Tulane wins battle for Freret

Monday’s exhibition against Loyola University marked the first game this season for the Tulane’s men’s basketball program under fifth-year head coach Dave Dickerson. Tulane defeated Loyola, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, by a final score of 78-64.

Tulane center Asim McQueen takes a jump hook over an undersized Loyola defender.

Junior guard Kris Richards led Tulane in scoring with 27 points in 29 minutes. Richards was nine of 11 from the field, including going five of five from three-point range and sinking all four of his free throw attempts. Richards also added two blocks and two steals.

Senior guard Kevin Sims started at point guard for the Green Wave. In 25 minutes, Sims scored 17 points, going seven of 10 from the field and three of four from beyond the arc. The 5-foot-10 Sims also added two rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Tulane scored 37 points off of Loyola turnovers and played a quicker style of basketball than Loyola could handle. Credit Dave Dickerson for getting his team to play their kind of basketball rather than trying to match up one-on-one against Loyola. Though that strategy surely would have been successful against the overmatched Wolfpack, the Green Wave are going to have to rely on their quickness and outside shooting to make up for a deficiency in the paint this season against stronger opponents.

In fact, those problems could be seen even against Loyola. Tulane was outscored in the paint 32-28 and only had one more rebound than Loyola. Starting center Asim McQueen — who is more suited for the power forward position — played 20 minutes and scored only four points, adding two rebounds but failing to record a block.

Dickerson, however, was able to play around this weakness with an up-tempo game highlighted by quality shooting. Green Wave players shot 49.1 percent from the field and were nine of 18 from three-point range.

For Tulane to be successful this season without a strong presence inside, they will need the sort of performance they had against Loyola. Richards and Sims showed that they can score, the bench played well by adding 17 points and they shot well from the floor. It will not be easy, however, to overcome the lack of a true center who can play solid defense inside and grab rebounds.

Nevertheless, during the Loyola game, Dickerson showed that, with the right game plan in place and by riding the talented and productive Sims and Richards, Tulane could be contenders in Conference USA.