NEW ORLEANS – Tulane University men’s basketball will take the court for its 113th season on Monday night as they host to UMBC at 7:30 p.m. at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.
The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Fans can also listen to the game live on the radio by tuning into 104.1 The Spot or by CLICKING HERE. Tulane’s “Voice of the Green Wave” Corey Gloor will call the action live.
STARTING FIVE
1. The Tulane University men’s basketball team begins their 113th regular season with a home matchup versus the University of Maryland Baltimore County. This is the first meetings between the two programs.
2. The team returns for the 2022-23 campaign after their most successful season in the Ron Hunter era. The Green Wave finished with 10 conference wins, its most since joining the AAC and nine wins at home, the most since 2017-18. It also marked the first time Tulane beat Memphis, Wichita State and Cincinnati in a single season.
3. Tulane is 20-18 against nonconference opponents since the beginning of the Ron Hunter era.
4. This season, head coach Ron Hunter‘s staff welcomes back 10 letter winners, four newcomers and four starters, including preseason All-American Athletic Conference honorees Jalen Cook, Jaylen Forbes and Kevin Cross. Each of the All-AAC honorees averaged 10+ ppg last season. Cook averaged 17.1 ppg in conference play, the most for a freshman in the AAC.
5. Tulane finished the 21-22 season ranked third in the conference in offense averaging 73.3 ppg and in third in team field goal percentage with .437 behind only Houston and Memphis. Tulane led the conference in 3-point percentage shooting .371 in conference play. The Green Wave protected the ball well, ranking sixth in the nation in fewest turnovers.
TULANE BY THE NUMBERS
255 – Tulane has made at least one 3-point field goal in 255 consecutive games. The last time the Green Wave failed to do so came on Jan. 16, 2014 at home against Louisiana Tech when they went 0-for-14 from outside.
64 – Jaylen Forbes is 64 points away from 1,000 in his career.
19 – Ron Hunter is 19 wins away from 500 career wins.
10 – The team welcomes back 10 letterwinners including starters Jalen Cook, Sion James, Kevin Cross and Jaylen Forbes.
9.4 – The Green Wave saw a 9.4 percent increase in average points per game from the 2020-21 season to the 2021-22 season.
4 – Tulane was picked to finish fourth in the American Athletic Conference 2022-23 preseason poll.
3 – Three members earned Preseason All-AAC Honors. Jalen Cook was a unanimous first team selection while Jaylen Forbes and and Kevin Cross earned second team honors.
WITH A WIN OVER UMBC…
• Tulane get their fourth straight home opener win.
• Head coach Ron Hunter would collect his first career win vs. UMBC.
THE OPPONENT – UMBC
• The Retrievers enter the season with ten scholarship players that have never dressed for the program
• In season openers, UMBC holds a 15-21 mark in DI play.
• The Retrievers last road opening day win came at Coppin State in 1999-2000
• Newcomers Colton Lawrence, Craig Beaudion II, and Tra’von Fagan have all played on championship teams at the collegiate level. Lawrence helped lead Bentley to the NCAA Elite Eight last season while Beaudion II (Cleveland State) and Fagan (Buffalo) both were members of NCAA Tournament squads
• UMBC is enjoying their best stretch in program history as the Retrievers have gone a combined 118-74 (.614) over the past six seasons. UMBC enjoyed three straight 20+ win seasons from 2016-17 to 2018-19. Their 25 victories in 2017-18 was a program high.
• UMBC became the first #16 seed to knock off a #1 seed when the Retrievers shocked Virginia, 74-54, in the 2018 NCAA Tournament.
{Courtesy: release from Tulane}
