in a two-game span.
• Daniels scored 10 of his 11 points in the first half at No. 13/12 Wichita State on Feb. 21, and followed up that performance with 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting, four rebounds and two steals off the bench in the 79-68 win at USF on Feb. 24.
• Daniels is the first Green Wave player to receive the honor this season, as Ray Ona Embo garnered the recognition twice during his debut campaign last year.
REYNOLDS BREAKS ALL-TIME GAMES PLAYED MARK
• On February 24, 2018, Cameron Reynolds played in his 132nd game for Green Wave in a 79-68 win at USF, passing Louis Dabney (2013-16) for the most in program history:
1. Â Cameron Reynolds (2014-pres.) - 134
2. Louis Dabney (2013-16) - 131
3. Jerald Honeycutt (1993-97) - 125
  LeVeldro Simmons (1992-96) - 125
  Kim Lewis (1991-96) - 125
FRAZIER, REYNOLDS AMONG THE AMERICAN'S TOP SCORING TANDEMS
 • Melvin Frazier (16.0 PPG) and Cameron Reynolds (15.2 PPG) rank as the No. 4 scoring duo in the American Athletic Conference this season. Frazier ranks fourth among all players in the league, while Reynolds is sixth:
Players                                                         School     PPG
1. Jalen Adams & Christian Vital          UConn   33.1
2. Jalen Adams & Terry Larrier                      UConn   32.5
3. Jeremiah Martin & Kyvon Davenport     Memphis 31.7
5. Rob Gray & Corey Davis, Jr.           Houston  31.5
5. Melvin Frazier & Cameron Reynolds     Tulane     30.8
MAN OF STEALS
• Melvin Frazier ranks first in the American Athletic Conference in steals (63) and second in steals per game (2.2), with at least three heists in 13 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.
FRAZIER, SEHIC SHOOTING PERCENTANGE TANDEM
• Samir Sehic and Melvin Frazier own the No. 1 and No. 3 field goal percentages, respectively, among all players in the American Athletic Conference this season.
• Sehic is at 57.2 percent coming off the bench, while Frazier is shooting 55.8 percent overall.
FIVE AVERAGING DOUBLE-DIGIT POINTS
• As of March 6, Tulane is one of just 24 teams in NCAA Division I men's basketball, and one of just two in the American Athletic Conference, with at least five active players averaging double-digit points per game.
• Melvin Frazier (15.9), Cameron Reynolds (14.8), Samir Sehic (10.4), Jordan Cornish (10.0) and Ray Ona Embo (10.1) are responsible for 83.2 percent of the Green Wave's scoring.
• SMU is the only other team in the conference with at least five, and in fact, is one of just three teams nationally along with Villanova and Gonzaga with six players averaging at least 10 points per game.
