LSU Recap

The Tulane men's basketball team finally got rid of the curse that's been hanging around for almost 26 years by defeating LSU 68-63. It was a complete team effort with Donnie Stith and Johnny Mayhanne providing big efforts off of the bench. As usual, the Wave were led by David Gomez who had a double-double, and Kevin Sims, who committed zero turnovers in 30+ minutes of action.

It was a back-and-forth affair all night long, but the Wave came through when it mattered in the final three minutes. With the game tied at 63, Daniel Puckett hit a jumper in the lane to give Tulane the lead. After Anthony Randolph missed a baseline jumper, Puckett then hit one of two free throws to make it a three point game. This forced LSU to shoot a low-percentage three from the baseline on its next possession. Stith then hit two free throws for the final margin of victory.

Stat of the Game

17-19 FT's

Tulane shot an impressive 90% from the line that made sure that each possession did not go wasted. LSU meanwhile, was only 9-14 from the line.

Player of the Game

Donnie Stith

It is hard to pick out one player that is deserving of this award, but Stith made some key free throws late in the game and grabbed key offensive rebounds that allowed Tulane extra possessions.

Post-Game Quotes

Tulane coach Dave Dickerson

On beating LSU for the first time since 1982:

"What a great win for our program, our guys played extremely hard for 40 minutes and everyone stepped up."

On the Wave's excellent free-throw shooting:

"We felt that LSU had to foul us because they were so small inside"

"(jokingly) I'll take credit for the free throw shooting. The offseason work on free throw shooting, where we made everyone shoot 350 free throws, definitely helped us tonight at the line."

On Johnny Mayhanne:

"He's a talented player that didn't get to play much last season because of a knee injury.It was just his night to step up and he made some big shots."

On the team's future:

"I hope we continue to get support from the fans, there are great things going on with this basketball team."

Tulane forward David Gomez

On beating LSU:

"I can't even begin to describe how it feels to beat LSU being from Baton Rouge."

On being able to control the lane:

"We outweighed them and were able to negate their length because we were able to get far enough into the lane."

"The foul trouble on (Anthony) Randolph was part of the gameplan because they only play 7 or 8 guys."

LSU Coach John Brady

"We gave ourselves a chance to win it at the end, and that's all you can ask for. I'm not disappointed with the effort that we gave out there tonight"

"That's the best Tulane team we've played since the rivalry was renewed."