Tulane Tops Nicholls 91-81 to Open Regular Season

Monday, November 6

NEW ORLEANS

8 p.m.

Tulane University

1-0,0-0AAC

Nicholls

0-1,0-0Southland

Nicholls

Tulane

Photo by: Parker Waters

Tulane Tops Nicholls 91-81 to Open Regular Season

Nov 7, 2023 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS – Tulane University men's basketball (1-0) picked up its fifth consecutive season-opener victory as it defeated Nicholls (0-1) 91-81 on Monday night inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse. The Green Wave rode three 20-point performances and opportunistic defense to start the regular season in the win column.

Kolby King led four players in double figures for the Wave with 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting including 4-of-7 from downtown. Sion James finished with 21 points to go with five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. The third 20-point scorer for Tulane was Collin Holloway with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field. The first double-double of the season for the Green Wave came courtesy of Kevin Cross who finished with 18 points and 14 rebounds while also adding five assists, two blocks, and two steals.

The Green Wave defense forced the Colonels into 18 turnovers swiping 13 steals as a team. Tulane turned those turnovers into 22 points including 15 fastbreak points.

Nicholls threw the first punch taking a 22-10 in the first seven minutes of the contest. Tulane responded with a 21-5 scoring run to take its first lead of the night 31-27 with 6:53 to play in the first half. The Wave and the Colonels went back and forth down the stretch until King scored the final five points of the half to put Tulane up 46-42 heading into the locker room.

King and James led all scorers at the break with 15 and 11 points, respectively. Cross nearly had his double-double in the first 20 minutes as he hit intermission with nine points and nine boards.

BRING THE HOUSE DOWN @SionJames14 #RollWave🌊 pic.twitter.com/XLeklEw9QS
— Tulane Men's Basketball (@GreenWaveMBB) November 7, 2023

After Nicholls reclaimed the lead early in the second half Tulane went on a 14-3 run to go ahead 63-53 with 13:32 on the clock. The Green Wave would never surrender the lead again in the second half extending the advantage to as many as 13 points with 3:16 remaining. The game was put on ice from the free throw line in the closing minutes as Tulane secured the 91-81 victory to open the 2023-24 regular season.

Holloway scored 12 of his 20 points in the second half while James added another 10 to his stat sheet after halftime. Cross picked up nine more points and another five rebounds to notch ninth career double-double.

Up next, Tulane will host Northwestern State in Uptown on Thursday, November 9, for the first time since 2019. Tipoff between the Green Wave and the Demons is set for 6 p.m. on ESPN+.

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