Former Tulane forward Kevin Cross was indicted for point shaving during the 2023-24 season on Thursday morning in a Pennsylvania federal court as part of a sweeping investigation that also involved Nicholls State, included more than 39 men’s basketball players on 17 NCAA teams and started a year earlier in Chinese professional basketball.
According to the indictment, Cross, then a senior, was approached in mid-February of 2023 and offered payment to underperform in a Feb. 18 game at East Carolina. He proceeded to take only two shots in 32 minutes while scoring a season-low four points — far below his team-leading average of 17.5 — as the Green Wave lost 81-67 as a 2½-point underdog. Federal prosecutors said he was paid approximately $30,000 after the fixers raked in at least $140,000 from bets placed on East Carolina.
Two weeks later, Cross agreed to shave points in a March 2 game at Florida Atlantic according to the indictment, but that attempt was unsuccessful. He scored 14 points and Tulane, a 15-point underdog, rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to lose by only six. The fixers lost around $200,000.
Unlike in other cases in the indictment, there is no mention of Cross being approached again to make up for the alleged failed attempt.
Tulane released a statement Thursday afternoon addressing the indictment.
“Tulane takes the integrity of intercollegiate athletics and the well-being of our student-athletes very seriously. We cooperate fully with the NCAA and, where appropriate, with law enforcement authorities. Because this matter involves an ongoing legal process, the university is unable to comment further at this time. We remain committed to upholding the highest ethical standards as well as continuing to provide our student-athletes with education and resources on gambling risks, compliance, and personal responsibility.”
The two games Cross allegedly tried to fix were part of a dramatic, mystifying year-ending slide. Tulane, which returned three starters from a team that finished fourth in the American Conference, lost 11 of its last 13 games and finished in a five-way tie for last in a league weakened by the departure of Houston, Cincinnati and Central Florida for the Big 12.
Earlier in the season, Cross became the eighth player in NCAA history to register back-to-back triple-doubles and the first in 15 years to do it against consecutive Division I opponents.
“I was just surprised to see that (indictment) as much like everyone else this morning,” seventh-year Tulane coach Ron Hunter said Thursday. “I can’t comment too much about it and don’t know much about it to be honest with you. I’m saddened to a point that any of my former guys would be involved in anything, but it’s where we are in college athletics now.”
Cross was a four-year starter for Tulane after transferring from Nebraska in 2020-21. He scored 1,517 points, had 717 rebounds and handed out 394 assists with the Wave.
Former Nicholls reserve forward Omar Koureissi also was indicted for point shaving in the 2023-24 season, allegedly receiving $32,000 along with unindicted teammate Diante Smith, the Colonels’ leading scorer. Nicholls, a 12-point underdog to Southland Conference frontrunner McNeese State lost 74-47 on Feb. 17 while Koureissi went scoreless and Smith scored 13, three under his average.
The fixers wagered about $100,000 on the game, the report said.
Nicholls coach Tevon Saddler was in his first season with the Colonels in 2023-24. They finished 20-14 overall and 13-5 in the Southland, losing to McNeese State in the conference tournament championship game.
Smith and Koureissi each played only one year at Nicholls. Smith transferred to Texas-Arlington after the season, finishing his eligibility in 2024-25. Koureissi transferred to Texas Southern, where he is a senior this year.
Nicholls released the following statement Thursday afternoon:
“Nicholls State University is strongly against any acts that go against our values and expectations. The Nicholls Athletics Department continues to provide gambling awareness education to student-athletes and does not tolerate participation in illegal gambling activities.”
Former LSU player Antonio Blakeney was named but uncharged in the 70-page indictment, although not for anything he did while he was a member of the Tigers. Prosecutors said he was paid nearly $200,000 for fixing two games in the Chinese Basketball Association’s 2022-23 season and then helped recruit players for the point-shaving schemes in college games, including Cross, Koureissi and Smith.
Blakeney played for the Tigers in 2015-16 and 2016-17 and spent the following two years in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls.
UNO, which had three former players banned for life by the NCAA this past November following a probe into sports betting allegations, also appeared in the 70-page report. Former guard Carlos Hart, who started five games in 2023-24, was indicted for recruiting an unnamed teammate to help shave points in the Privateers’ 2023-24 Southland tournament game against Lamar.
UNO, an 11-point underdog, lost 71-57, finishing its season 10-23 while Hart went 0 of 3 from the floor and scored one point. Hart received $20,000 in cash as a result, according to the indictment. He did not play anywhere last season before resurfacing at Eastern Michigan this year.
The current climate left Tulane’s Hunter shaking his head.
“A hundred thoughts go through your head with a lot of things, but the most important thing for me was my team,” he said. “I met with the guys with the understanding it had nothing to do with any of them, but also to teach it as an educational point. You better make sure that you need to take care of what you need to take care of.”
Hunter admitted point-shaving concerns would not go away.
“You can’t control it,” he said. “Gambling is what it is. It’s been that way since Pete Rose, and now it’s just too accessible with phones and those types of things, but my job is to educate my guys as best as we possibly can. That’s what we wanted to get done today. The rest of it has to take care of itself.”
