Ricky Tarrant exploded.
The sophomore guard made Tulane look more like the Green Tsunami than the Green Wave during a 20-0 run to start the second half that turned a tie game into an 83-62 blowout against Hofstra at Barclays Center on Saturday afternoon.
“Ricky’s had some great moments in his career where he just explodes,” Tulane head coach Ed Conroy said. “Tonight I knew after he hit the first one, it really got Ricky going and from there, you saw the smile on his face and knew he was going to explode.”
After going into the locker room tied at 30, Tulane (10-3) simply overwhelmed Hofstra thanks to the sharpshooting of Tarrant and an aggressive defense. Tarrant opened up the second half by scoring 13 straight points for the Green Wave thanks to three consecutive treys, two free throws and a layup. Tarrant finished with a game-high 28 points.
“It wasn’t necessarily adjustments at halftime, it was more getting back to what we do and what we planned on doing coming in,” Conroy said. “We got the ball handling under control in the second half and were able to jump into some passing lanes and that’s when we’re at our best.”
The 20-0 run was just too much for the Pride to overcome. Outside of the first 3:28 of the second half, the two teams were evenly matched, with Tulane barely outscoring Hofstra 63-62.
“It’s a tough one,” Hofstra coach Mo Cassara said. “We had a defensive breakdown to start the second half and then we didn’t have the fortitude to fight through that and get the game back close.
“You have to give a lot of credit to Tulane, Tarrant is a terrific player and obviously we struggled from there.”
Hofstra (3-9) looked to be in control at one point in the game. The Pride jumped on Tulane early, opening up a seven-point lead in the first half after big man Moussa Kone pulled down an offensive rebound and scored a layup to give Hofstra a 25-18 lead.
“I’m really proud of the way our team came out today,” Cassara said. “I thought we really could have been up eight or ten points at halftime. I thought we shared the ball, moved the ball, battled on defense.”
Hofstra’s guard duo of Taran Buie and Stevie Mejia was completely outplayed by the Green Wave backcourt of Tarrant and Jordan Callahan. Buie and Mejia finished with 24 points on 8-of-36 shooting compared to the 43 combined points of Tarrant and Callahan.
“No question [we rushed shots],” Cassara said. “That’s something that we really have to work on. I thought we had a lot of really good opportunities by the basket that just didn’t go in.”
The seven-game losing streak is the longest for the Pride since it lost eight straight during the 2002-03 season. Hofstra’s last win came on Nov. 18 against Marshall.
“[We need to] take a little vacation, take a couple of days off. Obviously we’re all frustrated, we all want to win,” Cassara said. “We have to find a way to gut out some wins and starting January we’re 0-0 going into [conference play].”
asulla-heffinger@nypost.com