Tulane Green Wave Have Ideal Start to Conference Play With Blowout Over Charlotte

Tulane has had an interesting season to date.

Knowing they would have some early challenges based on the sheer number of new players that head coach Ron Hunter brought into the program ahead of this campaign, it was actually the latter portion of the nonconference schedule that tripped them up.

The Green Wave began the year 4-1 before a loss at home against New Orleans began their stretch of five straight defeats where they were run off the court in a few.

But, Tulane was able to scrape together a good close to this portion of the calendar, rebounding to blowout Southern Miss, compete with Florida State on the road, and have a comfortable win against Dillard.

With the long layoff taking place over the holidays, the players and coaching staff were hoping they'd be able to carry that newfound momentum with them into conference play against Charlotte.

That happened and then some.

The Green Wave made a statement, beating the 49ers, 83-68, on the road.

Tulane got things rolling early with an incredible 18-2 run after tip off, forcing 10 missed shots and four turnovers while making four 3-pointers during this stretch.

It was an impressive showing from the Green Wave even though Charlotte made things a bit tight to close out the first half by storming all the way back to cut Tulane's lead to three before the halftime buzzer sounded and the score was, 34-27.

The Green Wave have squandered leads at different times this season, but they were able to ride the strong showing of their defense and offensive prowess to begin AAC conference play with a road victory.

Kaleb Banks was the man for Tulane again, finishing with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 3-of-7 from deep.

He wasn't the only one who put up points, though.

All five starters finished in double figures, with Rowan Brumbaugh scoring 19, Asher Woods having 16, Kam Williams putting up 13, and Greg Glenn III scoring 10.

Glenn and Williams were close to recording double-doubles, with them pulling down nine and eight rebounds respectively.

Tulane held Charlotte to 26.1% shooting from deep (6-23) and 40% from the field (22-55).

It was one of their best defensive performances of the season with them also forcing 17 turnovers that resulted in 21 points.

Offensively, Tulane shot 47.4% from the field (27-57) and 34.8% from 3-point range (8-23).

They'll be back in action against UTSA on Jan. 4 at Devlin Fieldhouse with tip off set for 6 p.m. EST and the game broadcasted on ESPNU.