Tulane Basketball Addressed One Key Area To Help Them Pull Off Road Win
Tulane got back on track with a road win over Rice on Saturday.
It was an important one for them when it comes to their standing in the AAC as teams try to position themselves for the conference tournament where the winner secures their spot in the March Madness field.
Before the Green Wave can think about making a deep run to the championship game when that time comes, they have to clean up things that have plagued them over the course of the regular season.
Head coach Ron Hunter was clear about what that is following their loss against Temple.
"Both times we've lost on the road this year, turnovers kind of got us. We take care of the ball in our arena, but when we get on the road we tend to turn the ball over a little bit too much ... you're fighting uphill when you turn the ball over. We've got to learn to take better care of the ball on the road," he said per Guerry Smith of Nola.com.
Compared to their contest against the Owls when they turned it over 13 times, Tulane did a better job of holding onto the ball against Rice with 10 turnovers.
That will certainly make Hunter happy since his players admitted they were a bit loose with the ball when they lost to Temple, but the numbers would say the splits aren't as drastic as the head coach made it seem.
In their three conference away games before they traveled to face Rice, the Green Wave turned it over 35 times. In their three home contests against AAC opponents, they had 33 turnovers.
Still, taking care of the ball is something that Tulane has to refine.
Ranking 184th in adjusted tempo per KenPom, their mark of 11.2 turnovers per contest which puts them tied for 99th in the country should be much better.
If that can improve like Hunter wants, then they'll position themselves to have a much more favorable draw by the time the conference tournament roles around.
