Watch: Tulane’s Freshman Kevin Zhang scores 24 points in his NCAA debut against Florida State

Energized by a large crowd at Devlin Fieldhouse, Tulane matched No. 15 Florida State basket for basket in a very competitive first half during its season opener on Sunday night.

Then, when reality appeared to be setting in after the break, freshman Kevin Zhang went on a scoring spree to keep the Green Wave in contact a little longer before the Seminoles pulled away to win 80-69 in front of 2,351 fans.

Zhang, who had a scholarship offer from UCLA, poured in 17 of his game-high 24 points in the second half in a burst of brilliance, bringing the Wave back from a 15-point deficit almost single-handedly. After igniting the fans with a dunk off a baseline drive, he scored 10 points in succession, hitting a pair of 3s, an acrobatic lay-up and an easy basket in transition.

“I didn’t know about him before this game, but now I do, man,” said FSU guard Terance Mann, who finished with 21 points. “I’m going to be following him. He’s really good.”

Zhang went 9 of 13 overall and 4 of 5 from 3-point range, adding a team-best seven rebounds, but it was not quite enough against the ultra-talented Seminoles (2-0), who blasted Florida 81-60 in their home opener on Tuesday and returned most of the contributors from an Elite 8 team.

Jordan Cornish’s 3-point play cut Tulane’s deficit to 62-56 with 8:26 left, but the Wave came no closer, extending a drought against ranked opponents that dates back to December of 1999.

Still, this was an encouraging performance at the start of coach Mike Dunleavy’s third season. Playing with four freshmen in its rotation of eight as normal starting point guard Ray Ona Embo sat out while recovering from patellar tendinitis, Tulane exhibited more composure than in narrow exhibition escape against Loyola.

Zhang’s explosion looked nothing like a one-off performance.

“Before the game I was a little nervous, but coach told me to just play hard,” he said. “In the second half I was trying to win the game, be aggressive and go to the boards.”

The Seminoles were not totally in the clear until Zhang’s final shot, a step-back jumper, bounced off the rim with 43 seconds left when Tulane trailed by 8.

The gap was even closer in the first half, which featured 13 consecutive lead changes in one long stretch before a Mann 3-pointer gave the Seminoles the lead for good, 29-27.

Despite going without a basket for the last seven minutes, the Wave trailed 39-35 at the break.

Sehic, a junior who started in the post, dominated the first half, scoring 17 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the floor. FSU 7-foot-4 center Christ Koumadje, played two minutes before picking up his second foul and going to the bench.

“They had an excellent strategy of involving their center stepping away from the basket and creating some challenges for Koumadgje,” FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said. “It wasn’t as much about what we didn’t do as about them having an effective game plan.”

And Zhang.

“I’ve been practicing with him for the last four or five months, so it was no surprise to us,” Sehic said. “It was no surprise to us. It was awesome to see how he handled the environment, but we know he is capable of it.”