The last tune-up for American Athletic Conference play went as expected for the Tulane men's basketball team.
Playing crosstown foe Dillard for the first time in 48 seasons, the Green Wave (9-3) ran away from its NAIA opponent 94-64 on Monday afternoon at home behind a career-high-tying 22 points and personal best 10 assists from sophomore point guard Kolby King.
King, a transfer from St. John’s who also scored 22 against Southern two weeks ago, ensured his first double-double with two passes 16 seconds apart right before heading to the bench for good with 6:02 left.
He turned down an uncontested dunk on the first one after receiving the ball from Greg Glenn 4 feet from the basket, flipping it back to Glenn for his own flush. After a quick Dillard miss, he tossed a long pass to Asher Woods for a run-out lay-up that made the score 79-45.
“I’m just believing in my coaching staff and my teammates,” King said. “I’m still getting used to things, but I’m putting the work in every day.”
King and the other starters sat out the rest of the way, allowing all 13 players who suited up to score. Walk-on sophomore Max Bowman notched his first career points on a 3 with 2:29 left.
After trailing by one on three occasions early, Tulane took control with a 21-2 run midway through the first half to go up 35-17 and led by double digits from there. It was the Wave’s first game since a 69-66 loss to George Mason on Dec. 22 after leading by 11 at halftime.
“The first five or six minutes is why I play games like this,” Tulane coach Ron Hunter said. “I call it the Christmas hangover effect. Every team in the country goes through that, so I appreciate Dillard giving us the opportunity to play. We wanted to get that taste out of our mouth from the last time we played, when we had a Christmas pre-hangover.”
Dillard was on the schedule because first-year Dillard coach Joseph Price was an assistant on Hunter’s staff when IUPUI reached the NCAA tournament in 2003 for the only time in program history.
“I hate playing my former assistants, but I want to also give them the opportunity,” Hunter said. “He worked with me for a few years and is a good guy. He’s doing a good job at Dillard.”
Still, this was a massive contrast from the teams’ previous five meetings, which took place from 1973-76 as part of a popular City Series event that included Xavier and sometimes SUNO. The Wave played all three teams in the Superdome in 1975-76, and it lost to Dillard and Xavier twice in that four-year span in matchups featuring future Seattle Supersonics players Slick Watts and Bruce Seals (Xavier) and NBA draft pick John “Machine Gun” Kelley (Dillard).
Dillard (7-5) listed Friday’s game as an exhibition, which it essentially was for both teams even though it counts on Tulane’s record. Hunter liked what he saw, including a season-high tying 24 assists on 30 baskets and the most made 3s (14 in 37 attempts) of the year.
Jaylen Forbes matched King’s 22 points. Sion James added 13 points and five assists. Collin Holloway had a career-best five block, including back-to-back emphatic rejections in the first half.
As tough as the defeat to George Mason was to take, Hunter remained optimistic heading into the AAC opener against Rice on Wednesday at home. Tulane’s non-conference record is its best in 12 years.
“Basketball’s such a long season,” he said. “I love where we are in this program. This is a good team. There are some good teams in our conference, and I tell you again we’re one of them.”