TU wants to atone for a tough season against DePaul
MEMPHIS, TENN. -- For the second consecutive season, Tulane heads into the Conference USA tournament as the No. 12 seed. That, Green Wave players say, hardly matters at this point.
All Tulane's players seem concerned about are two things -- being in the tournament and trying to atone for what was a rocky regular season.
"We're going to the tournament, and the year we had doesn't matter," said Ivan Pjevcevic, a fifth-year senior. "As long as you make the tournament, it doesn't matter how you finished."
The Green Wave, which was 4-12 in C-USA for the second consecutive season and won one of its final five games, earned the right to meet fifth-seeded DePaul today after winning its regular-season finale against East Carolina last Saturday.
Now that the Green Wave is in the C-USA tournament, its players said they can erase the memories of a poor season with a good showing.
"All conference tournaments give teams new life," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said.
A victory by the Green Wave today would mark the second time this season that it has won back-to-back games against C-USA opponents.
"We want to prove to the world and our fans that the numbers (a 10-17 season record) were kind of misleading," senior point guard Marcus Kinzer said. "We just had a lot of tough breaks this year."
Center Quincy Davis, who led C-USA in field-goal shooting percentage this season, wants to look ahead, not at what the Green Wave is leaving behind.
"Obviously, our record wasn't what we wanted it to be, and I don't tend to look at the record," Davis said. "We did what we wanted to do, and that was to get to the tournament. As far as I'm concerned, it starts over here.
"If we can go in and stay focused and win, no one will be looking at what our record is. It's like a new season. Everything we did is in the past. Now that we've made the tournament, anything's possible."
Ending a five-game losing streak with its win over East Carolina also has helped the Green Wave adjust its attitude.
"We definitely feel more comfortable and more confident about playing DePaul than we did when we played them earlier," Pjevcevic said.
When Tulane and DePaul met in mid-January, the Blue Demons scored an 18-point victory as forward Quemont Greer posted a double-double (24 points and 10 rebounds). Greer will receive the lion's share of the Green Wave's defensive attention this time around.
"We're going to have to try to double him and keep him off the glass," Finney said. "He got a lot of second-chance points and he hit some 3s. He's very versatile."
But keeping Greer from being a factor will only be part of what Tulane has to do to keep from being sent home quickly. The Green Wave had 16 turnovers that resulted in 23 points by DePaul in the earlier meeting.
"We've got to value the basketball a little better," Finney said. "We gave them too many points off of transition with turnovers, and rebounding the basketball is going to be a key."
MEMPHIS, TENN. -- For the second consecutive season, Tulane heads into the Conference USA tournament as the No. 12 seed. That, Green Wave players say, hardly matters at this point.
All Tulane's players seem concerned about are two things -- being in the tournament and trying to atone for what was a rocky regular season.
"We're going to the tournament, and the year we had doesn't matter," said Ivan Pjevcevic, a fifth-year senior. "As long as you make the tournament, it doesn't matter how you finished."
The Green Wave, which was 4-12 in C-USA for the second consecutive season and won one of its final five games, earned the right to meet fifth-seeded DePaul today after winning its regular-season finale against East Carolina last Saturday.
Now that the Green Wave is in the C-USA tournament, its players said they can erase the memories of a poor season with a good showing.
"All conference tournaments give teams new life," Tulane coach Shawn Finney said.
A victory by the Green Wave today would mark the second time this season that it has won back-to-back games against C-USA opponents.
"We want to prove to the world and our fans that the numbers (a 10-17 season record) were kind of misleading," senior point guard Marcus Kinzer said. "We just had a lot of tough breaks this year."
Center Quincy Davis, who led C-USA in field-goal shooting percentage this season, wants to look ahead, not at what the Green Wave is leaving behind.
"Obviously, our record wasn't what we wanted it to be, and I don't tend to look at the record," Davis said. "We did what we wanted to do, and that was to get to the tournament. As far as I'm concerned, it starts over here.
"If we can go in and stay focused and win, no one will be looking at what our record is. It's like a new season. Everything we did is in the past. Now that we've made the tournament, anything's possible."
Ending a five-game losing streak with its win over East Carolina also has helped the Green Wave adjust its attitude.
"We definitely feel more comfortable and more confident about playing DePaul than we did when we played them earlier," Pjevcevic said.
When Tulane and DePaul met in mid-January, the Blue Demons scored an 18-point victory as forward Quemont Greer posted a double-double (24 points and 10 rebounds). Greer will receive the lion's share of the Green Wave's defensive attention this time around.
"We're going to have to try to double him and keep him off the glass," Finney said. "He got a lot of second-chance points and he hit some 3s. He's very versatile."
But keeping Greer from being a factor will only be part of what Tulane has to do to keep from being sent home quickly. The Green Wave had 16 turnovers that resulted in 23 points by DePaul in the earlier meeting.
"We've got to value the basketball a little better," Finney said. "We gave them too many points off of transition with turnovers, and rebounding the basketball is going to be a key."
