Thursday, January 31
Greenville, N.C.
6 PM
Tulane University
at
East Carolina
Men's Basketball Heads to ECU for Mid-Week Conference Matchup
Jan 30, 2019 | Men's Basketball
| GAME 20: TULANE Green Wave (4-15, 0-7 AAC) at ECU Pirates (8-11, 1-6 AAC ) |
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| Â When: | Â Jan. 31, 2019Â |Â 6 p.m. (CT) |
|  Where: |  Greenville, N.C. | Minges Coliseum |
| Â Watch: | Â ESPNUÂ |Â WatchESPNÂ |
| Â Commentators: | Â Anish Shroff (Play-by-Play) & John Thompson III (Color Analyst) |
|  Radio: |  1280 AM New Orleans | Listen Online |
| Â Radio Talent: | Â Todd Graffagnini (Play-By-Play) |
| Â Live Stats: | Â SIDEARM |
|  Notes: |  Tulane | East Carolina | American Athletic Conference |
| Â Social Media: | Â Twitter: @GreenWaveMBB | #RollWave |
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane men's basketball team will make its fourth road trip in its last six games with a trip to Greenville, N.C., for an American Athletic Conference tilt at East Carolina on Thursday, January 31. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CST) at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum, and the game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
STARTING FIVE
  1. Tulane looks for its first American Athletic Conference win of the season and its fifth win in its last six trips to Greenville in the first of two regular season meetings against East Carolina on Thursday night.
  2. Last time out, the Green Wave placed five scorers in double-figures for the first time this season and led by as many as five points in the second half but suffered an 85-75 road loss at SMU on Saturday night. Jordan Cornish led Tulane with 17 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while making three 3-pointers, as Samir Sehic tallied his seventh double-double of the year with 10 points and and 10 boards. The Wave matched a season high with 19 assists for the second time in their last three games and outscored the Mustangs, 23-7, off the bench.
  3. Tulane and ECU meet for the 25th time in history, as the Green Wave lead the all-time series, 13-11. In splitting last season's home-and-home series, the visiting team came away victorious in the two matchups.
  4. The Green Wave are 7-6 all-time inside Minges Coliseum and have escaped with a victory in four of their last five trips to Greenville. Two of the last three games on ECU's home court have gone into overtime, as Tulane battled to a 100-92 triple overtime triumph on Feb. 10, 2016, before claiming a 71-69 overtime win last season.
  5. Senior forward Blake Paul has emerged in the last four games, averaging 11.5 points and 8.8 rebounds while making 63.6 percent of his shots from the floor in those contests. He has three double-figure scoring performances, two double-digit rebounding games and one double-double during the span.
BY THE NUMBERS
• 7 – Redshirt junior forward Samir Sehic has posted seven double-doubles this season and three in the last four games. He has nine in his career after compiling two last year.
• 8 – Tulane has used eight different starting lineups in its first 19 games this season. The Green Wave have deployed a unique starting five in four of their last five contests. Samir Sehic is the only Tulane player to start every game.
• 102 - Redshirt senior guard Jordan Cornish has scored 898 points in three plus seasons (two at UNLV, second at Tulane) and needs just 102 more to eclipse 1,000 for his career.
SCOUTING ECU
• The Pirates (8-11, 1-6 AAC) enter Thursday's matchup on a five-game losing streak and have suffered defeat in six of their last seven games.
• ECU is coming off a 77-57 loss to USF Saturday, despite freshman Jayden Gardner posting his eighth double-double of the season with 15 points and 15 rebounds.
• Gardner leads The American in scoring (18.9 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (9.4 rpg). He also ranks among the league leaders in offensive rebounds (2nd), defensive rebounds (2nd) and field goal percentage (8th). Gardner is averaging a double-double in league play with 18.9 ppg and 10.6 rpg.
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20-POINT PERFORMANCES
• Tulane has had five different players score at least 20 points in a game this season, the most among any American Athletic Conference program:
• Caleb Daniels (5) - vs. Coastal Carolina, South Dakota State, South Alabama, Texas Southern, UConn
• Kevin Zhang (3) - vs. Florida State, Georgia State, Memphis (1/13)
• Samir Sehic (2) - vs. Texas Southern, SMU (1/4)
• Jordan Cornish (1) - vs. UL Lafayette
• Shakwon Barrett (1) - vs. UT-Martin
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CLEANING UP IN THE CLASSROOM
• The Green Wave compiled a 3.14 team GPA for the 2018 Fall semester, the highest recorded in program history.
• Buay Koka posted a perfect 4.0 GPA
• Nine of 14 players had at least a 3.0 GPA
• 10/14 players have a cumulate GPA of at least 3.0
• All five international players had at least a 3.0
• 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.
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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.
 • His son, Baker Dunleavy, is in his second season at the helm of Quinnipiac's program.
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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.
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PAUL CLIMBING ALL-TIME BLOCKS LIST
• Senior forward Blake Paul is on the verge of becoming one of the 10 greatest shot blockers in program history:
1.        John Williams (1981-85)          192
2.        Lawrence Nelson (1994-98)     181
3.        Quincy Davis (2002-06)           165
4.        Jerald Honeycutt (1993-97)      163
5. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â David Gomez (2004-08)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 145
6. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Donnie Stith (2004-08)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 142
7.        Robinson Louisme (2004-09)    117
8.        Linton Johnson (1998-2002)    99
9.        Anthony Reed (1989-93)          95
10.      Paul Thompson (1979-83)        92
11.       Blake Paul (2015-19)           89
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.
 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.
AROUND THE GLOBE
Tulane's 2018-19 roster comprises players born on four continents with Ray Ona Embo, a French guard (Europe), South Sudanese post players Bul Ajang and Buay Koka (Africa), Chinese freshman Kevin Zhang (Asia) and nine from North America (U.S. and Canada).
Most continents represented on NCAA Division I men's basketball programs:
 1. Maine.................... 5
    Virginia ............... 5
2. Bradley................. 4
   Illinois-Chicago...... 4
   UNLV.................... 4
   Oklahoma.............. 4
   Portland ............... 4
   Sacramento State.. 4
   UT Arlington.......... 4
   Tulane................. 4
   Utah State……………4
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For behind-the-scenes coverage, follow Tulane men's basketball (@GreenWaveMBB) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.Â
WE ARE NOLA BUILT
Tulane University is located in the city of New Orleans. It is a city built on tradition and resiliency. The lessons Green Wave student-athletes have learned through their connection with this university and city have BUILT doctors, lawyers, business leaders, conference champions, all-conference players, All-Americans, professional athletes and NCAA tournament teams. The city of New Orleans has shaped us into who we are today. We are One City. We are Tulane. We are NOLA BUILT. Check out our story at NolaBuilt.com.
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