Tulane Men Face the Zips in an Afternoon Tilt
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Tulane University men's basketball looks to secure its fourth-straight victory as it hosts Akron inside Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. The Green Wave holds a 34-7 record at home in non-conference play in the Ron Hunter era including a 4-1 mark this season.
The game between the Wave and the Zips is set to tipoff at 3 p.m. on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the action live on the Tulane Sports Network from Learfield on 106.7 The Ticket with the Voice of the Green Wave Corey Gloor or streaming on the Tulane Athletics App and The Varsity Network App.
This marks just the second all-time regular season meeting between Tulane and Akron with the Green Wave falling to the Zips in the previous matchup 61-62 at the Holiday Hoops Fest Tournament in Washington, D.C., on December 20, 2019. The Wave holds a 6-8 record all-time against teams from the Mid-American Conference including a perfect 5-0 mark at home.
In its last time out, Tulane earned its third-straight victory on a pair of free throws from Rowan Brumbaugh in the final seconds to defeat Grambling 65-63 on Tuesday night. The Green Wave relied on its defense forcing a season-high 15 turnovers against the Tigers to hold on for the win in the defensive battle.
The trio of Curtis Williams Jr., Brumbaugh, and Asher Woods paced the Wave with double figures in scoring. Williams notched his first career double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds while Brumbaugh added 17 points of his own and Woods followed with 13.
So far this season offensively, Tulane ranks in the top three of The American in free throw percentage (1st - .780) and field goal percentage (3rd - .461). Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor the Green Wave rates third in blocked shots averaging 4.75 per game.
Akron enters Saturday's game on a two-game winning streak after defeating Bucknell 97-77 at home on December 3 to improve to 7-2 on the season. The matchup between the Zips and Wave in Uptown will be just the second true road game of the season for Akron. The Zips lost 79-97 at No. 2/1 Purdue on November 16.
Through December 5 Akron ranks in the top 10 in the nation in several offensive categories this season including: assists per game (3rd - 21.4), assist-to-turnover ratio (3rd - 2.14), scoring (5th - 96.2), effective field goal percentage (6th - 61.6), threes per game (7th - 11.9), and field goal percentage (7th - 52.7). Preseason First Team All-MAC selection Tavari Johnson leads the way for the Zips averaging 18.6 points and 5.3 assists per game.
Following the contest against Akron, the Green Wave will face welcome Tougaloo College to town on Wednesday, December 10. Tipoff between Tulane and the Bulldogs is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Courtesy Tulane Athletics
Doug has covered a gamut of sporting events in his fifty-plus years in the field. He started doing sideline reporting for Louisiana Tech football games for the student radio station. Doug was Sports Director for KNOE-AM/FM in Monroe in the mid-80s, winning numerous awards from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association for Best Sportscast and Best Play-by-Play. High school play-by-play for teams in Monroe, Natchitoches, New Orleans, and Thibodaux, LA dot his resume. He did college play-by-play for Northwestern State University in Natchitoches for nine years. Then, moving to the Crescent City, Doug did television PBP of Tulane games and even filled in for legendary Tulane broadcaster, Ken Berthelot in the only game Kenny ever missed while doing the Green Wave games. His father was an alumnus of Tulane in the 1940s, so Doug has attended Tulane football games in old Tulane Stadium, the Superdome, and Yulman. He was one of the 86,000 plus on December 1, 1973, sitting in the North End Zone to seeTulane shutout the LSU Tigers, 14-0. He was there when the Posse ruled Fogelman and in Turchin when the Wave made it to the World Series. He currently is the public address voice of the Tulane baseball team.