Tulane University
East Carolina
Men's Basketball Faces East Carolina Saturday on ESPNU
Jan 24, 2020 | Men's Basketball
| GAME 19: TULANE Green Wave (10-8, 2-4 AAC) at EAST CAROLINA Pirates (8-11, 2-4 AAC) |
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| Â When: | Â Saturday, January 25, 2020Â |Â 5 p.m. (CT) |
|  Where: |  Greenville, N.C. | Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum |
| Â Watch: | Â ESPNUÂ |Â WatchESPN |
| Â Commentators: | Â Dave LaMont (PxP) & Mark Adams (Color) |
|  Radio: |  1280 AM New Orleans |
| Â Radio Talent: | Â Andrew Allegretta (Play-By-Play) |
| Â Live Scoring: | Â Statbroadcast |
|  Notes: |  Tulane | ECU | The American |
| Â Social Media:Â | Â @GreenWaveMBBÂ |
NEW ORLEANS - Following a seven-day break between games, the Tulane men's basketball team looks to get back on track with an American Athletic Conference road contest at East Carolina on Saturday, January 25. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. (CT) at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum.
The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU, as Dave LaMont calls play-by-play action and Mark Adams provides color analysis.
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STARTING FIVE
1. Â Â Â Â Tulane heads to East Carolina in search of its second American Athletic Conference road win of the season and its second victory in its last three trips, as the Green Wave held on for a 71-69 win in 2018, before dropping a one-point decision, 66-65, during last year's trip. The Wave are 7-7 all-time in games played at ECU and have escaped with win in four of their last six visits.
2. Â Â Â Â Saturday's game features The American's top two scorers this season, as the Pirates' Jayden Gardner ranks first at 20.6 points per game, while Teshaun Hightower is in second place at 16.3. The two standouts are also the top two scorers at the free throw line in the league.
3. Â Â Â Â Head coach Ron Hunter makes his second all-time trip to Greenville, after escaping with an 89-82 win on December 29, 2013 while leading Georgia State's program.
4. Â Â Â Â Last time out, K.J. Lawson scored a team-high 15 points, but the Green Wave dropped a 67-54 home decision to Tulsa on Saturday afternoon. Joining Lawson in double-figures was junior guard Teshaun Hightower and graduate transfer guard Christion Thompson, as they finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Green Wave had three players score in double-digits for the 11th time this season. Tulane shot finished the game connecting on 38.2 percent of its shots (21-of-55).
5. Â Â Â Â Tulane has committed fewer turnovers than its opponent in 17 of its 18 games this season. The Green Wave Wave are forcing teams into 16.6 turnovers per game and own a +4.8 turnover margin which ranks 12th nationally.
SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA
• The Pirates (8-11, 2-4 AAC) enter Saturday's game in the midst of a three-game losing streak, most recently suffering an 84-64 road loss at SMU on Wednesday night in Dallas.
• East Carolina ranks third in The American in free throw percentage (.718), but ranks seventh or lower in every other major statistical category. The Pirates are last in 3-point field goal percentage (.281), scoring margin (-3.1) and fouls committed per game (20.6), while standing 11th out of 12 teams in turnover margin (-0.8).
• Picked to finish 11th in the league's preseason poll, ECU is home to the conference's leading scorer, sophomore forward Jayden Gardner, who is averaging 20.6 points per game. His 54.9 percent field goal percentage ranks third, while his 9.1 rebounds per contest is fourth among all players.
• Pirates assistant coach Steve Roccaforte was an assistant coach at Tulane from 1994-98 under former head coach Perry Clark. Roccaforte was part of a staff that guided the Green Wave to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 1995 and the Final Four of the 1996 NIT.
BY THE NUMBERS
• 30.3 - Tulane possesses the No. 3 scoring duo in The American this season, as Teshaun Hightower (16.3) and K.J. Lawson (14.0) average a combined 30.3 points per game. SMU's Kendric Davis (15.9) and Isaiah Mike (14.8) ranks first, while Davis and teammate Tyson Jolly (14.8) are tied for the top spot.
•  33 – Teshaun Hightower scored 33 points against Towson on Dec. 21 in Washington, D.C., the most points scored in a single game by any player in The American this season.
• 192 – Tulane has made at least one 3-point field goal in 192 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.
MINUTES MONSTERS
•  Playing primarily with a seven-man rotation, Tulane's starters are seeing more court time than any team in The American Athletic Conference this season.
•  K.J. Lawson (36.4), Christion Thompson (33.8) and Teshaun Hightower (33.7) have started every game this season for the Green Wave and rank first, fourth and fifth among all players in The American in minutes played.
FEW FREEBIES
•  Tulane opponents are attempting just 14.4 free throws per game and converting at a 68.1 percent clip, while the Green Wave are making 13.8 free throws per game and a 71.3 percent success rate.
•  On four occasions, opponents have attempted seven or fewer free throws in a game including Middle Tennessee (seven on Nov. 22), Southern Miss (four on Dec. 4), Saint Louis (seven on Dec. 8) and Alcorn State (four on Dec. 16).
•  Including those teams, eight Green Wave opponents have made eight or fewer free throws in a game along with Southeastern Louisiana (two on Nov. 6), Northwestern State (four on Nov. 16), Utah (eight on Nov. 24) and Memphis (seven on Dec. 30).
BEATING THE BEARCATS
•  Not only was Tulane's 76-71 win over Cincinnati on January 4 its first in conference play this season, but it also ended a pair of winning streaks by the Bearcats.
•  The Green Wave's last victory over the Bearcats came six meetings prior at Cincinnati in 2015 in their first year as a member of The American. Tulane's last home victory against Cincinnati occurred nine meetings ago in 1985 when both schools were members of the former Metro Conference.Â
LAWSON'S EMOTIONAL HOMETOWN RETURN
•  Graduate transfer K.J. Lawson returned to play in his hometown of Memphis on December 30 for the first time since his redshirt freshman season in 2016-17 when he competed for the Tigers. That year, Lawson 12.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game en route to being named AAC Rookie of the Year.
•  Lawson did not disappoint in his return, scoring a game-high 22 points to go with five rebounds in a game where the Green Wave trailed the ninth-ranked Tigers by just three points inside the final four minutes.
HUNTER WINS NO. 450
•   It took just five wins and six games for first-year head coach Ron Hunter to reach a new milestone, as he earned his 450th career win on November 24 against Utah at the Myrtle Beach Invitational.
•   In his 26th season as a head coach, Hunter ranks 35th nationally among active NCAA Division I head coaches and third in the American Athletic Conference behind only Houston's Kelvin Sampson (619) and Wichita State's Gregg Marshall (508).
SEASONED COACHING STAFF
•  Head coach Ron Hunter has assembled a veteran coaching staff featuring two former NCAA Division I head coaches - Ray McCallum (Ball State - 1993-2000; Houston 2000-04; Detroit Mercy - 2008-16) and Kevin Johnson (Centenary - 1999-2005), as well as Claude Pardue.
•  The Green Wave are one of just nine schools nationally to have three of its four coaches currently or previously holding head-coaching titles, along with Pittsburgh (4), Iowa (4), Creighton (3), Michigan State (3), Minnesota (3), Oklahoma State (3), South Carolina (3) and Washington (3).
SMALL NUMBERS RETURN
•  Tulane returns just two scholarship players for the 2019-20 season in Kevin Zhang and Buay Koka. Zhang was the only Green Wave player to appear in the team's final 15 games of last season.Â
•  This season, Tulane is one of just six NCAA Division I teams returning less than 21 percent of their scoring while also bringing back less than 16 points per game. Among those teams, the Green Wave return the fewest in both categories:Â
1. Tulane (10.8 PPG, 12.2%)
2. Virginia Tech (13.3 PPG, 18.1%)
3. Washington (13.9 PPG, 19.8%)
4. UCF (14.5 PPG, 20.0%)
5. Long Beach State (15.2 PPG, 20.2%)
6. South Dakota State (15.8 PPG, 16.9%)
TULANE INKS TWO EARLY SIGNEES
•   Head coach Ron Hunter received two NLI's in the NCAA's Early Signing Period from Jadan Coleman (Madison, Ala.) and Sion James (Atlanta, Ga.) as part of his first signing class.
•    A 6'4 wing player, Coleman plays at Bob Jones High School. On the AAU trail, he averaged 9.7 points per game for the Alabama Fusion on the 2019 Nike EYBL circuit. He made 34 3-pointers in 13 games and set the EYBL record with 10 3-pointers made in a 36-point outburst against Team United.
•    A 6'5 guard from Lanier High School, James earned Region 8 Class 6A Player of the Year honors and received 2019 North Atlanta boys' all-state first team honors and all-county recognition after averaging 14.6 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game as a junior. He led the Longhorns to the Class 6A title and was a 2019 Gwinnett County All-Metro Second Team pick while being selected to the 2019 North Georgia All-Star Basketball Classic.
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FOLLOW ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For behind-the-scenes coverage, follow Tulane men's basketball (@GreenWaveMBB) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.Â
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