Ron Hunter got nervous as he watched the ball track toward the center of the net.
Hunter, Tulane’s irrepressible men’s basketball coach, had just offered two fans from the stands $1,000 out of his pocket if they could hit a half-court shot during the school’s first-ever Hoops Hullabaloo on Thursday night at Devlin Fieldhouse.
Contestant No. 1 had excellent form, following his shot in excitement as it went perfectly straight and … bounced off the inside of the front of the rim, flying away from the basket.
“I sure was (worried about the shot going in),” Hunter said after the 45-minute introductory pep rally for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. “My wife was like, ‘what are you doing?’”
Hoops interest is higher at Tulane now than at any time this century. After never being picked higher than third-to-last in eight previous years, the Green Wave men were tabbed by the American Athletic Conference coaches earlier this week.
The women were selected fifth. Lisa Stockton, who is 561-310 entering her 29th year with the Wave, is 16 victories away from passing former Louisiana Tech legend Leon Barmore on the all-time Division I wins list.
Stockton arrived dressed as pop-singer Pink, wearing all black. Hunter was decked out as Bruno Mars in a black shirt, baggy, shimmering gold pants and a gold necklace. Voice of the Green Wave Corey Gloor was the emcee for the event, which featured a 3-point shooting competition and a dunk contest.
“We used to do this at Georgia State,” Hunter said “I wanted to get people excited about basketball at Tulane again.”
The 3-point shooting event had four teams consisting of a fan, a men’s player and a women’s player, with each taking five shots. The trio featuring Jadan Coleman and freshman Jaylee Womack won easily, with Coleman and Womack each draining 7 of 10 shots in two rounds. Jaylen Forbes and Marta Galic each hit only 4 of 10 for the runner-up team.
“We are going to have a little talk about that one right there,” Hunter said jokingly of Forbes’ performance. “He had a bad shooting day at practice today, too.”
Junior Oton Jankovic, a 6-foot-10 forward, won the dunk contest, earning 10s across the board on his second attempt from a four-person judging panel that included athletic director Troy Dannen and Riptide, the Wave’s mascot. Jankovic donned the Croatian flag and raced in from half-court for a swooping, power jam.
Kevin Cross, who led after his first dunk, fell behind Jankovic and guard Sion James with a relatively tame second effort.
During an interlude, football players Nick Anderson and Tyrek Presley took the floor for some impromptu dancing, among others.
“It was great for our kids,” Hunter said. “We want some excitement to build up to our season. I loved getting the students out here and the football players coming out. Tulane athletics is on a different path now with what our football team is doing.”
The Tulane men play an exhibition against Spring Hill College on Nov. 2 and open against Maryland-Baltimore County on Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in an extended doubleheader that starts when the women face Grambling at 4. The women also have an exhibition against Loyola on Nov. 1.
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