Tulane Men Squeak by UAB, 55-54, for 2nd Straight Victory
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Looking to avenge a 13-point defeat at the hands of UAB a month ago in Fogelman Arena, the Tulane men's defense came to play again against Alabama-Birmingham. Add to that an impressive offensive effort in the first half that lead to double-digit advantages, and the Green Wave was able to make it a two-game win streak, three victories out of the last four games, as the Wave slipped by the Blazers, 55-54.
First Half: Tulane 36 - UAB 26
In what has become the bell cow for this 2025-26 Tulane team, it was another outstanding defensive effort for the Green Wave in half number one. At the 3-minute mark, TU was holding UAB to less than 30% from the field. By the end of the first 20-minutes of play, the Blazers had improved to 35% from the field, but only hitting 2-of-the-8 three-pointers they launched. Tulane was near the 50% mark at that same 3-minute mark, cooling off a bit by the end of the 1st half hitting 42%. Their three-pointers were falling, though, sinking 6-of-16, especially Scotty Middleton, who sank three of the four from beyond the arc that he put up.
The Wave took the lead at the 11:20 mark, building it up as much as a 15-point advantage at 3:08 with a Rowan Brumbaugh layup.
Guards Brumbaugh and Asher Woods each poured in 11 to lead all scorers. The pair also accounted for 5-of-the-7 assists dished out by the Wave in period one, Woods having three. Middleton popped in those three tres we mentioned for all of his 9-points.
Rebounding was pretty much even. Though Tulane lead by the slightest of margins for most of the 1st half, UAB held a one board advantage by the end of the first half, 19-18.
Final: Tulane 55 - UAB 54
The final period began for both teams with what seemed like a lid on the basket. Missed three-pointers, free throws, and layups abounded before Middleton continued his three-point barrage, hitting his fourth out of the five he had put up over 4-minutes into the half. By the media timeout, Tulane was shooting 30%, UAB 26% from the field.
Over the next two minutes, the Blazers went on a 7-0 run up to the media timeout, shortening the Tulane lead to a 45-39 advantage. The Wave continued to miss shots from outside and under the basket during the run, hitting a drought of over two minutes before a Brumbaugh layup. The TU lead dwindled to the slimmest of margins with 6:55 to go with a UAB layup, but a layup by KJ Greene followed by a Brumbaugh tip in on a missed Curtis Williams Jr layup got the Green Wave back up by 5 at the media timeout, 6:01 to go in the game.
Tulane hung on to a slim lead through the last five minutes of the game because of scoring droughts by both teams: TU for just over four minutes, UAB for over 4-and-a-half.
With :40 on the 2nd half clock and Tulane hanging on to a 55-52 lead, UAB missed back-to-back three point attempts to tie the score, but got the offensive rebound each time. Then, with :15 on the scoreboard, the Blazers called their final timeout, setting up another missed tres. On the rebound, Brumbaugh fouls, giving UAB the ball out of bounds with :12 left. Two more missed three pointers, but an offensive tip-in at the buzzer by UAB gave us the final, a Tulane one-point win, 55-54.
Another stellar defensive effort by the Wave, holding Alabama-Birmingham to only 32% of the 63-shots the Blazers put up from the field. That includes only 15% of the 27-three pointers launched. The boards, however, belonged to UAB, a 47-36 advantage, 17 of those on the offensive end.
Brumbaugh led the Wave with 17-points, grabbed eight rebounds, and dished out 4-assists. Woods chimed in with 14-points, and Middleton with 12, all of Scotty's points coming from beyond the three-point arc. Middleton led TU on the boards with nine.
Tulane ups its season record to 15-10 and evens its American Conference numbers at 6-and-6. With the loss, UAB drops to 16-10 on the year, 7-6 in league play.
The Green Wave revenge tour continues on Thursday with TU visiting Denton to take on North Texas in a late 8:00 p.m. start. The game will be featured on ESPN2 and in New Orleans on The Ticket, 106.7 FM.
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.