Jan. 27, 2006

NEW ORLEANS, La. -

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2005-06 TULANE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Jan. 28, 2006
Tulane (5-12, 1-4 C-USA) vs. Rice (9-9, 3-2 C-USA)
Houston, Texas -- Autry Court
Game 18 -- 6 p.m. (Central)

GREEN WAVE FACTS
2005-06 Record: 5-11
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: 504-861-WAVE
Website: www.TulaneGreenWave.com

TULANE 2005-06 SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Official Rice Athletics Website

TULANE PROBABLE STARTERS
50 Quincy Davis (Sr., 11.1 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 24.7 MPG)
53 pts, 32 rebs in last 4 games

21 David Gomez (So., 12.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 22.1 mpg)
17 pts and 17 rebs in last 2 games

25 Matt Wheaton (So., 6.4 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 21.1 mpg)
Led Tulane with 11 pts vs. Houston

3 Chris Moore (Jr., 9.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 32.5 mpg)
15 pts v. ECU despite sprained finger

11 Ryan Williams (Fr., 3.4 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 17.1 mpg)
Matched career-high with 7 asts v. ECU

TULANE RESERVES

5 Donnie Stith (So., 6.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 26.1 mpg)
Has come off the bench for the last 2 games

20 Andrew Garcia (Jr., 5.9 ppg, 4.6 rpg, 23.6 mpg)
6 FTs in final 33 seconds clinches win over ECU

40 Vytas Tatarunas (Sr., 3.1 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 13.4 mpg
8 pts (2nd most this season) in Houston game 44 Daniel Puckett (Fr., 1.8 ppg, 2.1 rpg, 10.5 mpg)
Has not scored for the last 5 games

22 Kory Castine (Jr., 1.5 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 5.0 mpg)
Played 6 mins on Wednesday, snagging 4 rebs

40 Robinson Louisme (So.)
Has not played this season; recovering from foot 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 a chance for revenge on Saturday as it travels to Rice hoping to steal a victory on the road, just as the Owls did on Jan. 14 when they defeated the Green Wave, 60-57, on a buzzer-beater by Morris Almond in Fogelman Arena. The Wave's last C-USA road victory came in Houston as it defeated the University of Houston last season on a buzzer-beater. Tulane, which has now dropped four of its last five games, lost to Houston on Wednesday night at home as the Cougars buried 14-of-26 three-pointers.

Up Next
Following the Rice game, the Green Wave opens a three-game homestand on Wednesday evening, hosting SMU at Fogelman Arena. That is followed by Marshall (2/4) and Loyola (2/7) - the final non-league game of the year for Tulane.

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
Tula ne had just one player in double figures on Wednesday as sophomore Matt Wheaton scored 11 points - the fifth double-figure scoring game of his career. Senior Quincy Davis had nine points, six rebounds and three blocked shots while sophomore David Gomez had nine points (all from the line) and eight boards - the second game in a row in which he has led the team in rebounding.

On the Owls
Rice comes into Saturday's game with an even 9-9 record, including a 3-2 mark in C-USA play. The Owls are tough at home with a 7-3 mark at Autry Court. In addition to the league wins over Tulane, Houston and Southern Miss, Rice has solid victories over Utah (triple-overtime) and Princeton. Morris Almond, a 6-6 junior swingman, is the leading scorer in Conference USA with 20.7 points per game, while senior J.R. Harrison has 12.3 points and a team-best 6.1 rebounds per game. Rice is shooting 44.6 percent from the field as a team while averaging 69.1 points and allowing 70.2. The Owls have been out-rebounded by an average of 4.1 per game.

The Series With Rice
Tulane and Rice have met on the basketball court 35 times and this will be their second showdown as conference partners. Rice holds a 20-15 advantage in the all-time series. The Green Wave won the last non-league meeting on Dec. 6, 2003, 73-67, in Fogelman. In that game, the Wave trailed for much of the game, but went on top for good on a Vytas Tatarunas tip-in with eight minutes to go. Tatarunas, who has 12 points and eight rebounds, had another big putback late in the game to help preserve the victory for the Greenies.

Q-Rating
Senior Quincy Davis is coming to life in Conference USA action for the Green Wave. The veteran center has 44 points and 26 rebounds in the last three games and is averaging 13.3 points and 8.3 rebounds while shooting 64.9 percent from the field in league games. Against East Carolina, the Los Angeles native scored 20 points - his ninth career 20-point game - to go with eight rebounds. He buried 10-of-14 shots in the victory. Davis needs 93 points and 25 rebounds to become just the 14th player in Tulane history to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in his career.

First Meeting With Rice (1/14)
Rice guard Morris Almond had a game-high 33 points but none were better than his 3-pointer at the buzzer as Tulane dropped a 60-57 decision to the Owls on January 14th at Fogelman Arena.

Tulane trailed 57-52 with 1:31 left to play in regulation, but a fall-away hook by Quincy Davis in the final minute and a 3-pointer by David Gomez with 1.9 seconds remaining tied the game at 57-all. The Green Wave had a chance to send the game into overtime as a pair of Tulane players tipped the ball near half court on the ensuing inbound play, but Almond was able to gain control and send the ball through the net as the final buzzer sounded to give Rice the victory.

The game was knotted at 30-all at halftime, but Rice took the early lead in the second half with a 5-0 run to take a 35-30 advantage. Tulane trailed by as many as six on two occasions, the last coming with 2:09 to play when J.R. Harrison sand a jumper to give Rice a 56-50 lead.

A layup by Gomez made it a four-point game, but a free throw by Almond made it 57-52 to set up the last-minute theatrics.

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 522-257 (.671) record in the venerable arena. In five games this year at Fogelman, Tulane has posted a 3-2 record while holding its opponents 38.3 percent shooting and just 59.0 points per outing. Tulane also out-rebounds its opponents by 5.6 boards per game in Fogelman.

Wave Women
The Tulane men's basketball team is not the only Green Wave team in Houston. The Wave women, who are expected to be in attendance for Saturday's game, play at Houston on Friday and at Rice on Sunday afternoon. Tulane's women enter the weekend with an 8-7 overall record and 2-4 mark in C-USA play. The team's nine-player roster features one junior, four sophomores and four freshmen.

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 nine games) and Garcia (a walk-on who did not play college basketball before this year) are combining to average 9.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.0 steals per game. In last Saturday's victory over East Carolina, Williams matched his career-high with seven assists and had a pair of steals while Garcia snagged seven rebounds and buried six straight free throws in the final 33 seconds to clinch the victory.

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. Last Saturday, Moore returned to the starting lineup, replacing Donnie Stith to mark the eighth different starting lineup used by the Green Wave this season.

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).

Go Go Gomez
Sophomore David Gomez is settling into a groove -- he averaged 16.5 points per game over the eight games prior to UTEP (when he was held to eight points). Twice in that stretch, against major-conference opponents, the forward tallied a career-high 21 points (Seton Hall and LSU). The LSU game was a homecoming for Gomez, who grew up in the city and played at Episcopal High School. After scoring 167 points in 27 games last year (6.2 ppg), the tough inside player surpassed that total in 14 games. He now has 208 points (team-best 12.2 ppg).

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 (28) and minutes (527) and ranking third in scoring (9.3 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 553 minutes (366 was his career-best), 154 points (95 was his best), 30 threes (23), 28 assists (12) and 15 steals (7) already in 2005-06.

Close-Game Experience Pays Off
Tulane has been involved in six games decided by 10 points or less, posting a 2-4 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.

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 20.2 fouls per game while its opponents have 20.8. However, opponents have made 311 free throws to Tulane's 265. Wave opponents are burying a solid 72.5 percent of their free throws while Tulane is at 67.1 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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

New Kids on the Block
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.