Dec. 8, 2003

Tulane (4-1, 0-0 C-USA)
vs.
Northwestern State (1-4, 0-0 WAC)

Tuesday, December 9, 2003 ~ 7 p.m. (Central)
New Orleans, La. ~ Fogelman Arena

Game Notes as PDF

Tulane Schedule

Official Northwestern State Athletics Website

Green Wave Facts
2003-04 Record: 4-1
2002-03 Record: 16-15
2003-04 C-USA Record: 0-0
2002-03 C-USA Record: 8-8
Head Coach: Shawn Finney
Alma Mater/Year: Fairmont St/1985
Record at Tulane/Year: 43-52/4th
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
New Orleans, WTIX-FM, 94.3
Baton Rouge, WSKR-AM, 1210
Lafayette, KROF-AM, 960

TELEVISION: None.

CATCH THE WAVE
Tulane, which has won four of its first five games for the fourth time in the last 10 years, hosts its fourth in-state opponent on Tuesday as Northwestern State makes its first visit to Fogelman Arena since 1992. The Green Wave rebounded from a tough last-second loss to UNO by defeating Rice, 73-67, on Saturday evening. Following the Northwestern State game, Tulane will take a 10-day break for final exams, resuming the campaign on Saturday, Dec. 20 against Southeastern Louisiana.

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

FINNEY VS. LOUISIANA
Shawn Finney and the Green Wave will face off against seven New Orleans schools this year. In his first three+ years at the helm of the Wave, Finney has recorded a 10-4 mark against in-state opponents (including 2-1 this year).

Q-RATING
Quincy Davis has struggled with foul trouble in three of the Wave's five games this year. However, he still leads the squad in scoring (13.6, 22nd in C-USA), blocks (8, 9th in C-USA) and field-goal percentage (.644, 4th in C-USA) while ranking second in rebounding (9.0, 7th in C-USA). He had just six points and three boards against Rice, but scored a big hoop in the paint with 2:22 to go and added a key block with 39 seconds remaining. His biggest game was a 26-point, 14-rebound performance against Loyola in which he connected on 12-of-18 shots, including five dunks in the victory. 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.

NEW NAME, NEW GAME
After going by his given name of Vytautas during an up-and-down freshman season, 6-6, 237-pound Vytas Tatarunas requested a switch to his more commonly used name and he has responded. Vytas (pronounced VEE-tis) has used his strength to bull his way to 12.4 points and 9.2 rebounds (5th in C-USA) per game. The sophomore had 35 points and 14 rebounds all of last year and has 62 and 46 already this year. He posted his second double-double against UNO with 12 points and 11 boards.

DEMON DESCRIPTION
Northwestern State returns five starters from last year's 6-21 squad and has posted a 1-4 record thus far in 2003-04. The Demons have suffered four road losses (Oklahoma State, Tulsa, Northwestern and Centenary), while winning their lone home game against LSU-Shreveport. Jermaine Wallace, a 6-3 guard, leads the team with 14.2 points per game, while 6-7 forward Clifton Lee has 12.6 points per game and 6-7 forward Jermaine Wallace has 10.0 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

DOUBLEHEADER DAYS
Tulane played its second of four men's and women's basketball doubleheaders on Saturday with the men stopping Arkansas-Pine Bluff and the women being edged by George Mason. Last Tuesday, the Green Wave women topped Oregon State and the men defeated Southern. The remaining twinbills are Saturday, Dec. 20 and Saturday, Jan. 31.

BOOST FROM BENFIELD
Junior Ben Benfield has been a key for the Green Wave this year. The River Ridge, La. (A New Orleans suburb) native has scored in double figures four times this year, including a team-best 18 points in Saturday's victory over Rice. He also tallied a career-best 21 points in the opener against Southern. Benfield had three double-figure scoring games in his first two seasons with the Wave. He is approaching career-best SEASONS in nearly every statistical category with his 66 points (54 is his best), 21 rebounds (22), 17 assists (14), nine steals (7) and 154 minutes (187).

DEFENSIVE STARTS
In three of its first five games, Tulane used tough defense to build leads early in games. Against UNO on Wednesday, the Wave held the Privateers scoreless for 3:37 and to just one field goal for the first five minutes. That pales in comparison to the Southern and Pine Bluff games. Against Southern, the Green Wave jumped to a 12-0 lead, holding the Jaguars scoreless for the first 6:46 of the game. And in the Arkansas-Pine Bluff game, the Wave held the Golden Lions without a field goal for the first 7:31 of the game, building a 16-1 lead. In the first game that the Wave did not open the night fast, it did open the second half with tough defense, holding Loyola to seven points over the first 10:12 of the stanza.

POINTING AT THE POINT
Junior Marcus Kinzer is settling into his role as Tulane's starting point guard, despite a knee injury which cut more than two weeks from his preseason preparation. After registering career-highs in nearly every category as a sophomore, the dazzling ball-handler is averaging 27.6 minutes, 8.0 points and a team-best 4.6 assists (9th in C-USA) in the first four games of the year. On Saturday against Rice, he scored a season-high 11 points to go with six assists, five rebounds and four steals.

PTP-ER
Wayne Tinsley is the clear veteran on the Green Wave roster. The senior has been a three-year starter and with his start last Wednesday against UNO, he cracked the Top 10 in career starts at Tulane with 88. After registering career-bests in rebounding, assists, blocks, free-throw percentage and field-goal percentage last season, he is averaging 11.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game this year. In the win over Rice on Saturday, Tinsley tallied 17 points and a career-high eight assists. 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).

Linton Johnson IN THE PROS
Tulane graduate Linton Johnson is continuing his stretch as one of the more amazing stories in the NBA. After remaining an extra year (after his eligibility was completed) at Tulane to earn his degree, Johnson made the Chicago Bulls' roster as a long-shot free agent. Under new Bulls coach Scott Skiles, Johnson made his first career start last Thursday, playing 29 minutes, scoring six points with four rebounds, two assists and three blocks. "He's athletic," Skiles said. "He's tough. He's the first guy to practice every day."

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

THREE-POINT ACE
Senior Ivan Pjevcevic came on strong last season; over the final 15 games, the Belgrade native averaged 7.1 points and 3.7 rebounds with 10 starts as the Green Wave went 9-6 down the stretch. The 7-0 Pjevcevic ranked fifth in the league in three-point percentage at .425. His career three-point percentage of .434 entering this season was the best in school history. Unfortunately, just eight minutes into the Southern game, Pjevcevic suffered a knee injury and is not expected to play this weekend.

NEED THE ROOKIE CLASS
With five players lost to graduation, Tulane may rely heavily on a talented five-man recruiting class, which has been ranked as high as No. 29 in the nation. The group includes two guards, two forward and a swingman. Two of the players hail from Louisiana, while the others come from Texas, Minnesota and Mississippi.

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.

DEFENSE IS THE KEY
Tulane was 9-3 last season when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting from the field. When opponents hit more than 50 percent of their shots, the Wave was just 1-5. In its victories, Tulane shot 49.6 percent from the field while holding foes to 38.3 percent shooting. In its losses, Tulane shot 43.9 percent while opponents hit 46.7 percent of their attempts from the field.

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.

PRO PLAYERS
The Green Wave has added multiple players to its professional ranks in the last few months. Linton Johnson, who completed his eligibility in 2002 and earned his degree this May, earned a spot on the Chicago Bulls roster as a free agent, while Brandon Spann is starring in Qatar's professional league. Waitari Marsh is also scheduled to play in Europe this season.

THE GRADUATES
Tulane had five seniors on its 2002-03 roster. Perhaps more impressive than their stats for the Green Wave has been their efforts in the classroom. Three of the players graduated in May: Waitari Marsh (media arts), Nick Sinville (organizational information technology) and Brandon Spann (media arts). Byron Parker (media arts), who is currently playing for the Wave football team, is on track to graduate in December, while Brandon Brown (sociology) is slated to earn his degree next May.

LAST WEEK 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

THE VOICE RETURNS
Sean Kelley, the Voice of the Green Wave, is back for his second season calling Green Wave men's basketball games. Kelley came to Tulane last year after working as a member of the Missouri Tiger Radio Network since 1999. Kelley worked in a variety of areas at Missouri, serving as host of the Tiger Gameday and Scoreboard Show in football, handling both play-by-play and color analyst duties in men's and women's basketball, and doing all play-by-play of Missouri baseball.