Tulane Green Wave Collapse, Suffer Excruciating Loss to Wyoming in Cancun
The Tulane Green Wave headed to paradise this week to play.
Their Feast Week schedule led them to Mexico, where they are participating in the Cancun Challenge at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.
Their opponent on Tuesday evening was the Wyoming Cowboys, who entered the contest 4-1.
It was expected to be a competitive game, which was the case throughout most of the first half.
Tulane was able to open up a 10-point lead at one point, but Wyoming clawed their way back into things with an 8-0 run of their own. The teams went back and forth for several minutes, as the Cowboys actually grabbed a 34-31 lead with 2:28 remaining.
From that point on, it was all Green Wave.
They ended the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 40-34 lead into halftime.
Out of the locker room, they took total control.
When Tulane has found success this season, defense has been the name of the game. They were stifling to start the second half, as Wyoming scored only two points the first 6:22 of the half.
That helped the Green Wave expand their lead to 16, but that is when things would take a turn for the worst.
Their offense went ice cold, allowing the Cowboys to continually chip away at the deficit.
Ron Hunter’s squad would score only 11 points in the final 13:44 of the game, as their lead melted away. With 9.6 seconds remaining in the game, Obi Agbim knocked down a wide-open 3-pointer to give Wyoming a 64-63 lead, which would end up being the final score.
This was an incredibly brutal loss for a Tulane team that looked solid for about three-quarters of the game but did not have enough left in the tank to finish the job.
All five starters for the Green Wave, which included Asher Woods taking the spot of Mari Jordan, scored in double figures. He led the way with 15, while Cam Williams and Rowan Brumbaugh scored 13.
Gregg Glenn III and Kaleb Banks both had 11. Banks hot shooting did not follow him out of the country as he went 0-for-3 on 3-pointers, but he did record another double-double, pulling down 10 rebounds.
Hunter is going to have to figure out something with his rotation, as he is relying too heavily on the starters right now, as four of them played 34-plus minutes. Not a single point was scored by the bench as only one player, Percy Daniels, even played double-digit minutes for the second unit.
The nice thing about these holiday tournaments is that a tough loss can be put behind a team quickly.
Tulane will have no time to worry about the loss since they are back out there on Wednesday night against the Belmont Bruins, who were defeated by the Loyola Marymount Lions on Tuesday.
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.