The Green Wave will look to pull off a big upset over the league's top team on Sunday morning.
Sunday looks to be the toughest hardwood test yet for the Tulane Green Wave men's basketball program.
The Green Wave is set to take on the South Florida Bulls in Tampa. The Bulls are 12-3 in conference play have a two-game lead over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane for the top spot in the American Conference. USF is also riding a six-game winning streak and has lost just two games on its home court. To say that this game is going to be a massive challenge for Tulane would be an understatement.
The two programs have already faced off once this season, with South Florida claiming a 97-83 win over the Green Wave back on January 28th. Tulane fell behind early in that matchup with -- no surprise -- rebounding and defense being the biggest downfalls of the program. The Uptown boys gave up 48 total rebounds, including 17 on offense, and 27 second-chance points to the Bulls. In comparison, the Green Wave had 30 total rebounds, eight offensive rebounds and just one second chance point.
Additionally, Tulane enters the game following arguably its worst all-around performance of the season. The team took a brutal 90-56 loss to the Golden Hurricane on Wednesday night, snapping its four-game winning streak. The offense put together a lackluster showing, and the defense couldn't do much of anything to force a stop.
As the program enters the final stretch ahead of the American Conference Tournament, it needs to find a way to lock in and finish the regular season on the right foot. As it stands now, the Green Wave sits in sixth place in the league with an 8-7 record. Even if Tulane drops its final three games of the year, it should be a lock for the postseason tournament: the program has a three-game lead and the tiebreaker over the 5-10, 11th-place Rice Owls.
If Tulane manages to win all three games, it could find a way to jump into the league's top four teams and earn a bye in the tournament -- depending on how things shake out with everyone else, of course. The odds of this happening are slim, but still possible.
The Green Wave will begin its battle with the Bulls on Sunday at 11 a.m. Although the program is taking things one game at a time, it's hard not to look ahead at the final two games of the season. Tulane will play its final road game of the year against the Temple Owls on Thursday, March 5th, before wrapping up the regular season at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse against the Memphis Tigers on Sunday, March 8th.