Plauderecke » Tulane opened the season with a 71-49 home loss to

Brooklyn, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of teams off to impressive starts get together at the Barclays Center on Sunday afternoon, as the Tulane Green Wave challenge the 17th-ranked St. Johns Red Storm in the Brooklyn Hoops Winter Festival. Tulane opened the season with a 71-49 home loss to Wake Forest, but then reeled off nine consecutive victories, including a 59-54 decision against Mississippi State on Dec. 6. The Green Wave are 8-1 at home, but 1-1 on the road, where they played their last game and fell to the Washington Huskies three days before Christmas, 66-57. Next up, Tulane will begin its inaugural season as a member of the American Athletic Conference with a New Years Eve tilt at fellow conference newcomer East Carolina. At 10-1, St. Johns is off to its best start since 1990-91, and the team is riding the wave of a six-game win streak. It is also Steve Lavins best start in his 11-year career as a head coach. The Red Storm have won their last six games since suffering their lone setback to Gonzaga on Nov. 28 (73-66). St. Johns, which knocked off visiting Long Beach State last Monday in its most recent outing (66-49), is slated to tip off its Big East Conference slate at Seton Hall on New Years Eve. This bout marks the third meeting all-time between these two teams, with Tulane winning first two, the most recent of which took place at the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii back in December of 2007 (79-71). Tulane had a rough time of it at both ends of the court in its recent clash with Washington, shooting only 31.7 percent from the field, while allowing the Huskies to connect on 52.1 percent of their total shots. The Green Wave were actually more efficient from out on the perimeter, knocking down 7-of-17 3- point tries (.412), but they converted only 12-of-20 free throws. Dylan Osetkowski came off the bench to score a team-high 12 points, and he grabbed nine rebounds for good measure, while Jay Hook tallied 11 points and Jonathan Stark 10 more for a TU squad that won the battle on the boards (36-33), while goading the Huskies into 18 turnovers. Tulane, which is playing at the Brooklyn Nets home arena for the third straight season, is led by Louis Dabneys 12.5 ppg. Hook is hot on his heels with 12.0 ppg, and Stark is close behind at 11.3 ppg, while also serving as the teams primary playmaker with 3.6 apg. As a team, the Green Wave are putting up 71.5 ppg in hitting 46.7 percent of their field goal attempts, which includes a 35.3 percent showing from beyond the arc. Conversely, their opponents are netting 61.0 ppg behind typical shooting efforts of .425 overall and .283 from 3-point land. Factor in a +6.5 rebounding margin and its not difficult to see why the team is off to such a solid start. St. Johns put the clamps on Long Beach State in its most recent outing, as it held the 49ers to 32.3 percent field goal efficiency and forced 17 turnovers. The Red Storm had four starters score in double figures, and the one that didnt (DAngelo Harrison - nine points, 10 rebounds) came with a single point of logging a double-double. Chris Obekpa and Phil Greene IV paced the team with 16 points apiece, while SirDominic Pointer and Jamal Brach added 11 points each. Pointer was credited with half of the teams 14 assists. LBSU scored only two points at the free-throw line, but did manage to outscore the Red Storm from distance, draining seven treys compared to only three for the home team. St. Johns is led by Harrisons 18.8 ppg, while Rysheed Jordan adds 14.5 ppg, Greene 11.5 ppg and Pointer 10.4 ppg. Obekpa spearheads the teams rebounding effort with 8.8 rpg, and he gets help in that area from both Pointer (7.9 rpg) and Harrison (6.9 rpg). Overall, the Red Storm are putting up 70.8 ppg in hitting 44.1 percent of their total shots, but only 31.3 percent of their 3- point attempts. The teams defensive effort has been superb, with foes netting a mere 58.3 ppg behind shooting efforts that see it finding the bottom of the net 36.3 percent of the time, including a 28.4 percent performance from beyond the arc. Opponents have really struggled at the charity stripe (.591), while also turning the ball over nearly 15 times per contest. Eli Manning Giants Jersey . Johnny Manziel, college footballs most entertaining player with the reputation for pulling off magical plays, was selected with the No. Eli Manning Youth Jersey . "Its embarrassing what were doing here," leading scorer Phil Kessel said Wednesday. The most recent failed season came with even more pain than the six that preceded it. There was no hint of an impending implosion when the Leafs came roaring out of the all-star break with back-to-back games against Pittsburgh -- a 5-4 shootout loss followed by a 1-0 win the next night. http://www.authenticnygiantspro.com/ .500 were once common achievements for the Dallas Mavericks. Now, both are season highs as Dallas slowly works its way back into playoff contention in the Western Conference. Deandre Baker Jersey . - The Florida Panthers are getting some Army training to finish off their preparations for the season. Doug Kotar Youth Jersey . In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil.Coral Gables, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Miami-Florida Hurricanes will attempt to bounce back from their first loss of the season when they host the Savannah State Tigers in a non-conference clash at BankUnited Center on Monday evening. Savannah State is in the midst of five-game road trip, which began with an ugly 95-49 loss at Indiana on Saturday. The Tigers have lost four of their last five games overall, and all six of their road contests. They will visit Kansas State next. After producing wins in each of their first eight games, the Hurricanes finally stumbled on Saturday, dropping a 68-55 decision to Green Bay in the third leg of a five-game homestand. They will finish up the stretch of home games on Friday against Eastern Kentucky before tangling with Providence as part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational. Miami has won each of the four previous meetings with Savannah State, including a 68-51 victory last season. Obviously, nothing went right at either end of the court for the Tigers against Indiana. They made just 32.1 percent of their field goal attempts, while converting only 8-of-15 free throws. When they had their backs to the basket, the Tigers allowed the Hoosier to drain 57.4 percent of their total shots, which included a 10-of-21 showing from beyond the arc. They also suffered a 42-24 deficit on the glass. Demarcus Bryant scored 14 points on 5- of-15 shooting off the bench as the top scorer in the loss.dddddddddddd Savannah State has been inconsistent on offense this season, the team making good on only 38.1 percent of its field goal tries, while netting a meager 57.1 points per game. They are only assisting on 8.9 field goals per game as well, while letting up 74.3 points per game on 45.6 percent accuracy. Not a single player on the roster is averaging in double figures, with Javaris Jenkins (9.1 ppg) acting as the leading scorer. Miami had offensive problems of its own against Green Bay, connecting on a mere 32.8 percent of its shots, on its home floor no less. In addition, the Hurricanes were outrebounded, 46-37, while letting the Phoenix cash in on 43.9 percent of their field goal attempts. Deandre Burnett netted a game-high 21 points, but it still came in a loss. The good news for Miami is it wasnt overwhelmed by Green Bay when it was on defense. The Hurricanes have been stronger at that end this season, allowing a mere 61 points per game on 39.2 percent shooting. The Hurricanes certainly need to get back to the consistent shooting (.469 FG percentage) that they have demonstrated for much of this season. Sheldon McClellan (16.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg) has been a major part of the offense and he did have 16 points against Green Bay. Angel Rodriguez (13.9 ppg, 4.3 apg, 2.7 spg), Manu Lecomte (12 ppg) and Burnett (12.2 ppg) have produced for the most part as well. ' ' '