March 3, 2006

NEW ORLEANS, La. - The Tulane men's basketball closes its 2005-06 regular season on Saturday evening, playing at Conference USA newcomer Tulsa at 7 p.m. The Green Wave is currently tied for fifth place in the league and is battling for seeding in next week's Conference USA Championship. The Wave can earn anywhere from the fifth to the ninth seed.

Tulane, which has won six of its last nine games, needs to defeat Tulsa on Saturday and needs UCF to lose to UTEP at home. It is possible for Tulane, UCF, Tulsa, Rice and Marshall all to finish with identical 6-8 records in the league.

Leading the way for the Green Wave has been senior center Quincy Davis, who is making a strong case for himself as an all-conference selection. The veteran big man has been very impressive in league play, averaging 15.1 points (fourth in the conference) and 7.3 rebounds (sixth) while shooting a league-best 60.7 percent from the field. In addition, sophomore forward David Gomez is averaging 11.9 points per game over all and his 52.7 percent field-goal shooting ranks second in the league behind only Davis.

Junior guard Chris Moore has cracked the Green Wave record books with his three-point shooting. The Texas product has buried 47 three-pointers this season - the eighth-best single-season total in school history. He now has 86 career three-pointers, which ranks ninth all-time at Tulane.

Tulsa comes into Saturday's season finale with a 10-16 overall record and 5-8 in C-USA play. Despite losing three of its last six games, those losses came to Houston (46-73), Memphis (67-78) and UTEP (45-49), all on the road against three of the top four teams in the league. The Golden Hurricane has three players averaging double figures led by Sixth Man of the Year candidate Anthony Price, a burly 6-8 senior forward, who has 10.9 points per outing. Brett McDade adds 10.8 points while Darold Crow has 10.2 points per outing. Tulsa is 11th in C-USA in scoring with 61.2 points per game, but the Hurricane allows just 65.7 points per game, fifth in the league.

This will be just the fourth meeting between these two teams. The Golden Hurricane holds a 2-1 advantage in the series, having won both meetings in Tulsa. In the teams' last match-up, Tulsa emerged with an 86-80 overtime victory on Nov. 17, 1997.

Tulane climbed into a tie for fifth place in Conference USA with a 50-47 victory over Southern Miss on Wednesday. The Green Wave has now won two in a row to move within range of a .500 league mark for the first time since the 2002-03 season. The Wave defense this season has held opponents to just 39.3 percent shooting, third in Conference USA and among the best in the nation. Tulane has held five opponents below 30-percent shooting and nine teams below 54 points. In league games only, the Green Wave is averaging 60.0 points, while allowing 65.0 points per outing. The Wave is holding foes to 40.2 percent shooting from the field while shooting 44.0 percent from the floor. From the foul line, the Greenies are hitting 70.7 percent.

The Wave departs for the C-USA Tournament on Monday with first-round action beginning on Wednesday. Memphsi has clinched the top seed in the tournament and Houston is locked in at No. 4. The remaining seeds remain up in the air. Here is a look at the tournament schedule:

Wednesday, March 8
No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed - 12 p.m.
No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 seed - 2:30 p.m.
No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed - 6 p.m.
No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 seed - 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, March 9
7/10 Winner vs. UTEP/UAB - 12 p.m.
6/11 Winner vs. UTEP/UAB - 2:30 p.m.
8/9 Winner vs. No. 1 Memphis - 6 p.m.
5/12 Winner vs. No. 4 Houston - 8 p.m.