Tulane Green Wave Basketball Rising Star Wins Weekly Conference Award

The Tulane Green Wave men’s basketball team saw one of its star freshmen receive one of the league’s top awards for his play last week.

Tulane guard Kam Williams (3) shoots a foul shot against New Orleans during the second half of a men's NCAA basketball game at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 / Mandatory Credit - Scott Threlkeld, The Times-Picayune

Tulane Green Wave men’s basketball freshman Kam Williams was named the American Athletic Conference freshman of the week for his play last week as the team went 2-0 in league action.

This is Williams’ first honor of the season as the Green Wave (8-7, 2-0 in AAC) head to UAB (8-7, 1-1) to take on the Blazers on Tuesday night. Tulane is off to its first 2-0 start in league play since 2021-22.

In Tulane’s two games, Williams averaged 12 points and six rebounds. He also averaged 1.5 blocks and one steal.

In the opener against Charlotte, he scored 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, along with eight rebounds, two steals and a block.

He followed that with 11 points — with two 3-pointers — along with four rebounds and two blocked shots against UTSA.

The Lafayette, La., native joined the Green Wave this year after he was a four-star recruit coming out of Lafayette Christian Academy, where he led them to the LHSAA state tournament quarterfinals. As a junior, he averaged a double-double with 25 points and 10 rebounds.

Junior Kaleb Banks was named AAC honorable mention for the third time this season. He averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.5 blocks and 2.5 steals for Tulane’s two games last seek. He also shot 69.2% from the field. He was the Green Wave’s leading scorer in both games.

He scored 21 points and grabbed five rebounds in the win over Charlotte on New Year’s Eve, and followed that with 24 points, five rebounds, three blocks and three steals in the victory over UTSA.

The Green Wave will look to begin AAC play 3-0 for the first time since joining the league in 2014 when it faces UAB. The last time the Green Wave started conference competition with three consecutive wins in any league was the 1996-97 season.

UAB leads the series, 26-13. The Blazers won both meetings a season ago. Tulane is 6-13 on the road and hasn’t won at UAB since 2014.

After the first week of conference play the Green Wave leads the AAC in several team categories, including scoring margin (+22.00), blocks (4.50), assists (19.00), steals (11.50), turnover margin (+4.5), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.73), and defensive rebounds per game (30.5).

Tip-off is at 6:30 p.m. central on ESPN+ and on the radio at 106.1 The Ticket and Heaven 106.7 FM. The Green Wave return home to host USF on Saturday.