Ron Hunter’s Tulane teams traditionally start slow as newcomers try to figure out their roles and get comfortable in his hard-to-learn, trademark matchup defense.

Not this time.

The Green Wave set the tone with tenacious half-court guarding early and rode the perfect shooting of Georgetown transfer Curtis Williams to a comfortable 85-72 opening-night home victory against Samford on Monday. Williams went 6 of 6 in the first half, drained two quick 3s after the break and finished 9 of 9 from the floor in Tulane’s first game since the drowning death of team leader Gregg Glenn over the summer.

Asher Woods led the Wave with 24 points. Williams contributed a career-high 22 after spending his first two years at Louisville and Georgetown, adding six rebounds two assists and a steal with zero tu

See Full Page