Official Athletics Site of the Tulane University Green Wave

Green Wave, Gator men's basketball squad's to clash for the first time since 1983.

Dec. 22, 2000

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The Battle of New Orleans: Tulane returned from a 12-day layoff (for final exams) and fatigue proved to be too much. The Green Wave was outscored, 51-30, in the second half as city rival University of New Orleans pulled away for a 78-63 victory. The Wave led by as many as 16 in the first half, but its lack of bodies and the layoff both contributed to its struggling in the second half. Tulane shot 50 percent in the second half, but it turned the ball over 13 times and gave up too many easy looks to the Privateers. Senior Ledaryl Billingsley (Chicago, Ill.) led the Wave with 19 points and eight rebounds, while sophomore Brandon Spann (New Orleans, La.) added 18 points.

Ripples:

Tulane and Florida have met 21 times, but just once as non-league opponents. The rest of the meetings came when the Wave was part of the SEC. The lone non-league meeting also came in the Sugar Bowl Classic, a 1983 meeting at the Superdome.

The loss to UNO snapped Tulane's 13-game winning streak against in-state opponents.

Tulane's four bench players are averaging a combined 28.9 minutes per game.

The Wave's nine players matches Temple for fewest on a Division I roster.

Freshmen make up 55.6 percent of Tulane's roster, the highest percentage in the nation.

The Green Wave has not had a player average in double figures in rebounding since Jeff Cummings in 1976-77.

Billingsley has a league-leading six double-doubles in nine games.

Tulane has won 69 consecutive games when scoring 80 points in regulation.

The Wave had five players in double figures for the 2nd time this season against Loyola.

Spann's 10 assists against Loyola were the most since Waitari Marsh had 12 last year.

Billingsley needs to average 5.7 points (22 more games) to hit 1,000 for his career.

Johnson needs 13 points this season to surpass his career total entering this year.

Spann averages 19.4 points and 6.2 assists in wins; 13.8 and 2.8 in losses.

Billingsley is averaging 18.8 points and 10.4 rebounds over the last five games.

Finally a First Half: Tulane played its best first half of the season against UNO, or at least, its best first 19 minutes. The Wave led by as many as 16 in the opening stanza and held a 31-21 advantage with 1:14 to go. However, turnovers and fouls allowed the Privateers to cut the Wave lead to just six at the break. It was just the second time this season that Tulane led at halftime. However, its shooting was again weak in the opening period at 42.4 percent. It buried 50 percent of its second-half shots. However, the defense did not come through in the second half, as freshman Wayne Tinsley (Fontana, Calif.) said, "We still can't put two halves together."

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