Green Wave Drowns the Crimson Tide in Road Thriller

Josh Davis defends against Alabama 
The road hasn't treated Tulane well much this season. Luckily, the Green Wave has boasted a perfect home record so far.

While winning close road games has proven somewhat elusive, Tulane arrived in Tuscaloosa with an opportunity to turn the tide.

And that they did. Tulane downed a solid but slumping Alabama Crimson Tide in a 53-50 thriller. The offense struggled: a 36% field goal percentage proved that. Nonetheless, clutch shooting and lockdown defense buoyed the team in this grinding matchup.

In the end, Jordan Callahan took the game into his own hands. He nailed back-to-back threes in the final two minutes to hold on to a narrow lead. Josh Davis showed his superstar ability with another clutch double-double: 18 points and 12 rebounds. Rather than fouling Alabama (who held the final possession), Tulane forced Rodney Cooper of Alabama to miss a final opportunity to tie at the buzzer.

All in all, this game thematically represented a big shift from earlier losses against Nebraska and San Diego. In the final ten minutes - on a court outside of New Orleans - the Green Wave traded blows and refused to surrender the lead.

So what does this mean for Tulane's big picture? Depends how you look at it. As the Alabama blogs noted before this win, Tulane's 10 wins all were previously against teams ranking 221st or worse in Ken Pomeroy's analysis.

Fair point. Tulane has succeeded largely by rocking lesser competition with a great level of consistency. This win definitely changes that perspective a little bit. Alabama ranked 68th in that same measurement of offensive/defensive efficiency and schedule strength. So if nothing else, Tulane acquires a little credibility and confidence.

Photo of the win from @CoachAndyFox on Twitter
That said, Alabama's early season 7-0 rise (which was even highlighted by a few weeks receiving votes in the polls) gave way to a pretty abysmal December. They lost 4 out of their last five (two to tournament teams, Cincinnati and VCU, admittedly). So basically, the Crimson Tide was definitely on the ropes. They needed this win badly.

They aren't playing like an elite team right now, but they had the weapons to win on their home court. They badly needed to win a game like this to route the ship back on course. However, Tulane showed up ready to win this game. Plain and simple. And I don't think you can really diminish the value of that.

Tulane will finish its non-conference season this week with a Jan. 4th matchup against a weak Wofford team. If they can maintain this level of play, they will enter Conference USA with a 12-3 record, 9-0 at the remodeled Devlin Fieldhouse.

While the Green Wave will have to answer some big questions against teams like Memphis, Southern Mississippi, and UTEP down the road, they have established momentum in this midseason. The players don't control scheduling. They took care of business when it counted and will look to translate this into a solid start in conference play.

Tonight, it's all about the roll wave.

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