March 2, 2004

NEW ORLEANS, La. - On Wednesday evening, Tulane University will look to clinch a slot in the upcoming Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournament. The Green Wave plays at Southern Miss and a win would guarantee a trip to Cincinnati for the league tourney which begins on March 10th.

With a win by Tulane (11-14, 4-10 C-USA) on Wednesday or a loss by Houston (which plays Charlotte at home), the Green Wave will clinch at least 12th place in the league. The top 12 teams qualify for the tourney and East Carolina and Tulane are currently tied for 11th with four wins each, while Houston is in 13th with three wins. Tulane holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Houston due to its win in the teams' only meeting. In the event of a three-way tie, the Wave wins the tiebreaker due to its victory over UAB, which is tied for third in the league.

"We can't worry about the standings or what might happen next week," Tulane head coach Shawn Finney said. "We have to worry about getting our level of play to the highest level we are capable of. And we also need to be prepared for Southern Miss, which beat us earlier this year.

Southern Miss (12-13, 5-9) has dropped five of its last six games, but still has a solid 8-3 mark at home. The Golden Eagles are led by big man Charles Gaines and his 15.9 points and 10.4 rebounds per game. In the teams' first meeting, a 64-58 USM win, Gaines dominated the Wave with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Jasper Johnson comes off the bench to average 12.5 points per game for a team which averages 66.0 points per game. USM is last in the league in field-goal percentage defense at .450.

The Green Wave has used a balanced attack this year with four players averaging in double figures. Sophomore Quincy Davis, who has tied the school record for blocks in a season with 65, leads the team with 10.7 points per game. Senior Wayne Tinsley has a career-best 10.1 points per game, while sophomore Vytas Tatarunas has 10.1 points per game and a team-best 7.2 rebounds per outing. Junior point guard Marcus Kinzer is averaging an even 10.0 points per game; over the last two games, he has 16.5 points per game.

"We need to be ready to go on Wednesday," Finney said. "We found out last game what happens when we aren't focused right from the start. This league is far too good and we are not good enough to win if we are not at our best."

After scoring just 14 points in the first half on Saturday against Saint Louis, Tulane staged an impressive comeback, but it was not enough as the Wave lost, 76-65.

Following the Wednesday game with Southern Miss, Tulane will close the regular season on Saturday at Charlotte, playing at 2 p.m. Central. The game can be heard on the Tulane-ISP Radio Network (690AM in New Orleans).