Tammy take:
The record doesn’t show all the bruises.
Tulane heads into its own Hoops for Hope Classic Tournament at Fogelman Arena today 4-0 for the first time since the 2001-02 season. But the last victory, a 57-55 win at Navy on Tuesday, didn’t come as easily as the season’s first three victories, and shows the team is still ironing out wrinkles.
Tulane’s offense was high-flying in the first three games of the season, scoring near 80 points in each. The Green Wave started Tuesday on a 10-0 run, but went six minutes without a basket, and the offense wasn’t quite as fluid as it has been.
It gave the Green Wave its first real challenge of the young season. Tulane sank just one of four free throws in the final seconds.
“It might not look great as a final score,” Tulane Coach Ed Conroy said. “But to go on the road for the first time and get a win against a team that played with that much confidence, I’m proud of the guys.”
Tulane will play Alcorn State (1-2) at 7 p.m. tonight in the nightcap of the first day’s tourney lineup. UNO plays San Diego at 4:30 p.m. to tip it off. On Saturday, the Green Wave plays UNO at 7 p.m., and the three-day tournament concludes Sunday when the Green Wave plays San Diego in the New Orleans Arena at 6 p.m.
“This will line up great for us,” Conroy said. “We won’t have much time to prepare for the three games in three days, but we’ve got a lot of guys that need game action, and as a team we need to go against different looks, so this tournament will get us further down the road. Hopefully, we can develop our depth even further.”
Tomas Bruha, a 7-footer from the Czech Republic who played 10 minutes against Navy in Annapolis, could play for the first time at home this weekend.
Bruha grabbed three rebounds and scored two points against the Midshipmen. He has been slowly working back from a summer knee surgery. He was cleared to practice fully last week.
Jay Hook is another reserve making inroads. He is averaging 5.3 points. All of his points this season have come on seven 3-pointers.
Freshman point guard Ricky Tarrant has a team-best 18 assists and is averaging 9.3 points per game. He said working in Conroy’s modified motion offense is fun.
“I like the offense. It’s a lot of cutting, it’s about having a lot of good footwork,” he said.
Ben Cherry, who has played only 14 minutes after coming back from a knee injury, has helped Tarrant.
“At practice, he tells me everything I do, wrong or right,” Tarrant said. “He tries to guide me because he knows I can be a great player.”
Kendall Timmons leads the team with 17.5 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, and Josh Davis is averaging 16.8 points and 10 rebounds.