Feb. 27, 2004

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Fans have their last chance to see the Tulane men's basketball team in action in New Orleans on Saturday evening as the Green Wave hosts Saint Louis in its Fogelman Arena finale at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door or by calling 504-861-WAVE.

BellSouth is sponsoring Boy Scout Night as it purchased tickets for area boy scout troops to attend the game.

Tulane (11-13, 4-9 C-USA) is red-hot at home, having won four straight games at Fogelman, including Wednesday's upset of UAB, which is battling for the Conference USA title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Green Wave is currently in 11th place in the league with the top 12 teams qualifying for postseason play. The Wave needs to hold off East Carolina or Houston, which both have 3-10 records. Tulane holds the tiebreaker over Houston, but would lose a tiebreaker with East Carolina.

Saint Louis (14-10, 7-6) is one of seven teams to already clinch a slot in the league tournament. The Billikens have used a hard-nosed defensive style to hold 14 opponents below 60 points; foes shoot just 41.2 percent from the field against SLU. Saint Louis had a three-game winning streak (Charlotte, Marquette and DePaul) before No. 12 Cincinnati handed it a 77-52 loss on Wednesday on the road. That was the Bills worse defeat of the year. Junior Reggie Bryant, a transfer from Villanova, leads the Billikens with 16.8 points per game, including 55 three-pointers. Senior Josh Fisher adds 10.8 points per game while 6-7 senior Chris Sloan has 10.0 points per outing.

"We are going to have to execute our offense against Saint Louis," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said. "They are a tough, strong team that plays very aggressive and intense defense. Nothing is easy on offense against them. Our ability to get transition baskets will be a huge key to the game."

The Green Wave has used a balanced offensive attack with four players hitting four double figures in points in each of their last four wins. Tulane is 8-2 this year when four players score 10 or more points. Sophomore Quincy Davis, a 6-9 center, leads the Wave with 10.8 points per game while his 69 blocked shots this season are five away from setting a new school record. Senior Wayne Tinsley, who has started 108 career games, is averaging 10.3 points per game and ranks among the league's best in rebounding, assists and steals. Sophomore Vytas Tatarunas played a sixth-man role for seven games before returning to the starting lineup in a big way on Wednesday. The 6-6, 235-pounder tallied 15 points with 11 rebounds in the UAB win, his sixth double-double of the year.

"We have been searching for consistency all year," Finney said. "We still don't have it, but the guys are playing better as a whole, as a team. We need to have big games out of our starters and a strong boost from the bench on Saturday."

The other projected starters for the Wave are Marcus Kinzer and Dan Fitzgerald. Kinzer, a junior point guard, has 9.9 points per game and led Tulane with a career-high 19 points in the UAB victory. Fitzgerald is a 6-7 freshman shooter who is coming into his own of late. He is averaging 8.2 points per game over the last six games.

Following the Saint Louis game, Tulane will play its final two regular-season games on the road. The Green Wave travels to Southern Miss on Wednesday, March 3 to play the Golden Eagles at 7 p.m. The final game of the regular season in on Saturday, March 6 at Charlotte.