A Look Ahead to the 2025-2026 Men’s Basketball Season

Green Wave basketball defied expectations last year, finishing fourth in the American Conference with a 19-15 overall record and a 12-6 conference record after being picked 11th in preseason voting.

This year, they’re picked to be third in the conference, just behind Memphis and South Florida.

There’s good reason for Tulane to be ranked higher this preseason compared to last year’s twelfth. They brought with them two All-Conference players, including one being picked as the preseason player of the year.

Being named to All-Conference second team is guard Asher Woods who averaged 11.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.4 assists last season across 25 starts and 34 games. With him comes All-Conference first team and preseason player of the year Rowan Brumbaugh, who averaged 15.5 points, 4.8 assists, and 1.6 steals across all 34 starts last year.

Preseason Scrimmage sets Hopes High

On Tuesday, October 28th, 2025, Tulane hosted Centenary College for their preseason scrimmage. What would be a slow start was quickly glossed over in the second half when head coach Ron Hunter made the proper line-up adjustments to counter and out-physical the Centenary Gentlemen.

In a convincing 95-66 win, Green Wave guard Asher Woods would be the standout with 19 points, 5 assists, and a team-leading 8 boards to help the Wave to victory. Other stand-outs would be Rowan Brumbaugh, K.J. Greene, and Josiah Moore.

Who Stands a Chance?

With every season comes some tough opponents, so which ones stand out as must-win games if the Green Wave hope to make the NCAA tournament this Spring?

University of New Orleans @ Tulane November 14th, 6:30pm (Friday)

Cross-city rivals UNO comes into the Fogelman Arena in hopes to get out to a strong start to the 2025 season. In order for the Green Wave to be playoff hopefuls, these are the games you’d like to win. We’d like to see the Wave do the opposite of what they did in the exhibition game, and that’s to start strong and finish stronger.

Tulane @ East Carolina December 31st, 11:00am (Wednesday).

The Wave try to sink the Pirates in their first conference game of the season. The Wave are looking to get out to a good start in conference play. They don’t want any hiccups in this long road of conference play and it all starts with East Carolina on New Year’s Eve.

UAB @ Tulane & Tulane @ UAB January 14th, 6:30pm (Wednesday) February 15th, 1:00pm (Sunday)

During Valentines season, TU will face off against the #4 ranked team in the conference during the preseason. Tulane will battle South Florida later that month, and if they hope to beat the higher-ranked Bulls, then they'll have to take care of business and douse the Blazers.

South Florida @ Tulane Tulane @ South Florida January 28th, 8:00pm (Wednesday) & March 1st, 11:00am (Sunday)

The Bulls are the #2 ranked preseason team in the American Conference. Aside from the seven-game stretch of conference matches that precedes the first match, the Bulls will be the Wave's true test to see if they're playoff ready. Ideally, the Wave would like to at least split this series, if not sweep the South Florida Bulls.

Tulane @ Memphis Memphis @ Tulane February 1st, 2:00pm (Sunday) & March 8th, 1:00pm (Sunday)

The preseason pick to win the conference, Memphis, will be the toughest games Tulane will play all season. The Wave will have to be ready for the talent on this vicious Tiger roster, boasting two first-team All-Conference players in junior forward, Aaron Bradshaw and senior guard, Dug McDaniel. Both players are transfers from Ohio State and Kansas State, respectively, so this will be their first foray into the American Conference.