Tulane University
Houston
Men's Basketball Challenges No. 9 Houston at Home Sunday Afternoon
Feb 16, 2019 | Men's Basketball
| GAME 24: TULANE Green Wave (4-19, 0-11 AAC) vs. HOUSTON Cougars (24-1, 11-1 AAC) |
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| When: | Sunday, February 17, 2019 | 1 p.m. (CT) |
| Where: | New Orleans | Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse |
| Watch: | CBS Sports Network |
| Commentators: | Carter Blackburn (PxP) & Mike O'Donnell (Color) |
| Radio: | 1280 AM New Orleans | Listen Online |
| Radio Talent: | Todd Graffagnini (Play-By-Play) |
| Live Scoring: | Statbroadcast |
| Notes: | Tulane | Houston | American Athletic Conference |
| Tickets: | Purchase Online |
| Social Media: | @GreenWaveMBB | #RollWave |
NEW ORLEANS - The Tulane men's basketball team has its mind on pulling off an upset when No. 9/9 Houston comes to town on Sunday, February 17. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m., at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
The game will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network, as Carter Blackburn delivers play-by-play commentary and Mike O'Donnell provides color analysis.
PROMOTIONS
The first 500 fans in the doors will receive a FREE double bobblehead featuring former Tulane men's basketball standouts Melvin Frazier Jr. and Cameron Reynolds.
STARTING FIVE
1. Tulane faces its fourth of four American Athletic Conference opponents that the Green Wave will only face once during the regular season when Houston takes the court in New Orleans on Sunday. The Green Wave played at Cincinnati (Jan. 2) and UConn (Jan. 19) and home against UCF (Jan. 23) in the other three.
2. When No. 9 Houston takes the floor Sunday, the Cougars will be the highest-ranked team to play inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse since No. 1 Memphis (led by Derrick Rose) came to town on Feb. 20, 2008. Tulane's last top-10 opponent was No. 10 Cincinnati on March 1, 2018 at Fogelman in Devlin.
3. Tulane and Houston meet for the 41st time in history Sunday, as the Cougars lead the all-time series, 22-18, with wins in three of the last four matchups. The teams split last season's regular-season series as each side scored a home win, including the Wave notching an impressive 81-72 victory in New Orleans behind 22 points on six 3-pointers made by Cameron Reynolds on Jan. 17, 2018.
4. Last time out, the Green Wave suffered an 80-57 conference home loss to Tulsa on Thursday, February 14. Caleb Daniels led the team in scoring for the 10th time this season with 13 points, as Jordan Cornish compiled 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Samir Sehic grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds.
5. Sunday's game marks the first time that Tulane plays back-to-back home games since hosting Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 1) and UT-Martin (Dec. 5).
BY THE NUMBERS
• 5 – Tulane has used the same starting lineup four games in a row and in five of the last six contests. Samir Sehic is the only Tulane player to start all 22 games this season.
• 7 – Redshirt junior forward Samir Sehic has posted seven double-doubles this season and has nine in his career after compiling two last year.
• 59 - Redshirt senior guard Jordan Cornish has scored 941 points in three plus seasons (two at UNLV, second at Tulane) and needs just 59 more to eclipse 1,000 for his career.
SCOUTING HOUSTON
• The Cougars (24-1, 11-1 AAC) enter Sunday's contest riding a nine-game winning streak and hold a season-high national ranking at No. 9. They have been ranked in the top 25 for 10 consecutive weeks.
• Houston was runner-up in The American and reached the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament last season and returns seven letterwinners and three starters from last year's club.
• The Cougars rank second in the NCAA in field goal percentage defense (.365), fifth in defending 3-pointers (.272), sixth in scoring defense (60.7), seventh in rebounding (41.6) and ninth in rebounding margin (+7.7).
• Senior guard Galen Robinson Jr. ranks second in The American in assists per game (5.2) and fourth in assists/turnover ratio (3.0), while junior Armoni Brooks leads the conference in 3-pointers made per game (3.4) and stands ninth in rebounding (6.4).
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 (6) - vs. Coastal Carolina, South Dakota State, South Alabama, Texas Southern, UConn, Temple
• 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
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.
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.
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. David Gomez (2004-08) 145
6. Donnie Stith (2004-08) 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) 91
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
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For behind-the-scenes coverage, follow Tulane men's basketball (@GreenWaveMBB) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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.
