Feb. 9, 2006
NEW ORLEANS, La. -
Complete Release attached as a PDF
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Listen to the game | 2005-06 Statistics
2005-06 TULANE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Feb. 11, 2006
Tulane (9-12, 4-4 C-USA) vs. UCF (9-11, 3-4 C-USA)
Orlando, Fla. -- UCF Arena
Game 22 -- 6:30 p.m. (Central)
GREEN WAVE FACTS
2005-06 Record: 9-12
2004-05 Record: 10-18
Head Coach: Dave Dickerson
Alma Mater/Year: Maryland/1990
Record at Tulane/Year: First year
Career Record/Years: First year
President: Dr. Scott Cowen
Athletics Director: Rick Dickson
Ticket Office Phone: 504-247-1240
Website: www.TulaneGreenWave.com
TULANE 2005-06 SCHEDULE & RESULTS
Official UCF Athletics Website
TULANE PROBABLE STARTERS
50 Quincy Davis (Sr., 12.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 25.4 MPG)
Needs 14 pts to become TU's 28th 1,000-Pt Scorer
21 David Gomez (So., 11.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 22.3 mpg)
17 points on perfect 6-6 FGs v. Marshall
25 Matt Wheaton (So., 6.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 20.9 mpg)
7 pts, 8 rebs, 4 assists on Tuesday
3 Chris Moore (Jr., 9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 32.0 mpg)
15 pts, 4 threes against Loyola
11 Ryan Williams (Fr., 4.1 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 18.4 mpg)
12 pts, 14 assists in last two games
TULANE RESERVES
5 Donnie Stith (So., 6.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 26.1 mpg)
Career-best 6 blocks against Loyola
20 Andrew Garcia (Jr., 5.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 22.4 mpg)
13 points on Tuesday
40 Vytas Tatarunas (Sr., 4.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 14.5 mpg
47 pts, 20 rebs in last five games
44 Daniel Puckett (Fr., 2.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 10.4 mpg)
Career-high 8 points against Loyola
22 Kory Castine (Jr., 1.7 ppg, 1.7 rpg, 5.6 mpg)
7 pts, 7 rebs in last two games
40 Robinson Louisme (So.)
Likely redshirt as he returns from injury
Radio: Live on the Tulane-ISP Radio Network -- WIST-AM 690 New Orleans; WSKR-AM 1210 Baton Rouge; WJSH-FM 104.7 Hammond/North Shore; KROF-AM 960 Lafayette.
Tulane Tickets: Call 504-247-1240 or 247-1241 or go online to TulaneGreenWave.com.
Setting the Stage
Tulane has heated up since returning to New Orleans and the Green Wave has now won four straight games and five out of six to climb to fifth place in Conference USA. In its last two games, the Wave has held Marshall and Loyola to a combined 77 points and 23.9 percent shooting from the field. Both of those opponents also scored just 15 points each in the second half. Tulane has held five opponents below 30-percent shooting and seven teams below 54 points. On Saturday, the Wave plays at C-USA newcomer UCF and then Tulane travels to Birmingham to face UAB on Wednesday.
The Green Wave is averaging 63.8 points per game overall, while allowing 65.0 points per outing. The Wave defense is holding foes to 38.3 percent shooting from the field while shooting 44.2 percent from the floor. From the foul line, the Greenies are hitting just 66.9 percent, while opponents bury 72.2 percent. Tulane is averaging 17.8 turnovers per game while forcing an average of 13.7 miscues. The Wave has 82 three-pointers on the year while foes have hit 129.
Up Next
Following Saturday's game, Tulane heads to Birmingham to face C-USA power UAB on Wednesday evening. Then Memphis, ranked No. 3 nationally, comes to New Orleans to battle the Green Wave in Fogelman. Tulane has not defeated a ranked team since the 1999-2000 season and its last win over a Top 10 program came in 1982-83 (over Memphis State).
The Road to New Orleans
The Tulane players were scheduled to return to campus on Aug. 30, but instead, they returned on Dec. 24 - 118 days later. In the meantime, the team was one of six Green Wave teams which attended classes at Texas A&M, playing four "home" games at the Aggies' Reed Arena. Overall, the Tulane Athletic Department was spread over four campuses - Texas Tech, Louisiana Tech and SMU joined A&M as hosts for Green Wave programs. Tulane posted a 2-2 record in four games at "home" in College Station.
Last Game Leaders
The Green Wave team defensive effort was the key in Tuesday's win over Loyola. However, Quincy Davis took individual scoring honors with 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Chris Moore scored Tulane's first 11 points of the game and finished with 15, while Andrew Garcia came off the bench to tally 13 points. Donnie Stith swatted away a career-best six shots while freshman Daniel Puckett scored a career-high eight points.
Know the Knights
UCF is another of the Conference USA newcomers and the Golden Knights come into Saturday's game with a 9-11 overall record, including 3-4 in league play. UCF has a pair of solid road wins this year, defeating Houston and East Carolina (its other league win was at home against Tulsa), but currently the Knights have dropped three in a row - one to No. 3 Memphis, one to league power UAB and most recently a 59-51 loss on the road to Southern Miss on Wednesday. Josh Peppers, a 6-6 junior forward, leads UCF with 12.4 points per game, including a team-best 37 three-pointers. Justin Rose, a 6-3 guard, has 11.2 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game while 6-8 senior Anthony Williams also has double figures with 10.1 points per outing.
The Series With UCF
Tulane and UCF have met just twice on the hardwood. The first meeting was an 82-54 win for the Green Wave on Dec. 8, 1983 while the last meeting came on Nov. 29, 2002 - a 66-61 win by the Golden Knights. This will be the two teams' first meeting in Orlando.
36 Points in One Game
When Tulane held Marshall to just 36 points in Saturday night's victory, it matched the Conference USA record for fewest points allowed in a league game. It was also the least points allowed by the Green Wave since Jan. 4, 2004 when it topped Morris Brown, 88-30. It was also the fewest points scored by Marshall in a game since a 41-23 loss to San Diego State during the 1947-48 season.
Defend Yourselves
Tulane has relied on tough defense all season long, having held eight opponents below 60 points thus far (the Wave held eight below 60 in 2002-03 and 10 in 1992-93). However, over the Green Wave's current four-game win streak, the defense has been taken to another level. In that stretch, opponents are averaging just 46.5 points per game while shooting 28.9 percent from the field. The Wave held both Marshall and Loyola to just 15 points in the second halves of those games - those two teams hit just 8-of-56 (14.3 percent) field goals in the second half against the intense Tulane pressure. Five teams this year have shot below 30 percent in games against the Green Wave this year. The school record for opponent field-goal percentage is 39.9 percent, set in 1960-61. This year, foes are shooting 38.3 percent against Tulane.
77 Points in Two Games
The 77 points allowed by the Green Wave in the last two games is the fewest points allowed in a two-game stretch since Dec. 4 and Dec. 6, 1952 when Tulane held Birmingham Southern and Southwestern (Tenn.) to a combined 74 points.
Block Party
While the intensity of Tulane's second half defense against Loyola forced the Wolfpack into bad shots, even when it had good looks, the Wave more often than not swatted them away. Tulane matched the school record with 12 blocked shots, including 10 in the second half. Sophomore Donnie Stith rejected a career-best six Loyola offerings - tied for the third-most blocks in a game by a Green Wave player.
Holding the Lead
Tulane has now led for 124 minutes and nine seconds, including holding the lead wire-to-wire in each of the last three games. The last time Tulane trailed in a game was with 4:09 to go against Rice on the road when Vytas Tatarunas knocked down a baseline jumper to put Tulane on top for good at 48-47. Since that time, Tulane has held its opponents to 27.1 percent shooting (46-of-170).
Four in a Row
The last time Tulane won four straight games was during the 2002-2003 season when the Green Wave stopped UAB, East Carolina, Houston and UAB again consecutively. Tulane had a pair of four-game streaks in 2001-02 (both in non-league play) and the last five-game win streak was during the 1999-2000 season, which ended with a trip to the NIT.
Player of the Week for First Time Since 1996-97
Quincy Davis was named the Conference USA Co-Player of the Week on Monday. Davis, who averaged 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks for the week, is the first Green Wave men's basketball player to earn the honor from the league since Jan. 20, 1997 when Jerald Honeycutt won the weekly honor. Davis led Tulane to a pair of league wins over SMU (59-56) and Marshall (61-36) to lift the Green Wave to a 4-4 Conference USA mark, good enough for fifth place in the league.
Q-Rating
Senior Quincy Davis is coming to life over the last month. The veteran center has 123 points (15.4 ppg), 62 rebounds (7.8 rpg) and 17 blocks (2.1 bpg) in the last eight games and shooting 58.5 percent from the field in league games. The Los Angeles native piled up a season-best 25 points on Feb. 1 to lead the Green Wave to victory over SMU and last Saturday against Marshall, he snagged his 500th career rebound. Following an 18-point effort in 24 minutes against Loyola, he needs just 14 points to become the 27th 1,000-point scorer in school history and just the 14th player in Tulane history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career.
The Road Is Not So Easy
Tulane picked up its first road victory of the season on Jan. 28 at Rice. The 17-point margin of victory was the Wave's most convincing road win since an 85-44 victory over VCU on Nov. 30, 1999. Since that time (six years), the Green Wave has won just 11 road games, including eight C-USA road wins - the last road win came on Jan. 26, 2005 at Houston.
Friendly Fogelman
Hurricane Katrina forced the Green Wave to give up at least four games in Fogelman Arena (games played as "home" games at Texas A&M's Reed Arena), which was a tough blow for the Greenies. Since Fogelman (then Tulane Gym) opened in 1933, the Green Wave has posted a 525-257 (.671) record in the venerable arena. In eight games this year at Fogelman, Tulane has posted a 6-2 record while holding its opponents 34.3 percent shooting and just 53.5 points per outing. Tulane also out-rebounds its opponents by 5.9 boards per game, while turning it over just 14.5 times per game in Fogelman.
Point Men
Despite the inexperience of its two point guards, the Green Wave is getting strong performances out of the duo of freshman Ryan Williams and junior Drew Garcia. Williams (who has started the last 13 games) and Garcia (a walk-on who did not play college basketball before this year) are combining to average 9.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 2.1 steals per game. On Jan. 28 at Rice, Williams had his best performance, scoring nine of his career-high 14 points in the final five minutes to lead the Wave to the key road victory. On Jan. 21 against East Carolina, Garcia snagged seven rebounds and buried six straight free throws in the final 33 seconds to clinch the victory. Williams has matched his career-high by dishing out seven assists in each of the last two games.
The Resurgence of Vytas
Senior Vytas Tatarunas is having his most productive stretch of basketball over the last five games. The 6-6 swingman has tallied 47 points (including hitting 21-of-36 field goals) and 20 rebounds in that stretch. He opened his hot streak with eight points in the Wave loss to Houston, then was a key factor in the Rice road victory, scoring a season-best 13 points on perfect 6-for-6 shooting. He capped that win with a spectacular double-pump reverse jam in the final seconds. Last Wednesday against SMU, the Lithuania product again came up big, scoring 12 points to go with seven rebounds and three assists against SMU.
Start Me Up
With Chris Moore hampered by a sprained finger, he did not start against UTEP - he had been the only player on the team to start every game up to that point. This year will be the first season since the 1997-98 campaign that a Green Wave player did not start every game. Moore returned to the starting lineup, replacing Donnie Stith to mark the eighth different starting lineup used by the Green Wave this season - Tulane is now 5-1 with that lineup.
More Moore
Head coach Dave Dickerson was very impressed with Chris Moore's work-ethic through the off-season and prior to this year, he named Moore his lone captain for the 2005-06 season. The junior from McKinney, Texas, has responded by leading the Green Wave in three-pointers and minutes and ranking third in scoring (9.0 ppg). After just 14 games, the 6-5 shooting guard had surpassed his career-best season totals in just about every statistical category. He currently has 672 minutes (366 was his career-best), 188 points (95 was his best), 36 threes (23), 32 assists (12) and 20 steals (7) already in 2005-06. On Tuesday against Loyola, Moore scored Tulane's first 11 points (he finished with 15 in 21 minutes) to give the Wave the jump they needed for the blowout victory.
Close-Game Experience Pays Off
Tulane has been involved in seven games decided by 10 points or less, posting a 3-4 record in those games. While battling hard every time out, Tulane has suffered some tough losses. On Jan. 14 against Rice, the Owls buried a game-winning buzzer-beater while on Dec. 31 against UNO, the Wave's own last second effort was off the mark for a one-point loss. Other close games include the Valparaiso game when time ran out on a furious comeback, the St. Edward's game when the Wave fell in overtime and the Southern Miss game, when the Greenies were within six, but missed a key shot in the final two minutes. The Rice road game was a tight affair until the end when the Wave pulled away for a 17-point victory.
Mirror, Mirror
Once again the Green Wave will play three "mirror" games in 2005-06. Every team in Conference USA plays every other team once, with each team having three teams which it plays twice in order to total 14 league games. Tulane's three mirror opponents will be Southern Miss, Rice and East Carolina. The Wave was 2-1 against those teams last year (1-1 vs. Southern Miss, 1-0 vs. ECU and 0-0 against league newcomer Rice). Thus far this year, Tulane is 2-2 in mirror games (1-1 vs. Rice, 1-0 vs. East Carolina and 0-1 vs. Southern Miss).
Free Throw Defense
Tulane games this season have featured plenty of fouls by both teams, but it has been the Green Wave opponents taking advantage of the whistles. Tulane has 19.9 fouls per game while its opponents have 20.8. However, opponents have made 363 free throws to Tulane's 324. Wave opponents are burying a solid 72.2 percent of their free throws while Tulane is at 66.9 percent.
Garcia's Guide to Colleges
Andrew Garcia may be in his first-year playing college basketball, but he has more college experience than most students. The Pittsburgh native attended Villanova as a freshman, before transferring to Pitt for his sophomore season and walking-on to a football team which included the likes of Larry Fitzgerald. He headed south for Tulane in 2004, walking-on to the Green Wave basketball team and red-shirting last year. This year, he has added Texas A&M as his fourth college in as many years.
14 Boards
Including an improbable 14-rebound performance against TCU, six-foot guard Andrew Garcia now has 4.6 rebounds per game to rank third on the Tulane team. The last Green Wave player to snag that many rebounds was 6-7 forward Nick Sinville, who had 15 boards against UAB on Feb. 8, 2003.
Double-Doubles
In addition to his 14 rebounds, junior Andrew Garcia scored 10 points against TCU, giving him his first career double-double. That was the fourth double-double of the year for Tulane. Quincy Davis posted his first double-double of the season, and 10th of his career, against Valparaiso with 20 points and 12 rebounds. David Gomez had 16 points and 10 rebounds in the opener against UNO while Donnie Stith had 10 points and 10 boards against Butler.
Spring Semester at Tulane is Underway
After spending the first semester as visiting students at Texas A&M, the Tulane basketball team returned to its New Orleans home prior to Christmas. Tulane officially began its spring semester on Jan. 17. In order to assist students who missed requirements and necessary classes, Tulane will also have a "Lagniappe" semester, a short seven-week semester immediately following the spring semester. That semester will be free to any students who had full-time status in both the fall and spring semesters.
Tulane Goes to Four Sites
In an unprecedented move, the Tulane University Athletic Department has relocated to four different campuses for the fall of 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina. In addition to Texas A&M, SMU, Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech are hosting Green Wave teams.
Site: Tulane Teams
Louisiana Tech: Football, Track & Field
SMU: Men's and Women's Golf
Texas A&M: Men's Basketball, Women's Soccer, Women's Volleyball, Men's & Women's Tennis, Women's Swimming & Diving
Texas Tech: Women's Basketball, Baseball
The Decision Process
While Katrina has caused a myriad of questions and problems for the Green Wave football team and the Tulane Athletic Department in general, all of those pale in comparison to the true tragedies which have been faced in New Orleans and along the Gulf Coast. In its thought process for dealing with the relocation of its athletic department, Tulane focused on five specific tasks - enroll the student-athletes in school, provide for the housing needs, assist with meal services, arrange for books, and provide the counseling needed to all involved. With those five objectives obtained, the Green Wave staff moved on to more general needs such as staffing needs at its multiple locations, scheduling work, and preparation for games.
Here's Dickerson
Dave Dickerson takes over the reins of the Green Wave program, becoming the 22nd head men's basketball coach in Tulane history. Dickerson comes to the Wave bench after nine years as an assistant at Maryland under Gary Williams, helping the Terrapins to nine straight postseason appearances, five Sweet Sixteens, two Final Fours and one National Championship. In 15 years as an assistant coach, he has never seen a losing season while making 10 postseason appearances.
Season Tickets Available Online
Tickets for the New Orleans portion of the 2005-2006 Tulane men's and women's basketball seasons can now be ordered on-line through Tulane's official athletics website at www.TulaneGreenWave.com. The men's team will play 10 games at Fogelman, including their entire home Conference USA schedule, beginning with a Dec. 27 contest versus Richmond.
Men's basketball season tickets for the 10-game New Orleans schedule at Fogelman Arena are available for $150 for side court seating and $100 for end court seats. A youth (2-18) end court season ticket is $75. Tulane is also offering a men's basketball Family Pack, which admits two adults and two kids to every New Orleans home game this season for just $200. Single game men's ticket prices for 2005-06 are $16 for adult side court seats, $10 for end court seating and $8 for youth tickets (end court).
Guest Stars
Tulane played four "home" games at Texas A&M's Reed Arena, however, the second one was against the Aggies. That game was dubbed the "Together in Aggieland: Hurricane Relief Game," Tulane was actually the home team on the scoreboard, and all proceeds from the game went toward the Tulane Athletic Department. That was as far as the Aggies' charitable spirit would go, however, as Texas A&M got 20 points and seven boards from sophomore Joseph Jones to cruise to a 26-point victory.
New Kids in Town
Dave Dickerson is not the only first-year head coach in Conference USA this season - Ricky Stokes at East Carolina and Doug Wojcik at Tulsa were also hired in the off-season. Larry Eustachy at Southern Miss and Tom Penders at Houston are both entering their second seasons in the league, while Doc Sadler is in his second year at C-USA newcomer UTEP.
Linton Johnson Earns a Ring
Former Tulane standout Linton Johnson earned a spot on the Chicago Bulls roster two years ago and proceeded to average 17.9 minutes per game while starting 20 games. His performance in Chicago drew attention from around the league, and he signed a free agent deal with the San Antonio Spurs. Despite spending the majority of the season on the injured reserve, Johnson still earned a ring from the Spurs, who captured the 2005 NBA Championship. The Chicago native is currently playing for the New Jersey Nets.
Graduation Continues
Three more Green Wave basketball players recently earned their degrees as Ivan Pjevcevic, Marcus Kinzer and George Brown all collected diplomas in 2005. Of the 13 seniors who have played for the Wave in the last five years, only Ben Benfield has not graduated; he remains in school and is on track to earn his degree in May of 2006.
