The Tulane men’s basketball team officially kicks off its season as the Green Wave faces Alabama A&M for the 2015-2016 debut at 8 p.m. Friday in Devlin Fieldhouse.

Alabama A&M finished its 2014-2015 season 9-20, 8-10 Southwestern Athletic Conference.

The face-off against Alabama comes after an 89-69 victory over the Loyola New Orleans Wolf Pack in an exhibition game in Devlin Fieldhouse on Nov. 5. Both teams started slow offensively, but Tulane managed to pull ahead by the end of the first half.

The Green Wave looks to start its official season with a similar victory. Tulane finished the 2014-2015 season 15-16 overall and 6-12 in the American Athletic Conference, finishing seventh of 12 teams in the conference.

This year’s roster notes the addition of five freshmen and two transfer students, along with six returning members of last year’s team. Redshirt-junior guard Malik Morgan is among the new members of the squad, after sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules. Graduate student and forward Jernard Jarreau, a native to New Orleans, makes his debut with the Wave as well, after spending the last four years at Washington.

The 2015-2016 season lineup is a challenging one, with face-offs scheduled against two Atlantic Coast Conference opponents as well as seven matchups with 2015 postseason participants.

The addition of freshmen forwards Taron Oliver and Blake Paul, 6-9/310 and 6-9/230, respectively, adds considerable size and freshmen guards Von Julien, Kain Harris and Melvin Frazier brings a new level of athleticism to the team. Morgan’s debut showed promise as well leading the team with 24 points in the exhibition game against Loyola.

“We’re excited, we can’t wait for the season to get started, just to get out there in front of the fans and hopefully the students will give us great support this year,” head coach Ed Conroy said.