Men's Basketball To Host Southern Miss on Saturday

Jan. 29, 2004

Tulane (7-9, 0-5 C-USA)
vs.
Southern Miss (9-8, 2-4 C-USA)

Saturday, January 31 ~ 7:30 p.m. (Central)
New Orleans, La. ~ Fogelman Arena

Official Southern Miss Athletics Website

Green Wave Facts
2003-04 Record: 7-9
2002-03 Record: 16-15
2003-04 C-USA Record: 0-5
2002-03 C-USA Record: 8-8
Head Coach: Shawn Finney
Alma Mater/Year: Fairmont St/1985
Record at Tulane/Year: 46-60/4th
Overall Record/Years: Same
President: Scott Cowen
Athletic Director: Rick Dickson
Basketball SID: John Sudsbury
Direct Phone: 504-314-7271
SID Fax: 504-865-5512
SID E-Mail: jsudsbu@tulane.edu
Ticket Office Phone: 504-861-WAVE

RADIO:
New Orleans, WTIX-AM, 690
Baton Rouge, WSKR-AM, 1210
Lafayette, KROF-AM, 960

TELEVISION:
Tape delay (to air Sunday at 8 p.m.) on Cox Sports TV. Voice of the Green Wave Sean Kelley moves over to television play-by-play while former Green Wave star Jeff Cummings provides color commentary. Women's basketball radio play-by-play man Tim Grubbs will handle the radio play-by-play for the contest.

CATCH THE WAVE
Tulane is searching for its first Conference USA victory as the Wave has dropped five in a row. However, the combined record of those five C-USA foes is 63-21 (.750) with Louisville, Cincinnati, UAB and Memphis currently making up the top four in the league. Visiting Fogelman Arena on Saturday is Southern Miss while the Wave travels North next week, playing at DePaul on Tuesday.

TOUGH OPPONENTS
Tulane has faced some potent foes thus far in 2003-04. Here is a list of some of the Wave's opponents thus far, along with their records:

#11 Mississippi State: 17-1
#4 Louisville: 16-1
#8 Cincinnati: 15-1
Memphis: 13-4
LSU: 13-4
Southeastern La.: 13-4
UAB: 12-5

TINSLEY PACKS THE STAT SHEET
Wayne Tinsley is in his fourth year as a starter for the Green Wave and this year he is packing the stat sheet like never before. The senior is second on the team with a career-high 10.7 points per game and ranks second in Conference USA in three-point percentage, 11th in steals, 13th in assists and 15th in rebounding. He has posted double-doubles in three of the last four games, the first double-doubles of his career.

DOUBLEHEADER DAYS
Tulane will play its fourth and final men's and women's basketball doubleheader on Saturday. In the last doubleheader, on Dec. 20th, the women opened the evening with a win over Nicholls State while the men lost to Southeastern Louisiana. The women host C-USA rival Memphis in Saturday's doubleheader.

AULD LANG SYNE
Should old acquaintances be forgot....then they should return to a reunion. The Green Wave men's and women's basketball teams will host a reunion for alumni of both programs around Saturday's doubleheader. The day begins with the women vs. Memphis at 5 p.m. and concludes with the men against Southern Miss at 7:30 p.m. Alums will attend receptions and will be introduced at halftime of the respective games.

THREE-POINT THREATS
Wayne Tinsley, who has hit 16 of his last 29 three-point attempts, is not the only Green Wave player who has been hot from three. As a team, the Green Wave has hit 38.6 percent of its long-range attempts in its four Conference USA games to rank fourth in the league. In addition to Tinsley's .485 shooting this year, Vytas Tatarunas has hit 43.6% of his threes, Marcus Kinzer is shooting at a .371 clip and Ben Benfield has drilled 25-of-66 attempts (.379).

GOLDEN EAGLE GLIMPSE
Southern Miss comes into Saturday's game having lost three out of four games, including a home loss to Cincinnati and a road loss to TCU. Big man Charles Gaines leads the Golden Eagles with 15.1 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, while Jasper Johnson has 13.5 points per game. Southern Miss is averaging 66.9 points per game while allowing 70.0. The Golden Eagles have been out-rebounded 36.3-32.5 this year.

SAVANNAH STATE STOPPED
Tulane closed its non-league slate with a 77-61 victory over Savannah State on Jan. 24. Wayne Tinsley posted his third straight double-double with 13 points and a career-best 12 rebounds, while Marcus Kinzer tallied 15 points. Quincy Davis had 11 points, eight rebounds and a career-high seven blocks while Vytas Tatarunas added 10 points. Tulane shot 41.8 percent from the field while holding the Tigers to 36.8 percent shooting. The Wave was 23-of-33 from the line, including 8-for-10 in the last 2:33 of the game.

Recap and Stats

DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Sophomore Vytas Tatarunas registered 14 points and 10 rebounds on Jan. 10 against TCU to record his fifth double-double of the year. Last year, Tulane was led for the year by Brandon Brown's four double-doubles. Senior Wayne Tinsley is also moving up on the charts as he has posted three double-doubles in the last four games - the first three of his career.

NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE
Tulane's young lineup has been thrown into the fire this season, with nearly every player already seeing career-bests in many categories. The following is the breakdown of minutes played, points and rebounds for the returning players this year compared with last year:

Name; 2003-04 Mins, Pts, Rebs (16 games); 2002-03 Mins, Pts, Rebs (Full season)
Vytas Tatarunas 412 167 129 82 35 14
Quincy Davis 378 168 87 161 47 49
Ben Benfield 358 137 45 148 52 15
George Brown 212 60 56 120 29 27
Marcus Kinzer 484 158 53 383 100 35
Wayne Tinsley 506 171 99 740 206 115

TINSLEY DOUBLES UP, AGAIN
Wayne Tinsley, the clear veteran on the Green Wave roster, has posted double-doubles in three of the last four games; and those efforts follow his career-best 18-point effort against TCU. The senior is in his fourth year as a starter and started his 100th career game (sixth all-time at Tulane) on Wednesday at UAB. After registering career-bests in rebounding, assists, blocks, free-throw percentage and field-goal percentage last season, he is averaging 10.7 points, 6.2 rebounds (15th in C-USA) and 3.62 assists (13th) per game this year. Entering the season, the 6-5 senior had just 313 less minutes played (2,410) than the other 12 players on the Green Wave roster COMBINED (2,723 minutes).

KINZER DIRECTS THE OFFENSE
Tulane point guard Marcus Kinzer has now scored in double figures in four straight games, including a season-best 16 points on Wednesday at UAB. For the season, he is averaging a career-best 9.9 points per game and he has dished out three or more assists in 13 of 16 games this year. He currently leads the Green Wave in assists (3.75, 10th in C-USA) and steals (1.81, 6th in C-USA). In the last five games, he has played 172 minutes (34.4 mpg). The 5-10 Nashville native also ranks 12th in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.30 and 12th in free-throw percentage (.771). He easily surpassed his from last season as he had 142 points, 49 rebounds and 55 assists in 15 games this year after tallying 100 points, 35 rebounds and 50 assists all of last season.

YOUNG ROSTER
With the departure of Troy Aaron and the loss of Ivan Pjevcevic to injury, the Tulane roster features just 11 players. While the number is small, the overall experience level is even smaller. Entering this year, Tulane's 10 scholarship players averaged just 1.2 years of collegiate experience.

FRESHMEN OFF THE BENCH
Tulane's freshmen class continues to produce at an increased rate. The Green Wave rookies logged a season-best 90 minutes of action on Wednesday at UAB while scoring a season-high 29 points with eight rebounds. Here is the game-by-game breakdown of minutes, points, rebounds and assists for the freshmen:

Game - Mins.; Pts.; Rebs.; Asts.
v. Southern (W) 43 13 7 3
v. Ark-Pine Bluff (W) 63 10 9 4
v. Loyola (W) 54 18 12 5
v. UNO (L) 30 2 2 6
v. Rice (W) 27 6 1 3
v. N'western St. (W) 46 15 7 3
v. S'eastern La. (L) 23 4 7 2
@ LSU (L) 32 2 3 1
v. Mississippi State (L) 50 13 9 6
v. Nicholls State (W) 62 14 8 5
v. Cincinnati (L) 64 6 11 5
@ TCU (L) 54 12 6 4
@ Louisville (L) 55 5 6 2
v. Memphis (L) 66 21 6 5
v. Savannah State (W) 69 22 12 6
@ UAB (L) 90 29 8 3

BACK BRUISE HURTS DAVIS
Tulane center Quincy Davis played just 12 minutes on Wednesday at UAB after crashing to the floor on a first-half blocked shot and bruising his back. He is expected to be back at full strength on Saturday. The sophomore has moved into the top 10 in single-season blocks at Tulane (40, 8th) while his seven-block effort against Savannah State was the third-most in a single-game in school history. Currently, Davis ranks fourth in Conference USA with 2.50 blocks per game. He is also averaging 10.5 points per game and 5.4 rebounds while hitting 50.0 percent of his field-goal attempts (13th in C-USA). Davis has seen 378 minutes (23.6 mpg) of action this year after playing a total of 161 minutes last year. A Los Angeles native, who moved to Mobile, Ala., as a high school sophomore, he had more points and rebounds in the first four games this year than his totals from ALL of last season. Last year's big game for Davis came against Southern Miss at home when he scored 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting.

TALE OF THE TATARUNAS
Not only is sophomore Vytas (pronounced VEE-tis) Tatarunas leading the Green Wave in double-doubles, but he also leads the squad in rebounding and is third in scoring while showing a deft touch from three-point range. The 6-6, 237-pound Lithuanian has used his strength to bull his way to 10.4 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds (5th in C-USA) per game. His 2.81 offensive rebounds per game rank fifth in Conference USA, while his 43.6% shooting from three-point range ranks 11th in the league. After tallying a total of 35 points and 14 rebounds as a freshman, he has 167 and 129 already this year.

THREE-POINT LEADER
Junior Ben Benfield, who had played 335 career minutes entering this season, has already played that many minutes this year. The shooter from nearby River Ridge, La., leads the Green Wave with 25 three-pointers. He has scored in double figures seven times this year after entering the season with three such efforts. After seven games, he had career bests in essentially every statistical category with 99 points (54 was his best), 31 rebounds (22), 25 assists (14), 11 steals (7) and 218 minutes (187).

PJEVCEVIC HAS SURGERY
Senior Ivan Pjevcevic had surgery on his right knee on Dec. 16 to repair a chronic dislocating patella. He will miss the remainder of the season. Pjevcevic, slated to be Tulane's starting power forward this year, played eight minutes in the Green Wave's opening game against Southern before injuring the knee in a non-contact play in the backcourt. His career three-point percentage of .439 is the highest in Tulane school history for players with 100 or more attempts.

FINNEY VS. LOUISIANA
Shawn Finney and the Green Wave faced off against seven New Orleans schools this year, closing the stretch of in-state games last week against Nicholls State. In his first four years at the helm of the Wave, Finney has recorded a 12-6 mark against in-state opponents (including 4-3 this year).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Tulane celebrated the 70th birthday of Fogelman Arena on Dec. 20th. Originally nicknamed "The Rose Bowl Gym," the building hosted its first game on Dec. 15, 1933 as the Green Wave defeated Southwestern Louisiana, 38-34. The Wave has an all-time mark of 506-248 in its home gym.

TIGERS TAME GREEN WAVE
Quincy Davis scored 21 points for Tulane but Memphis connected on 10-of-23 three-pointers to pull away with an 85-71 victory on Tuesday evening. The Green Wave pulled within one early in the second half, but an 18-3 Memphis burst put the game away for the Tigers. Memphis shot 50 percent from the field while holding the Wave to 42.3 percent shooting. The Wave was also out-rebounded, 37-31. Wayne Tinsley posted his second straight double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while Marcus Kinzer had 11 points and five assists.

Memphis Recap and Stats

#8 LOUISVILLE HOLDS OFF WAVE Despite holding eighth-ranked Louisville to a season-low shooting percentage (.354), Tulane could not overcome 23 turnovers as the Green Wave fell, 79-58, last Saturday evening at Freedom Hall. Tulane pulled within 10 early in the second half, but a 9-0 Louisville run put the game out of reach. Wayne Tinsley recorded his first career double-double while Quincy Davis scored a game-high 16 points and Marcus Kinzer added 15. Tulane shot just 37.3 percent from the field itself while forcing 13 Cardinal turnovers.

Louisville Recap and Stats

TCU TOPS GREEN WAVE Tulane dropped its C-USA road opener to TCU on Jan. 10 as the Horned Frogs scored the final five points of the game to steal a 70-65 decision. Tulane had knotted the game at 65 on a pair of Vytas Tatarunas free throws at 2:11, but TCU hit three free throws and a late breakaway to seal the victory. Wayne Tinsley led the Green Wave with a career-high 18 points while Tatarunas posted his fifth double-double of the year.

TCU Recap and Stats

BEARCATS DEFENSE STOPS GREEN WAVE
Tulane shot a season-low 28.8 percent from the field and scored a season-low 44 points in its 71-44 loss to Cincinnati on Wednesday in both teams' C-USA opener. Tulane pulled with five early in the second half, but the 10th-ranked Bearcats' defense clamped down to put the game away. Tulane held Cincy to its second-lowest field-goal percentage of the season at 43.5 percent. Vytas Tatarunas led the Wave with 15 points and six rebounds while senior Wayne Tinsley, playing his 100th career game, scored 12 points.

Game Story & Stats

NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATION
The Green Wave snapped a three-game losing streak by defeating Nicholls State, 61-56, on New Year's Eve. Tulane struggled in the first half, hitting just 25 percent of its shots, trailing by as many as 17. However, the Green Wave came back with 54.5 percent shooting in the second half to earn the comeback victory. Ben Benfield led the team in scoring for the fifth time this year with 13 points while Vytas Tatarunas added 11 points. Wayne Tinsley finished with eight points, eight rebounds, five assists and four steals. The Wave held the Colonels to just seven second half field goals.

Game Story & Stats

SUGAR IS NOT SWEET FOR WAVE
Tulane dropped its third straight game with a 72-50 loss to Mississippi State on Dec. 27 in the Nokia Sugar Bowl Classic. The Bulldogs held Tulane to 29.7 percent shooting as they improved to 10-0 on the season. Tulane fell behind 13-0 and could never get back into the game against the athletic opponent. Quincy Davis came off the bench to score 13 points and Wayne Tinsley added 10 points, while George Brown tallied a career-best 11 rebounds in his first start of the year.

Game Story & Stats

POOR SHOOTING DOOMS WAVE VS. LSU
Tulane shot just 34.4 percent from the field and missed 10-of-11 free throws in its 67-48 Tuesday loss to LSU in Baton Rouge on Dec. 23rd. Wayne Tinsley led the Wave in scoring with 12 points while Vytas Tatarunas added 10 points and nine rebounds. Tulane held a 20-15 lead with eight minutes to go in the first half, but LSU closed the half with a 17-0 run which the Wave would not recover from.

Game Story & Stats

VETERAN SLU STOPS WAVE
With a senior-dominated lineup, Southeastern Louisiana protected the basketball (eight turnovers), controlled the glass (46-37 advantage) and hit its free throws (20-of-25) to hold off Tulane, 66-63, on Dec. 20th. The Green Wave held the Lions to just 34.4 percent shooting, but the little things lifted SLU. With three seniors and two juniors in the starting lineup, the Lions held off a late rally by the Wave, which trailed by 10 with four minutes to go. Vytas Tatarunas posted his fourth double-double of the year with 17 points and 14 rebounds to lead Tulane. Junior Ben Benfield scored a game-high 18 points before leaving the game late with an injury.

Game Story & Stats

DOWN WITH THE DEMONS
Tulane placed five players in double figures on Dec. 9, holding off Northwestern State for an 83-66 victory. The Demons pulled within six early in the second half but big shots from Tulane built the margin back to double figures. For the second consecutive game, the Green Wave nailed eight three-pointers. The Wave held a 47-36 advantage on the glass and outscored NSU, 26-10, on second-chance opportunities. Ben Benfield and Marcus Kinzer both tallied 15 points, while Vytas Tatarunas posted his third double-double of the year with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Quincy Davis added 11 points.

Game Story & Stats

REVENGE ON RICE
After losing its season-opener last year on the road at Rice, Tulane gained revenge on Saturday evening, holding off the visiting Owls, 73-67. Tulane trailed for much of the game but took the lead for good with 8:40 to go. The Wave held Rice's leading scorer and rebounder Michael Harris (who entered averaging 15.2 points and 9.6 rebounds) to four and two. After the Owls connected on 55.6 percent of their first-half shots, the Wave held them to 42.3 percent in the second half. Ben Benfield led the way with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Wayne Tinsley had 17 points and a career-best eight assists. Vytas Tatarunas narrowly missed his third double-double of the year with 12 points and eight boards.

Rice Story and Box Score

SENATORS CUP
UNO retained its hold on the Senators Cup on Wednesday by defeating the Green Wave, 69-66, in the teams' annual intracity showdown. Tulane built a 17-point lead with 8:55 to go in the game, but UNO battled back, using a tenacious full-court press to tie the game at 62 with 2:07 to go. The teams traded baskets until a buzzer-beating three-pointer wrapped up the win for the visiting Privateers. Four players scored in double figures for the Wave, including Quincy Davis and Vytas Tatarunas, who both had double-doubles.

UNO Story & Box Score

BATTLE FOR UPTOWN
Tulane won the Battle for Uptown for the fourth straight year on Sunday, defeating Loyola, 77-57. Quincy Davis led the Green Wave with career-bests of 26 points and 14 rebounds as Tulane used its size to dominate, out-rebounding the Wolfpack, 53-34. Tulane opened the second half with a 26-5 run to put the game out of reach. Ben Benfield added 13 points and career-highs of eight rebounds and five assists.

Loyola Recap & Box Score

WAVE CRASHES OVER GOLDEN LIONS
Big George Brown tallied his first career double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Green Wave rolled to an 80-50 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday. Tulane jumped to a 16-1 lead as the Golden Lions missed their first 10 shots. The lead continued to grow throughout the first half, while Pine Bluff battled hard in the second stanza to keep the final margin at just 30. Tulane hit 52.7 percent of its shots and held UAPB to 26.2 percent shooting. The Wave also had an enormous 53-28 advantage on the boards.

Pine Bluff Recap and Box Score

STOPPING SOUTHERN
Ben Benfield scored a career-high 21 points to lead Tulane to a 78-72 victory over Southern on Tuesday. The junior sharp-shooter connected on 5-of-6 three-pointers, including four in the second half as Tulane shot 50 percent from the field while holding Southern to 41.9 percent shooting. The Green Wave also held a commanding 44-28 advantage on the boards. Sophomore Vytas Tatarunas registered his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while a jumper by freshman Troy Aaron with 28 seconds left made it 75-70 to ice the victory.

Southern Recap and Box Score

BIG EASY CLASSICS
Tulane's schedule features an all-time high of 20 games in New Orleans. The team does not leave the state of Louisiana until a Jan. 10 game at TCU. The lone road game in the 11-game stretch to open the season is a visit to LSU in Baton Rouge. Included on the schedule are seven Louisiana foes, also a school record.

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN
With the departure of five seniors from last year's team, the Green Wave must make up for the loss of nearly 70 percent of its scoring and 60 percent of its rebounding. Of a possible 6,250 minutes last year, the quintet of seniors played 3,908 minutes (62.5 percent). And, in league games, the seniors played 63.6 percent of the Wave's minutes.

MORE, MORE, MORE
Shawn Finney's first year at the helm of the Green Wave saw Tulane win just nine games. However, they improved to 14 victories in 2001-02 and then to 16 last season. The Wave is one of three teams in Conference USA to improve its win total in each of the last two years. Tulane's league wins have climbed each year as well, from two to five to eight last season.

STAFF INTACT
The Tulane basketball coaching staff remains intact for the 2003-2004 season. Head coach Shawn Finney, in his fourth year at the helm of the Wave, welcomes back Jeff Reynolds and Wade O'Connor for their fourth years as well. Meanwhile, Steve Snell and administrative assistant Mark Dannhoff return for their third seasons.

EXHIBITION VS. GLOBAL SPORTS
Tulane closed its exhibition schedule on Nov. 19 with a 69-54 loss to Global Sports. The Green Wave used all of its available players, with nine players seeing 10 minutes of action and scoring points. Projected starters Ivan Pjevcevic (did not play) and Marcus Kinzer (three minutes) were both hampered by injuries. Senior Wayne Tinsley led the Wave with 13 points, while sophomore Quincy Davis had eight points, four rebounds and six blocked shots. Tulane shot just 42.6 percent (23-of-54) from the field, while Global nailed 49.1 percent (27-of-55) of its shots, including 55.6 percent (15-of-27) in the second half.

Recap and Box Score

EXHIBITION OPENER VS. VASDA
In its exhibition opener, Tulane posted an 80-66 victory over Vasda. The Wave used 11 players, with 10 seeing double digits in minutes. Senior Ivan Pjevcevic led the squad with 14 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Quincy Davis added 12 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. Seniors Wayne Tinsley and George Brown each chipped in with 10 points. Tulane shot just 43.2 percent (35-of-81) but held Vasda to 36.5 percent (23-of-63) shooting. The Wave also held a 53-39 advantage on the boards.

Recap and Box Score

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