Tulane falls short in opener to No. 17 Florida State, 80-69

NEW ORLEANS – Tulane University’s second half rally fell short as the Green Wave men’s basketball opened their 109th season with an 80-69 loss to 17th-ranked Florida State Sunday night at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Tulane freshman Kevin Zhang gave Green Wave fans an idea of what the future holds as he scored a game-high 24 points. Zhang connected on 9-of-13 shots from floor and was 4-of-5 from beyond the arc.

Zhang played a key role in helping the Green Wave storm back from a 15-point second half deficit and cut the Seminoles lead to six with 8:26 to go in the game. Zhang scored 10 points during the five-minute stretch which saw Tulane go on a 17-8 run.

Florida State responded by opening its lead back to 15 points with under five minutes to play and appeared to be in control, but the Green Wave would not go away. Tulane trimmed the Seminoles lead to eight points with less than a minute, but that was as close as the Green Wave would get to knocking off its first nationally-ranked opponent since 1999.

“Obviously when you play the game you want to win the game,” Tulane head coach Mike Dunleavy said. “I told our guys afterwards that there were a lot of areas where we could figure out where we could carve back some points – maybe two points in the areas of emphasis and we could have had a potential win. Overall, I was really pleased with our effort and for a lot of guys this was really the first time they have played at this level and I think they played with pretty good poise. I’m sure there were some jitters, but they got through that and contributed enough to give us a chance.”

In addition to his game-high 24 points, Zhang pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. He also dished out a pair of assists.

“Before the game I was a little nervous, but coach told me that if I play hard the nerves would go away,” Zhang said.

Zhang was not the only Tulane freshman to make an impact as fellow Green Wave rookies Connor Crabtree and Moses Wood combined to play 48 minutes and score 12 points.

“I thought they had an excellent game plan involving their center and having him step away from the basket and it was very effective,” Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton said. “You have to give them credit. It wasn’t as much about what we didn’t do, but it was about them having an excellent game plan and keeping their composure and not allowing us to speed them up.”

Tulane redshirt junior Samir Sehic also had a strong night as he scored 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting.

As a team, Tulane shot 23-for-52 (.442) from the field for the game.

Tulane was not intimidated by Florida State as it hung with the national-ranked Seminoles throughout the entire first half trailing by no more than six points. The Green Wave also held the lead for over five minutes.

Florida State took a 39-35 halftime lead. The Green Wave outshot the Seminoles 50-42.4 percent during the opening 20 minutes. Tulane also held a 16-15 rebounding advantage.

Sehic highlighted first half action for the Green Wave as he scored 17 points and connected on 5-of-6 shots from the floor, including 2-of-2 from beyond the arc.

Tulane returns to action on Tuesday as it welcomes Coastal Carolina. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.