That was a gutty win by Tulane yesterday and one Hunter's previous teams would have lost. Tulane could not make a lay-up in the first 10 minutes, could not stop FAU's 7-0 center from controlling the paint on both ends of the floor and got in all kinds of fall trouble but showed the toughness to take control at the end with the huge assist of the center fouling out. Tulane went on a 12-0 run to end the first half and n 11-2 run to end the game. It was the tougher team.
Beating Memphis today will require making a high percentage of 3-point shots and doing a better job defensively in the interior, when the defense was overmatched for one of the only times all year against FAU. Tulane is capable of doing much better there. It held Yaxel Lendeborg to 13 points and 5 rebounds last Sunday, and he exploded for 30 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocked shots in a performance for the ages yesterday against East Carolina. Most Memphis games are tight headed into the final media timeout, but the Tigers usually make winning plays from there. Their defense can be suffocating at times, and Rowan Brumbaugh will have to find a way not to get worn down by the pressure down the stretch.
On another note, my two preview stories for basketball and baseball in The Advocate could not have proven more wrong. I wrote about Kam Williams being the key factor in the tournament and he missed all three of his 3s, scored 2 points and got replaced for stretches by Mari Jordan and Tulane still won. My lead item in my baseball notebook was about Jacob Moore returning to form, and he walked three guys out of the four batters he faced yesterday and had to be pulled again for Lombardi. Moore now has walked nine guys through less than four weeks after walking 10 all of last year.
Hunter, Brumbaugh and Gregg Glenn were sent to the podium yesterday after the game, and I asked a question to FAU's coach, too.
HUNTER
"Well you get to this time of year, every game is hard. This is a team that doesn't have a senior, and this is a lot of these guys' first conference game, and I'm so proud of them the way they handled it. I thought we were a little nervous the first four or five minutes because I know how much they want this but they hadn't been there. We knew we were playing a good team. I've got a really good team, but Mari Jordan was the difference for us today. What he did was incredibly, absolutely incredible. A lot of thing that you look at on the stat sheet won't even show up. He was absolutely terrific today."
On overcoming a lot of adversity to win:
"We've been winning like that all year. As a matter of fact, I think there was 6 and a half to go, we were talking in the timeout this is our kind of game. We've won a lot of games like this this year. We executed at the end of the game with our defense. We made free throws when we needed to, and then Asher (Woods) hit a clutch shot to make it a two-possession game. It felt like a Tulane basketball game with how we've played the last six weeks."
On having so many guys who can step up:
"It's huge, especially when you've got seven freshmen. We knew that someone would have to step up, and Mari was big, but we held them to 9 of 33 from the 3-point line and they are one of the better 3-point shooting teams, not only in our league but in the country. When our 3-point defense is there, we know we've got a chance. We didn't give up a ton of 3s. We won that battle, but I'm just really proud of these young men because no one thought we'd be what we are all year. It's awesome what these guys have done."
On closing halves with huge runs:
"It's funny. I've been talking about how young we are and being the only team in the country without a senior, but it felt like I had nine or 10 seniors today. They never cracked. Early in the year teams would jump on us and we'd kind of fade back. We've been through so many battles, and people wrote us off in November, and these guys just grinded it out. There's nothing that's going to happen in this tournament that we haven't seen. We're not freshmen anymore. We still look on paper like the youngest team in the country, but right now these guys are hungry and they are confident."
On playing Memphis:
"I'll worry about that tonight. I even brought my worn Penny Hardaway shoes. I might wear them again. Just out of respect for my brother I may wear some Penny Hardaway shoes in the game tomorrow. Maybe that will give us a little luck."
GLENN
On huge rebound to tie it with a little more than two minutes left:
"I gave all I got to win the game. I gave all I got."
On what made FAU freshman center so difficult to deal with:
"It wasn't necessarily him. It was just us being a little nervous. Like you said the first four minutes were tough, but the rest of the game we did what we do best."
BRUMBAUGH
On feeling like they would win:
"We just played every possession. Teams are going to go on runs. It doesn't matter what they do. We just have to focus on what we do."
FAU COACH JOHN JAKUS
On retaining his freshmen:
"There couldn't be two more people we want back more than these two. Everybody we recruited with the attention they would come back. Some people think we were crazy for doing that. Some people think we're crazy for doing that and some think that's impossible in today's college basketball culture, but we rolled the dice. I think we've separated ourself in player development, and we're going to spend the next two weeks selling that the next two weeks to keep these guys because if they stay we're going to be just fine."
On how Tulane can give itself a chance against Memphis:
"The 3-point line probably helps in these tournament games if you look at so-called upsets, and then the free throw line will matter. If they keep them off the line and get to the line like they did today and then they are going to have to control pace. I think it will be a good one."
Beating Memphis today will require making a high percentage of 3-point shots and doing a better job defensively in the interior, when the defense was overmatched for one of the only times all year against FAU. Tulane is capable of doing much better there. It held Yaxel Lendeborg to 13 points and 5 rebounds last Sunday, and he exploded for 30 points, 20 rebounds, 8 assists, 5 steals and 4 blocked shots in a performance for the ages yesterday against East Carolina. Most Memphis games are tight headed into the final media timeout, but the Tigers usually make winning plays from there. Their defense can be suffocating at times, and Rowan Brumbaugh will have to find a way not to get worn down by the pressure down the stretch.
On another note, my two preview stories for basketball and baseball in The Advocate could not have proven more wrong. I wrote about Kam Williams being the key factor in the tournament and he missed all three of his 3s, scored 2 points and got replaced for stretches by Mari Jordan and Tulane still won. My lead item in my baseball notebook was about Jacob Moore returning to form, and he walked three guys out of the four batters he faced yesterday and had to be pulled again for Lombardi. Moore now has walked nine guys through less than four weeks after walking 10 all of last year.
Hunter, Brumbaugh and Gregg Glenn were sent to the podium yesterday after the game, and I asked a question to FAU's coach, too.
HUNTER
"Well you get to this time of year, every game is hard. This is a team that doesn't have a senior, and this is a lot of these guys' first conference game, and I'm so proud of them the way they handled it. I thought we were a little nervous the first four or five minutes because I know how much they want this but they hadn't been there. We knew we were playing a good team. I've got a really good team, but Mari Jordan was the difference for us today. What he did was incredibly, absolutely incredible. A lot of thing that you look at on the stat sheet won't even show up. He was absolutely terrific today."
On overcoming a lot of adversity to win:
"We've been winning like that all year. As a matter of fact, I think there was 6 and a half to go, we were talking in the timeout this is our kind of game. We've won a lot of games like this this year. We executed at the end of the game with our defense. We made free throws when we needed to, and then Asher (Woods) hit a clutch shot to make it a two-possession game. It felt like a Tulane basketball game with how we've played the last six weeks."
On having so many guys who can step up:
"It's huge, especially when you've got seven freshmen. We knew that someone would have to step up, and Mari was big, but we held them to 9 of 33 from the 3-point line and they are one of the better 3-point shooting teams, not only in our league but in the country. When our 3-point defense is there, we know we've got a chance. We didn't give up a ton of 3s. We won that battle, but I'm just really proud of these young men because no one thought we'd be what we are all year. It's awesome what these guys have done."
On closing halves with huge runs:
"It's funny. I've been talking about how young we are and being the only team in the country without a senior, but it felt like I had nine or 10 seniors today. They never cracked. Early in the year teams would jump on us and we'd kind of fade back. We've been through so many battles, and people wrote us off in November, and these guys just grinded it out. There's nothing that's going to happen in this tournament that we haven't seen. We're not freshmen anymore. We still look on paper like the youngest team in the country, but right now these guys are hungry and they are confident."
On playing Memphis:
"I'll worry about that tonight. I even brought my worn Penny Hardaway shoes. I might wear them again. Just out of respect for my brother I may wear some Penny Hardaway shoes in the game tomorrow. Maybe that will give us a little luck."
GLENN
On huge rebound to tie it with a little more than two minutes left:
"I gave all I got to win the game. I gave all I got."
On what made FAU freshman center so difficult to deal with:
"It wasn't necessarily him. It was just us being a little nervous. Like you said the first four minutes were tough, but the rest of the game we did what we do best."
BRUMBAUGH
On feeling like they would win:
"We just played every possession. Teams are going to go on runs. It doesn't matter what they do. We just have to focus on what we do."
FAU COACH JOHN JAKUS
On retaining his freshmen:
"There couldn't be two more people we want back more than these two. Everybody we recruited with the attention they would come back. Some people think we were crazy for doing that. Some people think we're crazy for doing that and some think that's impossible in today's college basketball culture, but we rolled the dice. I think we've separated ourself in player development, and we're going to spend the next two weeks selling that the next two weeks to keep these guys because if they stay we're going to be just fine."
On how Tulane can give itself a chance against Memphis:
"The 3-point line probably helps in these tournament games if you look at so-called upsets, and then the free throw line will matter. If they keep them off the line and get to the line like they did today and then they are going to have to control pace. I think it will be a good one."