Tulane grounds UT Martin, 87-74

NEW ORLEANS – Freshman guard Shakwon Barrett had a night to remember as he scored a career high 26 points to lead the Tulane men’s basketball team to a convincing 87-74 win over UT-Martin Wednesday night at Avron B. Fogelman Arena in the Devlin Fieldhouse.

Seventeen of Barrett’s points came in the second half, as the Toronto, Ontario native shot an incredible 10-of-11 from the floor and reached double-figures for the second time this season. He also pulled down seven rebounds and dished out three assists.

“Coach just encouraged us to be aggressive,” Barrett said. “They were really hugging the 3-point line, and I was just taking what was there for me.”

Tulane (3-5) also received strong performances from sophomore Caleb Daniels, redshirt senior Jordan Cornish and junior Samir Sehic as they chipped in with 17, 14 and 12 points, respectively. Daniels also pulled down a career high 10 rebounds to record the first double-double of his career.

“In practice we have really been preaching rebounding the basketball, so that’s what we were focusing on coming into the game,” Daniels said.

Sehic also pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds to record his fourth career double-double and second of the year.

The Green Wave’s 13-point win over UT-Martin (3-3) snapped a four-game losing streak.

Tulane opened up a seven-point halftime lead (38-31) thanks to a 51.9 percent first-half shooting effort. Coming out of the locker room, Tulane opened up a 15-point lead with 16:37 to go. Four minutes later, Tulane increased its lead to 21 points and never looked back.

Tulane outshot UT-Martin by 20 percent on the evening and held a considerable advantage on the boards, as it out rebounded the Skyhawks 46-33. The Green Wave were especially tough in their perimeter defense, holding UT-Martin to just 13.8 percent shooting (4-for-29) from beyond the arc.

“From a defensive standpoint part of our main focus was defending the 3-point line because they have some guys who can really stroke the three,” head coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. said. “ I thought we defended well early and I really thought that carried over throughout the game.”

The Skyhawks were led by Fatodd Lewis’ 20 points, while Kevin Little added 15 off the bench.

The Green Wave return to action on Saturday, December 8 as they travel to South Alabama. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m.