Tulane gutted out an ugly win against Tulsa yesterday thanks to its defense and Rowan Brumbaugh's continued scoring ability when none of his teammates were playing well offensively, giving the Green Wave a 6-3 record halfway through the AAC schedule. I can't say enough about how the Wave won despite getting a season-low four points from Kaleb Banks, its leading scorer, 7 points from Kam Williams, who is struggling offensively now that opponents force him to beat them off the dribble, and eight points from Gregg Glenn, who was in foul trouble all day.
This team is a shooter short from being a championship team in my view, and that lack of outside punch forces it to win the hard way on most days, with defensive activity, the athletic ability to win 50-50 balls and mental toughness. Brumbaugh is 8 for 17 on 3s in his last two games, but his teammates are a miserable 2 of 29. Kam Williams has a pure shot, but he does not have a quick release and needs to be stationary on the catch. They don't have anyone who can run around a pick, catch a bullet pass from Brumbaugh and consistently knock down an open 3.
Still, Tulane is playing hard enough that it can beat everyone left on its schedule. The most important thing is finishing in the top four of the standings and guaranteeing a double bye to the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament, placing it three wins away from the NCAA tournament, and this week will go a long way in determining whether Tulane can be a top 4 seed. First is a rematch on Wednesday with UTSA, which looked awful when the Wave routed it in early January but has improved significantly under a good coach in Austin Claunch, beating Temple comfortably at home, barely losing on the road to UAB and handing North Texas its first home loss of the season in three of its past four games (a 20-point clunker against FAU broke up that stretch, so I'm not trying to elevate the Roadrunners to world-beaters). Tulane, which deflected about 30 passes in the first meeting, needs to be just as active defensively on the road as it was at home. Next is a trip to North Texas, which plays suffocating defense but managed only 13 first-half points against UTSA in an incomprehensible performance on Saturday before nearly stealing the game at the end. The way Tulane's offense is struggling at the moment, that will be a real test, but Tulane's defense should give it a chance.
After that, the schedule lightens up significantly. The next six opponents have losing conference records before Tulane ends the regular season at home against UAB. The Wave is tied with Temple for fourth at the moment but loses the tiebreaker because it dropped their only meeting, but the Owls was incredibly fortunate to win either of their home games this week, rallying to beat a bad Charlotte team in OT and making up a six-point deficit in the final two minutes of regulation before beating ECU in OT. Jamal Mashburn is the best player in the AAC, but that team is shaky overall and could fall off the pace.
UAB plays North Texas at home tonight in the game that should determine which of the two teams has a chance to challenge Memphis at the top. For everyone who discounted Tulane's win at Rice as the product of playing a rotten team, Memphis escaped Houston with a three-point win over the Owls yesterday. The Tigers are the most talented team in the league,sssss but most of their games have been really close and something is missing there. If UAB beats North Texas and Tulane beats UTSA (neither is guaranteed), the Wave would be tied with North Texas entering Saturday's game, which is their only meeting.
Tulane is shaping up as one of the top teams in the league. The Wave is second in field goal percentage during conference games despite slumping badly at the moment--Kaleb Banks figures to come out of his offensive funk soon--and third in field goal percentage defense. Its three losses are to teams with a combined conference record of 21-6, and two of them were on the road.
One other thought: Yesterday's game played out very similarly to the game at UTSA last year after Tulane's court-storming win against Memphis. The Wave made mistakes down the stretch and missed free throws that could have clinched it, leading to a 3-point shot that would have given Tulsa a 1-point lead with seven seconds left like the one UTSA drained at the buzzer to send the Wave into a tailspin it never got out of. This time, though, the shot did not fall, and I don't think the difference was random. Tulane's defense does not allow teams to get into a shooting rhythm this year, so the reserve who took the would-be go-ahead 3 did not shoot it with confidence, and it was off to the right from the start. Tulane also grabbed the rebound, which would have been highly questionable last season or really any previous year under Hunter.
This team is a shooter short from being a championship team in my view, and that lack of outside punch forces it to win the hard way on most days, with defensive activity, the athletic ability to win 50-50 balls and mental toughness. Brumbaugh is 8 for 17 on 3s in his last two games, but his teammates are a miserable 2 of 29. Kam Williams has a pure shot, but he does not have a quick release and needs to be stationary on the catch. They don't have anyone who can run around a pick, catch a bullet pass from Brumbaugh and consistently knock down an open 3.
Still, Tulane is playing hard enough that it can beat everyone left on its schedule. The most important thing is finishing in the top four of the standings and guaranteeing a double bye to the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament, placing it three wins away from the NCAA tournament, and this week will go a long way in determining whether Tulane can be a top 4 seed. First is a rematch on Wednesday with UTSA, which looked awful when the Wave routed it in early January but has improved significantly under a good coach in Austin Claunch, beating Temple comfortably at home, barely losing on the road to UAB and handing North Texas its first home loss of the season in three of its past four games (a 20-point clunker against FAU broke up that stretch, so I'm not trying to elevate the Roadrunners to world-beaters). Tulane, which deflected about 30 passes in the first meeting, needs to be just as active defensively on the road as it was at home. Next is a trip to North Texas, which plays suffocating defense but managed only 13 first-half points against UTSA in an incomprehensible performance on Saturday before nearly stealing the game at the end. The way Tulane's offense is struggling at the moment, that will be a real test, but Tulane's defense should give it a chance.
After that, the schedule lightens up significantly. The next six opponents have losing conference records before Tulane ends the regular season at home against UAB. The Wave is tied with Temple for fourth at the moment but loses the tiebreaker because it dropped their only meeting, but the Owls was incredibly fortunate to win either of their home games this week, rallying to beat a bad Charlotte team in OT and making up a six-point deficit in the final two minutes of regulation before beating ECU in OT. Jamal Mashburn is the best player in the AAC, but that team is shaky overall and could fall off the pace.
UAB plays North Texas at home tonight in the game that should determine which of the two teams has a chance to challenge Memphis at the top. For everyone who discounted Tulane's win at Rice as the product of playing a rotten team, Memphis escaped Houston with a three-point win over the Owls yesterday. The Tigers are the most talented team in the league,sssss but most of their games have been really close and something is missing there. If UAB beats North Texas and Tulane beats UTSA (neither is guaranteed), the Wave would be tied with North Texas entering Saturday's game, which is their only meeting.
Tulane is shaping up as one of the top teams in the league. The Wave is second in field goal percentage during conference games despite slumping badly at the moment--Kaleb Banks figures to come out of his offensive funk soon--and third in field goal percentage defense. Its three losses are to teams with a combined conference record of 21-6, and two of them were on the road.
One other thought: Yesterday's game played out very similarly to the game at UTSA last year after Tulane's court-storming win against Memphis. The Wave made mistakes down the stretch and missed free throws that could have clinched it, leading to a 3-point shot that would have given Tulsa a 1-point lead with seven seconds left like the one UTSA drained at the buzzer to send the Wave into a tailspin it never got out of. This time, though, the shot did not fall, and I don't think the difference was random. Tulane's defense does not allow teams to get into a shooting rhythm this year, so the reserve who took the would-be go-ahead 3 did not shoot it with confidence, and it was off to the right from the start. Tulane also grabbed the rebound, which would have been highly questionable last season or really any previous year under Hunter.
