Tulane University
SMU
Men's Basketball Hosts SMU in Conference Home Opener
Jan 3, 2019 | Men's Basketball
| GAME 14: TULANE Green Wave (4-9, 0-1 AAC) vs. SMU Mustangs (9-4, 1-0 AAC) |
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| Â When: | Â Friday, January 4Â |Â 6 p.m. (CT) |
|  Where: |  New Orleans | Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse |
| Â Watch: | Â ESPN2Â |Â WatchESPN |
| Â Commentators: | Â Doug Sherman (PxP) & Mark Shansky (Color) |
|  Radio: |  1280 AM New Orleans | Listen Online |
|  Radio Talent: |  Todd Graffagnini  (Play-By-Play) |
| Â Live Scoring: | Â Statbroadcast |
|  Notes: |  Tulane | SMU | American Athletic Conference |
| Â Tickets: | Â Purchase Online |
| Â Social Media:Â | Â @GreenWaveMBBÂ |Â #RollWave |
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane men's basketball team plays its first home game in nearly four weeks and hosts SMU in American Athletic Conference play on Friday, January 4. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m., at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 and available on the WatchESPN app. Doug Sherman will provide play-by-play, while Mark Shansky delivers color commentary of the action.
STARTING FIVE
  1. Tulane welcomes SMU for its first American Athletic Conference home game of the season, as the Green Wave owns a 3-3 record inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
  2. The Green Wave and Mustangs split last season's home-and-home series, as the Wave scored a hardfought 73-70 home win on Jan. 4, 2018 behind 20 points by Cameron Reynolds to snap a five-game skid in the all-time series. SMU countered with a 73-62 win in Dallas just 16 days later despite 12 made 3-pointers by the Wave and a 27-point performance by Melvin Frazier.
  3. Tulane director of basketball operations Kevin Dunleavy is in his second season with the Green Wave after joining the team in August 2017 as the program's video coordinator following a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at SMU. He was also a four-year letterwinner for the Mustangs (2011-15).
  4. The Green Wave play their second conference game in a matter of 48 hours on Friday night after returning from a road contest at Cincinnati. The turnaround will be Tulane's fastest between league games all season.
  5. Tulane averages 68.2 points per game as a team, but is scoring 75.2 points per contest on its home floor this season. The Green Wave also shoot 49.2 percent overall and 39.2 percent beyond the 3-point arc at Fogelman in Devlin, opposed to 39 percent overall and 30 percent from deep in games away from their friendly confines.
BY THE NUMBERS
13 -Â Sophomore guard Caleb Daniels has made at least one 3-pointer in all 13 games for Tulane this season. He ranks second on the team with 19 makes, behind redshirt senior Jordan Cornish's 25 conversions from beyond the arc.
155Â -Â Redshirt senior guard Jordan Cornish has scored 845Â points in three plus seasons (two at UNLV, second at Tulane) and needs just 155Â more to eclipse 1,000 for his career.
156Â -Â Tulane has made at least one 3-point field goal in 156Â consecutive games. The last time the Green Wave failed to do so came on Jan. 16, 2014 at home against Louisiana Tech when they went 0-for-14 from outside.
AAC WEEKLY HONORS
• Sophomore guard Caleb Daniels was selected to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll on December 10, while freshman swingman Kevin Zhang was selected to the first listing of the 2018-19 season on November 12.
• Daniels averaged 20 points and nine rebounds per game while shooting 16-for-23 (.696) from the field in two games, as he registered his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds on 7-for-11 shooting in the 87-74 win over UT-Martin, before tallying his third 20-point performance of the season with 23 points and eight boards on 9-for-12 shooting at South Alabama.
• Starting in his college debut against 17th-ranked Florida State, Zhang scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds with two assists and just one turnover in 35 minutes. The Shenyang, China native shot 9-for-13 overall, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range, while 17 of his 24 points came in the second half.
20-POINT PERFORMANCES
• Tulane has had five different players combine for nine total 20-point scoring games this season - the most among any American Athletic Conference program:
• Caleb Daniels (4) - vs. Coastal Carolina, South Dakota State, South Alabama, Texas Southern)
• Kevin Zhang (2 - vs. Florida State & Georgia State)
• Samir Sehic (1 - vs. Texas Southern)
• Jordan Cornish (1 - vs. UL Lafayette)
• Shakwon Barrett (1 - vs. UT-Martin)
KOKA'S PERFECT DAY
• Redshirt freshman center Buay Koka had his best performance to date coming off the bench at South Alabama on Dec. 8, shooting a perfect 5-for-5 from the floor for a career-best 11 points to go with a pair of blocks.
• Koka became the first Tulane player to have a perfect day shooting with a minimum of five shot attempts since Malik Morgan went 6-for-6 against Georgia Tech on Dec. 15, 2015.
DUNLEAVYS LONE FATHER-SON HEAD-COACHING DUO
 • In his third season as head coach, Mike Dunleavy Sr., is the only head coach with a son who is also a head coach at the NCAA Division I level.Â
 • His son, Baker Dunleavy, is in his second season at the helm of Quinnipiac's program.
CONGRATS GRAD!
• Redshirt junior forward Samir Sehic earned his bachelor's degree in finance in May of 2018 with two years of eligibility remaining. He is currently pursuing his MBA at Tulane.
ZHANG'S ARRIVAL MARKS RARE FOREIGN IMPORT
NCAA Division I men's basketball players hailing from China are rare, as freshman swingman Kevin Zhang is one of just five players nationally who can stake that claim along with CS Fullerton sophomore Johnny Wang, CS Northridge freshman Michael Ou, Cal-Berkley freshman James Zhao and UPenn frosh Michael Wang.
STRENGTH WITHIN THE SCHEDULE
• Tulane will play a minimum of 11 regular-season games against nine teams that earned postseason bids in 2018, including seven opponents that played in the NCAA Tournament (Cincinnati, Florida State, Georgia State, Houston, South Dakota State, Texas Southern and Wichita State). Temple and Southeastern Louisiana made NIT appearances.
• The Green Wave will host 15 home games and will head out to compete in five neutral-site contests. The Wave will play just one true road tilt in the non-conference slate at South Alabama on Dec. 8.
OLDEST ARENAS
• Tulane's home arena, Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse, is one of the oldest active arenas in college basketball:
1. Matthews Arena – Northeastern – April 16, 1910
2. Rose Hill Gym – Fordham – Jan. 16, 1925
3. Lavietes Pavilion – Harvard - 1926
4. The Palestra – Penn – Jan. 1, 1927
5. Edmundson Pavilion – Washington – Dec. 27, 1927
6. Williams Arena – Minnesota – Feb. 4, 1928
7. Hinkle Fieldhouse – Butler – March 7, 1928
8. Payne Whitney Gym – Yale – Dec. 10, 1932
9. Fogelman in Devlin – Tulane – Dec. 15, 1933
10. Haas Pavilion – California – Jan. 13, 1933
