What: FAU (10-18, 5-8 C-USA) vs Tulane (15-13, 7-6 C-USA)

When: Wednesday, February 26th @ 9:00 PM

Where: Devlin Fieldhouse

Green Wave Team Site: Here


TV: None

Live Video: Tulane All Access *FEE

Radio: ESPN 106.3

Internet Broadcast Info

Live Stats: Here


Probable Starters:


Tulane

G Jonathan Stark 14.2
G Louis Dabney 16.4
G Jay Hook 14.1
F Trevante Drye 6.4
C Tomas Bruha 2.7


FAU

G Marquan Botley 10.5 ppg
G Jackson Trapp 9.1 ppg
G Pablo Bertone 18.6 ppg
F Kelvin Penn 4.4 ppg
C Justin Raffington 10.1 ppg


The series:

The Owls are 0-4 against Tulane all time, with there last meeting ending in a 79-64 home loss for the Owls.


Tulane at a Glance:

The Green Wave is set to host FAU Wednesday night after beating UTSA in New Orleans last Saturday. Tulane has strung together a decent season in 2014, winning the games they should, and not giving away easy contests.

The team's backcourt is lead by pair of underclassman guards. Sophomore Louis Dabney puts up more points than anyone on the Green Wave’s roster with 16.4 ppg. Dabney isn’t afraid to get big in the post either, as he racks up the second most rebounds for the team.

Freshman Jonathan Starks is going to finish his first year of college basketball with the eighth most assists in the Conference USA with four per game.  Starks’ assist numbers are impressive but take it with a grain of salt, because the freshman also averages three turnovers a game.

Ruling the paint for Tulane is Trevante Drye. The junior was the only returning starter for the Green Wave this season. While grabbing 7.0 boards a game, Drye is in the top 10 in the conference for total rebounds (196). The forward tries to stay in the paint, and score off the backboard mostly, and doesn’t take wasteful shots, as he shoots a team best 47.8% from the floor.

Guard Jay Hook has made a name for himself with the graduation of last season’s team. Hook, who averaged less than 15 minutes a game in his first two seasons with Tulane, has not only grabbed a starting role, but has become a top scorer for the squad. Hook averages 14.1 points per game, and most of his baskets come from behind the arc. The guard has an astounding 49.6% three-point percentage, and not only leads his team with that percentage, but all of C-USA as well.

Head coach Ed Conroy is in his fourth season with the Green Wave and has progressively won more games each season, while earning his first 20 win season last year. But poor conference play kept them out of the tournament. Tulane hasn’t had  a "signature" win this season, although they have played well enough in the conference this year to keep them in contention to make a run in the tournament.


FAU at a Glance:

FAU travels to the Big Easy to take on Tulane, after dropping the team’s third straight loss to North Texas.

The biggest news for the Owls has to be center Justin Raffington’s performance against UNT. FAU’s big man grabbed a career high 27 points last Saturday, along with seven rebounds, and two bocks. Raffington has been known this season for his rebound ability. The junior is currently 27th in all of college basketball with 249 boards on the season.

Pablo Bertone had another impressive outing against UNT, scoring 26 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Bertone has been C-USA’s leading scorer for most of 2014, and has landed himself in the top 50 in the nation for total points. Bertone looked much healthier against UNT after a sluggish performance against Tulsa.

Marquan Botley and D’Andre Johnson have grown up a lot since the start of the season, and Botley has even come into a role of leadership. However, on Saturday head coach Mike Jarvis had another opinion on his young guards.

“Tonight they played like freshman,” stated Jarvis. “There has been games, if you seen those guys play against UTEP they didn’t look their age. Tonight they looked like freshman, and they made freshman mistakes.”

Despite the high scoring efforts of Raffington and Bertone the Owls were having a tough time on offense Saturday night. FAU only had seven bench points against the Mean Green, and it looked if the fatigue had set in on the young team.

“Everyone is getting tired,” said Jarvis. “Now it is a question of we have a couple guys who are not only tired but they are banged up, I am going to have to make some decision and sit a few guys out of practice and possibly put some guys on ice, so we can have as many bodies as we can for the tournament.”

The Owls have only grabbed three road wins this season, the last coming from the team’s trip to UTEP when Marquan Botley hit a three in the final seconds of the game to secure the victory.


Latest Line:

Tulane -1


Owl's Nest Prediction

The Owls may be fatigued going into the final weeks of the season, but the offense hasn't looked bad in the past two games. Tulane isn't putting up great numbers and haven't beaten a quality opponent all season, although we think Tulane will end up with the win, we believe the Owls will put up a fight and it will come down to the wire.


Tulane -1

TV: None

Live Video: Tulane All Access *FEE

Radio: ESPN 106.3

Internet Broadcast Info

Live Stats: Here

Listening to the pre game on the Tulane's live video..

Green Wave intend to play heavy man tonight.

The Owls had a rough time with man the past two games.

Late start?

Tim FAU98 said

Late start?

Posted On: Feb 26th 2014, 9:18 PM #328874

Yep, thought we had lost double headers after leaving the A-SUN.

Tonight's Starters:

Tulane

G Jonathan Stark
G Louis Dabney
G Jay Hook
F Trevante Drye
C Tomas Bruha


FAU

G Marquan Botley
G Jackson Trapp
G Pablo Bertone
C Dragan Sekelja
C Justin Raffington

Sekelja grabs the start tonight over Kelvin Penn!

Coach Jarvis didn't mention anything about Sekelja starting..

When asked Jarvis made it sound like the center was still injured and under limited minutes.

Rick said

Tim FAU98 said

Late start?

Posted On: Feb 26th 2014, 9:18 PM #328874

Yep, thought we had lost double headers after leaving the A-SUN.

Posted On: Feb 26th 2014, 9:20 PM #328875

Not as big a deal for Tulane.

Only 8:30 there.

Tulane clenches a 1st round bye in the C-USA tournament if with a win.  

FAU is in the dark blue units tonight.