Feb. 28, 2005

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2004-05 TULANE MEN'S BASKETBALL
Feb. 26, 2005
Tulane (9-16, 3-11) vs. #22 Cincinnati (22-6, 10-4)
Cincinnati, Ohio -- Shoemaker Center
Game 26 -- 7 p.m. (Central)

GREEN WAVE FACTS
2004-05 Record: 9-16
2003-04 Record: 11-17
2003-04 C-USA Record: 4-12/12th
Head Coach: Shawn Finney
Alma Mater/Year: Fairmont State/1985
Record at Tulane/Year: 59-83/5th
Career Record/Years: Same
President: Dr. Scott Cowen
Athletics Director: Rick Dickson
Ticket Office Phone: 504-861-WAVE
Website: www.TulaneGreenWave.com

TULANE 2004-05 SCHEDULE & RESULTS

Official Cincinnati Athletics Website

PROBABLE STARTERS
10 Taylor Rochestie (Fr., 10.6 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 3.5 apg)
11th in freshman scoring in Tulane history

11 Marcus Kinzer (Sr., 10.3 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 4.4 apg)
19 points in 63 minutes in last 2 games

25 Matt Wheaton (Fr., 3.4 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.5 apg)
Has started the last 5 games

21 David Gomez (Fr., 6.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.9 bpg)
Did not play against UAB

50 Quincy Davis (Jr., 13.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg, .627 FG%)
Ranks seventh in the nation in FG%

TULANE RESERVES

5 Donnie Stith (Fr., 5.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.4 apg)
Has led Wave in rebounds in each of the last 2 games

30 Ben Benfield (Sr., 4.8 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 21 threes)
Scored 5 points in the loss at UAB

3 Chris Moore (So., 3.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg, 13.6 mpg)
13 points in career-high 34 minutes v. Southern Miss

40 Vytas Tatarunas (Jr., 3.5 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 14.2 mpg
Played a total of 26 minutes in last five games

22 Kory Castine (So., 2.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .500 FG%)
Made his second start of the season v. UAB

44 Ivan Pjevcevic (Sr., 2.9 ppg, 1.6 rpg, 7.8 mpg)
Played 9 minutes against UAB, snagging 3 rebounds

40 Robinson Louisme (Fr., 1.2 ppg, 0-8 rpg)
Scored a career-high 7 points against UAB

NEWS & NOTES
On the Wave
Tulane is in the midst of a five-game stretch against four teams which advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year. The Green Wave has dropped four in a row to Memphis, Charlotte, TCU and UAB, all likely postseason teams this season (combined record of 72-36, .667). Next up is nationally-ranked Cincinnati on Wednesday evening. In Saturday's loss UAB, the Green Wave could not overcome the frenetic pressure and the red-hot shooting of the Blazers. UAB forced a season-high 29 turnovers while shooting 50.0 percent from the field. Tulane was led by Quincy Davis's 13 points while Marcus Kinzer added 10 points in 35 minutes, his most action since suffering an ankle injury on Jan. 19.

On the Air
All Tulane men's basketball games can be heard live on the ISP Radio Network (WTIX AM 690 in New Orleans) with Sean Kelley handling play-by-play duties for his third season, while Steve Barrios is the color commentator.

Crunch Time
Tulane is currently in a four-team battle for the final three spots in the Conference USA Tournament. Saint Louis, USF and East Carolina each have four wins, while the Green Wave has three. The key game for the Wave is the March 5 season finale against East Carolina. If Tulane defeats the Pirates, it will make the tournament; but if the Wave loses on Saturday, it will not make the tournament, regardless of Wednesday's result. Here are some potential scenarios:

If Tulane, East Carolina, USF and Saint Louis all finish with 4-11 records, the tiebreaker will be decided by the four teams head-to-head records against each other: #10 USF (3-1), #11 Saint Louis (2-1), #12 Tulane (1-2) and #13 East Carolina (1-3).

If Tulane, East Carolina and USF finish 4-11, then the tiebreaker results look like: #11 USF (3-0), #12 Tulane (1-1), #13 ECU (0-3).

If Tulane and East Carolina are the only teams tied at 4-11, then Tulane wins the tiebreaker based on its victory over the Pirates.

If Tulane, ECU and Saint Louis each finish 4-11, the tiebreaker is more confusing as the three teams will all have 1-1 records against each other. Therefore, the determining factor will be each team's winning percentage against the other league teams in descending order, meaning ECU would likely get the 11th seed due to its win over Charlotte. Tulane has wins over Houston (8-5) and UAB (7-6), while Saint Louis' best win is against TCU (7-6). However, because the tie is broken by winning percentage against the top teams, Saint Louis is at a disadvantage due to its 0-2 record against Charlotte, while Tulane is 0-1 (0-1 beats 0-2). At no point does the tiebreaker revert to head-to-head record.

Dunking Davis
Quincy Davis had one of the most impressive games of his career on Feb. 12 against Memphis, registering his fourth double-double of the season with a career-high 28 points and 11 rebounds. It was his third 20-point effort of the season. Last Wednesday, he notched his fifth double-double of the year with 10 points and 10 boards against TCU; and then he added his 19th double-figure scoring game of the year with 13 points against UAB on Saturday. The 6-9 junior has led Conference USA in field-goal percentage all year (currently .627, seventh in the nation) and also leads Tulane in scoring (13.8), rebounding (6.1), blocks (39) and dunks (34). In the last six games, Davis is averaging 15.5 points and 6.3 rebounds.

No Experience Necessary
Freshman David Gomez had a strong performance last Wednesday, breaking out of a mini-slump with a career-high 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just another in a strong of excellent efforts by Tulane's five-man freshman class. The talented group of newcomers have combined for 60 starts, 21 double-figure scoring games, four double-digit rebound efforts and two game-winning shots. Overall, the freshmen are playing 81.1 minutes per game (40.6% of Tulane's minutes). In league games only, the rookies are averaging 93.4 minutes per game (46.7% of the team's minutes). It is the first time the Green Wave has used three freshmen starters since the 1989-90 season.

Coming Up Next...
Following Wednesday's game, the Green Wave closes the 2004-05 regular season with Senior Day at Fogelman on Saturday, Mar. 5 against East Carolina.

The Seniors
Tulane will say farewell to three seniors on Saturday evening at Fogelman Arena as Marcus Kinzer, Ben Benfield and Ivan Pjevcevic play their final regular season games. The trio has combined to play in 287 games with 1,407 points, 571 rebounds, 410 assists and 198 three-pointers (in 557 attempts for 35.5 percent shooting).

Cincinnati Update
Cincinnati (22-6, 10-4 C-USA) comes into Wednesday's game in third place in Conference USA and ranked No. 22 in the nation (AP). The Bearcats have won four games in a row and employ one of the toughest defenses in the nation, holding opponents to 64.3 points per game and just 36.8 percent shooting from the field (second in the nation). Jason Maxiell, a 6-7 senior, leads UC with 15.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game, while 6-6 junior Eric Hicks has 13.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. Armein Kirkland, a 6-8 junior, averages 11.1 points and 6-7 guard James White adds 10.4 points per game.

TV Time
Tulane will be televised again on Wednesday as the Cincinnati game will be produced by ESPN Regional and aired on a tape delay basis throughout Louisiana on Cox Sports TV (Ch. 37 in New Orleans). Dave Weekley handles play-by-play duties while Mark Adams provides color commentary. It will be the 11th Green Wave game televised this season.

Missing Marcus
Marcus Kinzer sprained his right ankle late in the UAB victory on Jan. 19 and that injury forced him to miss two complete games (Southern Miss and Charlotte) and limited him to just 101 minutes in the other six since prior to the UAB game on Saturday. In Saturday's game, he played 35 minutes at about 75% health, scoring 10 points with just one assist. The senior guard had finished the Jan. 19 UAB game with a four-game stretch with averages of 16.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists. However, in the eight games after the injury, he averaged just 2.1 points, 1.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists, including two dnp's.

Making Time
With the injury to Marcus Kinzer, Taylor Rochestie's minutes have taken off. The freshman leads Tulane with 746 minutes this season and he is averaging 33.8 minutes over the past nine games. He has played 28 or more minutes in 13 of 14 C-USA games this season, including a career-high 39 against Charlotte on Feb. 19.

Free Throws are Free
Tulane, which ranks third in the league in free-throw shooting for C-USA games at .734, broke out of a foul line slump last Wednesday against TCU. After shooting 61.7 percent (29-of-47) from the line for the last three games, the Wave buried 16-of-18 (88.9%) free throws against the Frogs. Against USF on Feb. 5, the Green Wave hit 17-of-19 free throws (89.5%), its best percentage since hitting 9-of-9 against Mississippi State on Dec. 29, 2001. Tulane's 29 free throws made in the Louisville game was the most it has connected on since it hit 35 against Centenary on Nov. 20, 2001.

Leading at the Line
While the entire Wave team has hit a slump from the line after being red-hot, freshman Donnie Stith is a perfect microcosm. After a stretch in which he hit 22 straight free throws, Stith had missed four of his last seven attempts from the line before hitting both attempts against TCU. Against Louisville on Jan. 29, he buried all 14 of his foul shots en route to a career-best 19-point performance. His 14 foul shots without a miss broke the Tulane record set by Kim Lewis on Mar. 7, 1992. It was also the most free throws made by a Green Wave player since Brandon Spann knocked down 16 (in 17 attempts) on Feb. 7, 2001 against Southern Miss.

Kinzer Company
Marcus Kinzer is once again proving himself to be among select company in Conference USA. Despite being seriously hampered by an ankle injury over the past nine games, the senior guard is right on the edge of being the only player in the league averaging double figures in points and more than four assists and four rebounds per game. There are only nine players in the league averaging 10.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists. Last season, Kinzer was one of five players in C-USA to average 10.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.

Seventy is Plenty
Seventy has been a magic number for the Green Wave under Shawn Finney. His career record is now 49-19 when Tulane scores 70 or more points. Over the last two years, the Wave is 17-3 when breaking 70, including eight wins this year (8-2 mark this year). On the flip side, under Finney, the Green Wave has won just 10 games when not hitting the 70-point plateau, including Jan. 26's 63-61 win over Houston.

Tough Schedule, Version 04-05
After last year's grueling schedule (nine 20-win squads, 13 games against postseason opponents), things haven't been any easier for the Wave in 2004-05. Tulane has played 13 games against teams who already have 17 or more wins this season. Eleven of the Green Wave's opponents this year advanced to the postseason last year.

Three is Better Than Two
Tulane has unveiled a new three-point attack in the last few weeks. Despite averaging just 5.6 three-pointers per game this season, over the last eight games, the Green Wave has hit 8.0 threes per game. Tulane hit 11 three-pointers (tied for fourth-most in school history) against both USF and Southern Miss, and in the Southern Miss game, the Wave attempted a school record 33 trifectas. The 22 treys in two games matched the school record for threes in back-to-back games set during the 1996-97 season. In the Southern Miss game, the Wave attempted more threes (33) than twos (31) for the first time in school history.

Freshman Scorer
Freshman Taylor Rochestie ranks second on the team with 10.6 points per game. His total points (265) are the most by a Wave freshman since the 1997-98 season when Byron Mouton scored 444. Green Wave Hall of Famer Anthony Reed set the Tulane freshman scoring record with 514 points (18.4 ppg) in 1989-90.

Not Just Scoring
Taylor Rochestie has not just been impressive as a scorer as a rookie. The 6-1 guard also has 87 assists this year, which is tied for fifth all-time in freshman assists at Tulane.

Rebound that Basketball
Rebounds have proven to be a key stat for the Green Wave. The Southern Miss game marked the first win for the Wave when being out-rebounded. Tulane is now 1-11 when being outdone on the glass this year and 8-5 when equaling or exceeding its opponents on the glass. In its victories, the Wave's rebound margin is +12.6, while in its losses, it is being topped on the glass by 3.7 per game. Tulane has registered four games with 50 or more rebounds this year, the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Green Wave has recorded four 50-rebound games.

Handouts
Assists have also been a key factor for the Green Wave this season as Tulane has posted a 9-4 record when recording more assists than its opponents and an 0-12 mark when the foe wins the assists battle. Over Shawn Finney's five years, the Wave has won just eight games when registering less assists than its opponent.

Quincy, M.D., the Doctor of Block
Green Wave junior Quincy Davis set a school record for single-season blocks by swatting 67 shots last season. With 39 this year (1.56 per game, 7th in C-USA), he now has 117 for his career and still needs 75 more to reach the Green Wave's all-time leader, John "Hot Rod" Williams, who had 192 in his career. Davis currently ranks fourth all-time in blocks at Tulane.

Over 50%
In Finney's five years, the Green Wave is 3-31 when opponents shoot over 50 percent from the field. On the flip side, the Wave is 30-10 when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting under Finney. Southern Miss hit 52.6 percent of its shots on Feb. 9, but became Tulane's third victim when shooting over 50 percent.

Impact Ivan
Senior Ivan Pjevcevic had his best game of the season on Feb. 12 against Memphis, scoring 13 points with five rebounds in 22 minutes. It was the most points for Pjevcevic since Feb. 26, 2003 against Houston (15). The seven-footer injured his knee just eight minutes into last season and missed the entire year after surgery. He has continued to battle back from the injury through this season, averaging just 7.8 minutes per game.

Taylor Time
Prior to the Louisville game, Tulane had three straight games which had been decided in the final seconds, and in each of those games, freshman Taylor Rochestie was the key player for the Green Wave. On Jan. 26 with the scored tied at 61 against Houston, the freshman took the ball the length of the court, worked the clock down and then tossed home a ducking, double-pump runner for the victory. On Jan. 22, against Southern Miss, Tulane trailed by three when Rochestie fired a three-pointer from the left side in the final seconds, but it was off the mark and the Green Wave lost by one. The stretch of big shots began on Jan. 19 against UAB (see next note).

You Had To Be a Big Shot
Taylor Rochestie was not satisfied with making just one big shot in the Jan. 19 victory over UAB. The freshman guard knocked down three crucial attempts in crunch time. With 29 seconds to go in regulation and the Green Wave trailing by three, Rochestie nailed a step-back 23-footer to knot the game and force overtime. In the OT stanza, the Wave fell behind by three, but Quincy Davis hit a free throw, then Rochestie swished a 17-footer to tie the game at 71. And his final basket came as the buzzer sounded, a double-pump three-pointer from the right side for the victory.

Not by the Book, Part I
Tulane picked up a key league victory on Jan. 26 over Houston despite a wide-range of statistics which have led to defeats in the past. The Green Wave had just one player score in double figures (Taylor Rochestie with 13), making it the first win for Shawn Finney with less than two players hitting for 10 or more (0-7 entering the game). In addition, the win also marked just the 10th win for Tulane in the last five years when scoring less than 70 points (9-60 entering the game).

Not by the Book, Part 2
In the Southern Miss game on Feb. 9, Tulane shot worse from the field and from the free-throw line and was out-rebounded. However, the result was a victory. The biggest statistical difference came in second-chance points as the Green Wave held a 24-6 advantage in that category.

Double Digit Assists Again
Taylor Rochestie handed out a career-best 11 assists on Feb. 9 against Southern Miss marking the third time this year that the Green Wave had a player with double digit assists. Marcus Kinzer dished out 10 assists in the New Year's Eve win over VMI after matching the Tulane record by dishing out 13 assists in the loss to Northwestern State on Dec. 6. Kinzer's 13 matched the record which was set by Tom Hicks on Jan. 26, 1976 against The Citadel. Prior to this year, the last time a Wave player had double figures in assists was Feb. 21, 2001 when Brandon Spann had 11 against Houston. Spann also is the last player to record a pair of double-digit assist games in the same season (2000-01).

Ch-ch-ch-Changes
Tulane is one of six members of Conference USA that will remain with the league next season when the latest round of conference-hopping continues. The league will bid farewell to basketball members Charlotte, Cincinnati, DePaul, Louisville, Marquette, Saint Louis, South Florida and TCU while adding newcomers Marshall, Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UCF and UTEP. Next season, C-USA will consist of 12 schools competing in all sports.

Filling the Box Score
When David Gomez connected on a free throw late in the Prairie View game, he became the 13th Green Wave player to score in the game. The last time Tulane had 13 players score in one game was Jan. 25, 1992 when 13 cracked the scoring column in a 99-75 victory over Temple University.

The Future
Tulane signed two players during the early signing period. The Green Wave has added 6-2 point guard Ryan Williams of Jonesboro, Ark., and 6-7 forward Daniel Puckett from McEwen, Tenn. Puckett averaged 21 points, 8.7 rebounds and three assists per game and was an all-state selection and the district player of the year while leading his young team to a 21-10 record and second place in the district. Williams averaged 23.4 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three steals. He is a two-time all-state selection and also collected all-conference honors in each of his two years.

Graduation Continues
The Green Wave had three players graduate in May as Brandon Brown, Marc Siegel and Wayne Tinsley each earned their Tulane degrees. Of the 11 seniors who have played for Finney, only George Brown has not graduated; he remains in school and is on track to earn his degree in May of 2005.