Tulane Green Wave Buying In, Finding Identity Quickly on the Hardwood
An argument could be made that the 2024-25 men’s college basketball season was going to be the most challenging of Tulane Green Wave head coach Ron Hunter’s career.
After his team recorded a losing record in four out of the last five campaigns, the roster was overhauled this offseason.
Only two players from last season’s squad, Asher Woods and Gregg Glenn III were holdovers. The team has zero seniors and several players who are stepping into prominent roles for the first time in their careers.
Building chemistry and cohesion takes time, especially when a team lacks players with experience. Asher Woods is stepping into a prominent leadership role already, helping everyone learn the complex matchup defense that Hunter likes to deploy.
A mix of man and zone features, learning his scheme is notoriously difficult. But, his squad is picking up on things quite quickly as defense is becoming their identity and calling card early in the season.
After shutting down the Louisiana Christian Wildcats 76-42 in their season opener, the team put together another impressive defensive performance against the UL Monroe Warhawks in their second game.
They won the game 80-64, as they shut down the visitors for large portions of the game. It was something Hunter was very pleased with.
"Defensively, especially in the first half, we just threw knockout punch after knockout punch," Hunter said via Guerry Smith of NOLA.com. "That's what I love about coaching this team. Defensively they can really get after it."
It took the Warhawks 9:10 to make their first basket of the game when Coltie Young hit a floater to make the score 22-5 in Tulane’s favor. Prior to that bucket, the only points they scored were at the free throw line.
UL-Monroe missed their first 15 shot attempts of the game as they were stifled by an aggressive Green Wave team. They outhustled their opponent as well, looking as if they wanted the game more.
Overall, Tulane held them to a 30.3 shooting percentage, as they were 20-of-66 from the field. Their shooting percentage from 3-point range was identical, as they made 11-of-36 attempts.
The Green Wave, on the other hand, shot 46.7 percent overall from the field and 40 percent from long-range.
They will look to extend their winning streak to three games when they host the Alcorn State Braves at Devlin Fieldhouse on November 11th at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Kenneth Teape is an alumnus of SUNY Old Westbury and graduated in 2013 with an Honors Degree in Media Communications with a focus on print journalism. During his time at Old Westbury, he worked for the school newspaper and several online publications, such as Knicks Now, the official website of the New York Knicks, and a self-made website with fellow students, Gotham City Sports News. Kenneth has also been a site expert at Empire Writes Back, Musket Fire, and Lake Show Life within the FanSided Network. He was a contributor to HoopsHabit, with work featured on Bleacher Report and Yardbarker. In addition to his work here, he is a reporter for both NBA Analysis Network and NFL Analysis Network, as well as a writer and editor for Packers Coverage. You can follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @teapester725, or reach him via email at teapester725@gmail.com.