
Men's Basketball Hosts Temple in Regular Season Finale
Mar 4, 2023 | Men's Basketball
NEW ORLEANS - Tulane plays host to Temple at 1 p.m. in the teams final game of the regular season.Â
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the game live on the radio by tuning into 104.1 The Spot or by CLICKING HERE. Tulane's "Voice of the Green Wave" Corey Gloor will call the action live.
STARTING FIVE
1. Tulane University men's basketball tips off in its third game in five days by playing host to Temple on Sunday. The two teams have not seen each other since Jan. 7th in Philadelphia when Tulane won 87-76.
2. The Wave snapped its losing steak with a 81-78 win over ECU on Friday. Jaylen Forbes led the way with his second straight 20+ point game having dropped 25.
3. Tulane recorded 80+ points for the first time since Feb. 7th. The team remains the highest scoring in the AAC with 80.7 ppg.
4. With a win versus Temple, Ron Hunter will hit 500 career wins as a head coach. He would also lead the team to a sweep over Temple for the first time in a season
since becoming the Tulane head coach.
5. When starting Cook, James, Forbes, Pope and Cross Tulane is 8-2, making them the most successful starting five of the eight rotations the coaching staff has started.
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TULANE BY THE NUMBERS
500 - With a 18-10 record and two games left to play (counting first round of AAC tournament) this is the first time Ron Hunter will finish over .500 as the Tulane head coach. Tulane hasn't finished .500 or better since 2013-14 (17-17).
282 – Tulane has made at least one 3-point field goal in 282 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.
90 – Tulane has scored 90+ eight times this season which is more than the last six seasons combined.
78.4 – Tulane is shooting 78.4 percent from the line which is on track to be the best team average ever for a Tulane team.
40 - Sion James, Jaylen Forbes and Jalen Cook have all played entire games without subbing out this season. Forbes and James each have two, while Cook has one and played a full 45 when Tulane went into OT at Wichita.
18 - The last time Tulane had 18 or more wins in a single season was 2012-13 when the team went 20-15.
11 – 11 conference wins is the most for the Wave since joining the AAC.
1 – Head coach Ron Hunter is two wins away from 500 in his career. 54 of those wins are while at Tulane.
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THE OPPONENT – TEMPLE
• Khalif Battle who leads the Owls in scoring with 17.9 ppg has missed the last three games due to injury.
• Temple is 7-3 overall in games at Tulane and had won seven straight meetings in New Orleans before losing last season's game.
• The two teams haven't met since Jan. 7 when Tulane took the game 87-76.
• Temple clinched a first round bye in the AAC tournament and could jump Tulane in seeding should they win the matchup on Sunday.
• The two teams met in the first round of the AAC tournament last season with Tulane taking it 69-60.
A WIN VERSUS TEMPLE
• Tulane would sweep Temple for the first time since joining the AAC.
• Tulane would get its 12th home win of the season, it's most since 2013-14 season.
• Tulane would have its most conference wins since going 13-1 in SEC play in the 1947-48 season.
2022-23 STATISTICAL IMPROVEMENT
Through the first 28 games of the year, Tulane shows improvement through five statistical categories compared to the first right games of last season.
Category                 2021-22             2022-23
Points Per Game           73.4           80.7
Field Goal Percentage       .438          .466
Free Throw Percentage      75.2          78.4
Steals per game             8.1           8.8
Assists per game           13.0          15.8
SUCCESS FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
• Tulane is currently 468-597 from the free throw line (.784) which is trending towards the program's highest single-season percentage since 1967-68 when the team shot 528-of-692 (.763) at the charity stripe.
• Four Green Wave players are currently shooting over .800 from the line - Jalen Cook (.891), Jaylen Forbes (.874), Kevin Cross (.824) and Jadan Coleman (.800).