Tulane Men Get Squashed by South Florida, 90-62
Tulane men's basketball (17-12, 8-8) suffered a 90-62 defeat to South Florida (21-8, 13-3) Sunday afternoon in the Yuengling Center. With the loss the Green Wave dropped to 6-3 in true road games this season including 5-3 in conference play.
Three Greenies in Double Digits
Curtis Williams Jr. led a trio of players in double figures for the Wave with a team-high 27 points on 6-of-16 shooting including five made threes. Williams also knocked down a career-high 10 free throws while recording six rebounds and three assists as well.
The duo of Rowan Brumbaugh and Scotty Middleton also scored double digits for Tulane as each player finished with 11 points. Brumbaugh led the Green Wave with seven rebounds while adding a pair of assists and one block. Middleton drained a pair of triples and pulled down six boards.
Tournament Standings for the Wave Slip
The loss drops Tulane into the 7th slot in the ten-team field scheduled for the American Conference tournament in a week and a half.
After South Florida scored the first five points of the day, the Wave began to find its offense against the Bulls. A three-pointer from Williams gave Tulane its first lead of the contest at 15-14 with 14:50 to play in the first half.
The Green Wave and the Bulls traded the lead six times during the first frame with Tulane holding its largest advantage with 13:33 on the clock at 20-16. On the final lead change of the half South Florida mounted a 13-0 run to claim control over the Wave. Williams led the charge for Tulane with 17 points in the opening frame as the Green Wave hit the locker room trailing 49-38.
To begin the second half Tulane went back to Williams on the first play and the junior knocked home a three from the top of the key to cut the deficit back to single digits. The Wave battled to pull within six (51-45) with 18:09 remaining, but the Bulls had an answer.
Tulane was unable to consistently stop the South Florida offense the remainder of the second half as the deficit continued to grow for the Green Wave. The largest deficit of the day for the Wave came on the final shot of the contest when the Bulls hit their ninth three with just a few seconds left to hand Tulane the loss.
Next, the Green Wave will make the trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to face Temple on Thursday, March 5. Tipoff between Tulane and the Owls is slated for 6 p.m. CT
Portions 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.