It doesn't take a genius to figure out the key to tomorrow night's game between Tulane and Memphis, which the Wave needs to win to establish itself as a contender for the AAC title rather than a middle-of-the-pack type team. It's turnovers. Memphis gets very careless with the ball on its bad days, and Tulane generally limits its miscues. The Wave has lost the turnover battle only four times this year and is 0-4 in those games. Memphis has won the turnover battle only eight times and is 7-1 in those games.
Tulane turnovers , which are not always costly against the run-of-the-mill AAC team, will lead to points almost every time against Memphis. The Wave has not committed more than 15 in any game, while the Tigers have gone over that total eight times with a high of 20 on two occasions.
Ron Hunter, Gregg Glenn and Asher Woods spoke before practice today.
HUNTER
On what sticks out most about Memphis on video:
"They are a talented team. They are one of those teams I think you'll see in the Sweet 16. They defend. They shoot the 3 really well, something they haven't done in the last few years, but we've got a good defense. We've got to make sure that our defense holds in this game. The key is we just can't turn the ball over. When they get turnovers, it just feeds into what they do, so that's a big key for us. But like I've told the guys, we've earned the right not to be in this game, but we've earned the right to win this game. If we want to fight for a championship, we gotta defend it here at home. They are coming into our place, and we hope to see a raucous atmosphere and give ourselves a chance to not only win this game, but get into the last week of the season and see what happens."
On PJ Haggerty, a Tulsa transfer who is second nationally in scoring:
"He's a good player. He was a good player at Tulsa and a good player at Memphis. He gets to the line and is one of the top 20 players in the country right now the way he's playing. But again, that's our league. We've got good players also. We want our good players to play well."
On difference for Tulane in conference play compared to non-conference:
"Basically when you're whole team is new and they're young, you're not going to come out the gate and win no matter who you are. If that was the case, we wouldn't need coaching. We knew the light switch at some point was going to come on, and we haven't even hit our peak yet. I can't wait to see when we get to our peak, that's when we're really going to be scary, but it just takes time. I have four freshmen in my eight-man rotation. You're not going to win early with that. What happens is instead of taking them out, we just kept playing them and playing them and playing them and all of a sudden that experience has helped us get to where we are right now."
On history meaning nothing (Tulane has won three in a row v. Memphis at home, but almost no one on either team participated even in last year's win):
"It really doesn't. I hope the result is the same. We'll take the same result, but most of their guys are gone and the guys I had are gone. These are two different teams. I think both are headed in the right direction."
On his excitement about the game:
'I'm always excited. My excitement never goes below a 9 and it stays between 9 and 10. When we win it's at a 10, but I'm always excited. I woke up excited. I'm having so much fun with these young guys."
On turnovers being the key:
"That's the difference in the game. When we're really good, we turn it (the other team) over, and when they're really good, the same thing. it's who takes care of the ball the best in this environment. We need this environment to make them play sometimes even faster so they can turn that ball over. I'm really looking forward to that."
On matchup:
"A key player in this game for us is going to be Gregg Glenn. There's no matchup for Gregg Glenn in our entire league, so when Gregg plays well and you can't put the pressure on us because he has it, that's the big difference. That's no pressure on Gregg. Teams know that, we know that and Gregg knows that. If Gregg is good, then we've got a great chance of winning the game."
On Glenn's evolution:
"I love how Gregg is playing. Speaking of playing the best basketball of your life right now, that's what he's doing. When he plays within himself and doesn't get sped up, he's really a good player. He's listened to everything that I've said except for getting a haircut. He still hasn't gotten a haircut yet, but he's listened to everything I've asked him to do and he's done it well. I'm still working on the haircut thing. Trust me."
On crowd he hopes for:
"I don't care if there's one person in here or it's sold out, it just needs to be loud. When we go play at Memphis, trust me, it's loud. When we go play at North Texas, it's loud, so it will be nice to come into our place and that crowd's cheering for us instead of us having to fight that crowd."
Tulane turnovers , which are not always costly against the run-of-the-mill AAC team, will lead to points almost every time against Memphis. The Wave has not committed more than 15 in any game, while the Tigers have gone over that total eight times with a high of 20 on two occasions.
Ron Hunter, Gregg Glenn and Asher Woods spoke before practice today.
HUNTER
On what sticks out most about Memphis on video:
"They are a talented team. They are one of those teams I think you'll see in the Sweet 16. They defend. They shoot the 3 really well, something they haven't done in the last few years, but we've got a good defense. We've got to make sure that our defense holds in this game. The key is we just can't turn the ball over. When they get turnovers, it just feeds into what they do, so that's a big key for us. But like I've told the guys, we've earned the right not to be in this game, but we've earned the right to win this game. If we want to fight for a championship, we gotta defend it here at home. They are coming into our place, and we hope to see a raucous atmosphere and give ourselves a chance to not only win this game, but get into the last week of the season and see what happens."
On PJ Haggerty, a Tulsa transfer who is second nationally in scoring:
"He's a good player. He was a good player at Tulsa and a good player at Memphis. He gets to the line and is one of the top 20 players in the country right now the way he's playing. But again, that's our league. We've got good players also. We want our good players to play well."
On difference for Tulane in conference play compared to non-conference:
"Basically when you're whole team is new and they're young, you're not going to come out the gate and win no matter who you are. If that was the case, we wouldn't need coaching. We knew the light switch at some point was going to come on, and we haven't even hit our peak yet. I can't wait to see when we get to our peak, that's when we're really going to be scary, but it just takes time. I have four freshmen in my eight-man rotation. You're not going to win early with that. What happens is instead of taking them out, we just kept playing them and playing them and playing them and all of a sudden that experience has helped us get to where we are right now."
On history meaning nothing (Tulane has won three in a row v. Memphis at home, but almost no one on either team participated even in last year's win):
"It really doesn't. I hope the result is the same. We'll take the same result, but most of their guys are gone and the guys I had are gone. These are two different teams. I think both are headed in the right direction."
On his excitement about the game:
'I'm always excited. My excitement never goes below a 9 and it stays between 9 and 10. When we win it's at a 10, but I'm always excited. I woke up excited. I'm having so much fun with these young guys."
On turnovers being the key:
"That's the difference in the game. When we're really good, we turn it (the other team) over, and when they're really good, the same thing. it's who takes care of the ball the best in this environment. We need this environment to make them play sometimes even faster so they can turn that ball over. I'm really looking forward to that."
On matchup:
"A key player in this game for us is going to be Gregg Glenn. There's no matchup for Gregg Glenn in our entire league, so when Gregg plays well and you can't put the pressure on us because he has it, that's the big difference. That's no pressure on Gregg. Teams know that, we know that and Gregg knows that. If Gregg is good, then we've got a great chance of winning the game."
On Glenn's evolution:
"I love how Gregg is playing. Speaking of playing the best basketball of your life right now, that's what he's doing. When he plays within himself and doesn't get sped up, he's really a good player. He's listened to everything that I've said except for getting a haircut. He still hasn't gotten a haircut yet, but he's listened to everything I've asked him to do and he's done it well. I'm still working on the haircut thing. Trust me."
On crowd he hopes for:
"I don't care if there's one person in here or it's sold out, it just needs to be loud. When we go play at Memphis, trust me, it's loud. When we go play at North Texas, it's loud, so it will be nice to come into our place and that crowd's cheering for us instead of us having to fight that crowd."