Tulane Men Escape Lafayette with a 66-62 Win over Louisiana

The Tulane men's basketball team took their first road trip of the season, as the Green Wave traveled to Lafayette Tuesday to battle Louisiana in a messy, physical game from the Cajundome. The Wave escaped with a 66-62 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns

Halftime: Louisiana 30 - Tulane 29

A sloppily played first half found the Green Wave down by one, 30-29. Tulane hit only 39% of its shots from the field, 25% of their eight from beyond the three-point line. Though not perfect from the free throw line this night, the Wave did hit 78% of them. Louisiana wasn't any better from the field, canning 38% of its shots, but putting up six more shots overall. The Cajuns were a paltry 3-of-13 from three point range and only 5-of-12 from the free throw line.

For Tulane coach Ron Hunter, it came down to not getting those loose balls, the ranging rebounds, and other balls that were up for grabs.

"We didn't get any 50-50 balls," Hunter said after the game. "It wasn't because of lack of effort. Our timing was off, really all game, and I've got to give them (Louisiana) credit. They've got that physicality with their defense."

Coming off the best game of his career against Texas State scoring 11 in the game, K.J. Greene was aggressive from the get-go off the bench making the most of his appearance in the first half, hitting his one field goal and going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. Greene did so well, he got the 2nd half start for the Wave.

Only four Greenies scored in the first half: Rowan Brumbaugh led all Tulane players with 11. Tyler Ringgold had his best half as a Green Wave player with 9 points, going 4-of-5 from the field. K.J. Greene had his seven, and Asher Woods had 2.

Final: Tulane 66 - Louisiana 62

Haphazard play continued in the first portion of the second half, as both teams were missing open shots and Tulane was piling up the turnovers, doubling the number of giveaways from the first half throwing it away ten times by game's end. However, the physicality of the Ragin' Cajuns led to the Green Wave getting to the free throw line more often, and the Wave continued to be deadly from the free throw line. Though not perfect thirty times this time around, Tulane did hit 78%, going 21-of 27 from freebee land for the game.

"I tell you what, we're going to get back (to New Orleans) around 1:00 or 1:30 in the morning and we're going to do nothing but shoot free throws," Hunter joked with us after the game. However, he realizes his team won this game at the charity stripe. "We just preach the little things."

After forty minutes, junior guard Rowan Brumbaugh led the Wave, scoring 19, going 2-for-4 from the three point line and 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. Tyler Ringgold had his best night as a Greenie, going 7-of-9 from the field, his only misses from beyond the three-point stripe. Ringgold made three of his four free throws, combining for 17-points.

"I think Tyler has just scratched the surface," Hunter said of the 6' 8" redshirt sophomore. "Guys in the second year of our program make a big leap. He's a hard (player to) cover. I don't know many teams who are going to be able to guard Tyler, off the dribble or shooting the three."

Hunter continues to talk to his players about improving and peaking at the right time. Now's not it, so he's feeling good about this year's squad.

"I keep telling myself, this is going to be really scary," Hunter told us. "I'm going to have a lot of run with this group. Once we start peaking in January and February, we're going to be a really good basketball team."

Tulane comes back to the friendly confines of Fogelman this Friday for their second straight game against a Louisiana squad, as cross-town rival New Orleans comes for a visit to Uptown. Tipoff set for 6:30 p.m.