Tulane Green Wave Coach Lauds Team for ‘Grit Win’ Against Tulsa Golden Hurricanes

It wasn’t too much of a surprise that the Tulane Green Wave came out without their normal fire and desire on Sunday afternoon against the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes.
They were coming off an emotional loss in their previous game to the Memphis Tigers, the No. 19 ranked team in the country. For a large portion of that contest, they went toe-to-toe with one of the best offensive teams in the country.
Ultimately, their lack of experience did them in as the Tigers overwhelmed them down the stretch. With seven seniors in their rotation, they know what it takes to win hotly contested games.
It is something that the Green Wave are still learning with a roster bereft of a single senior and with upper classmen lacking even extensive Division I experience.
But, they are learning on the fly, as this young squad is growing right before our eyes.
It was a struggle at times against the Golden Hurricanes. Head coach Ron Hunter knew the importance of this matchup, as he would learn a lot about his team based on how they responded to the Memphis loss.
It wasn’t pretty, but when the final horn blew, it was Tulane who came across with a hard-fought and sometimes downright ugly, 59-56 win.
“We were flat coming out, but this showed me a lot about our team,” Hunter said via Guerry Smith of NOLA.com. “This was a grit win.”
Things didn’t look great for his team at points, as they trailed by seven points near the halfway point of the second half, the Green Wave were searching for someone to step up and carry the load offensively.
Point guard Rowan Brumbaugh answered the call, as he was the only consistent source of offense, scoring 23 out of the team’s 59 points while shooting 7-of-14 from the field. That includes 5-of-8 from 3-point range and knocking down all four of his free throws.
Asher Woods was the only other player in double figures with 10 points scored.
Their leading scorer, Kaleb Banks, was held in check as he added a season-low four points. It was only the third time this season he failed to reach double-digits, but he still made an impact on the game.
“Everybody goes through slumps, and you have do the other things,” Hunter said. “The second half (Banks) did the other things. I think he had four or five winning plays.”
Banks pulled down timely rebounds and consistently challenged the shots of whoever he was defending. Despite not making much of an impact scoring, he still had an imprint on the victory.
Tulane will be looking to keep the momentum going in their next game when they travel to take on the UTSA Roadrunners on Wednesday evening.
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