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Nov. 25, 2002

Stony Brook, N.Y. - The Stony Brook men's basketball team travels to St. John's Tuesday night to take on the Red Storm. Stony Brook (1-0) is coming off a 75-64 win over Sacred Heart while St. John's begins its season against the Seawolves.

BACKDROP: Stony Brook and St. John's hook up for the fourth straight year, the third straight at Alumni Hall, on Tuesday night. Stony Brook comes into the game with 1-0 record after an overtime victory over Sacred Heart on Saturday.

RADIO/INTERNET: Game will be carried live on WUSB 90.1 FM and 1050 AM. Game can also be heard live on the internet at www.goseawolves.org

HEAD-TO-HEAD: St. John's has won all three meetings between the two teams. Stony Brook vs. St John's 11/23/99 St. John's 84 at Stony Brook 43 11/18/00 at St. John's 92 Stony Brook 62 11/17/01 at St. John's 72 Stony Brook 55

LAST YEAR: Willie Shaw scored 13 points while Sharif Fordham and Kyle Cuffe added 12 apiece to lead the Red Storm to a 72-55 win over SB. D.J. Munir lead all Stony Brook scorers with 15 points.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S: The Red Storm kick off their season against Stony Brook. SJU returns its top three scorers from a season ago in Marcus Hatten (20.1), Anthony Glover (10.9) and Eric King (7.6). The Red Storm are coming off a 20-12 campaign and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

VERSUS THE BIG EAST: Stony Brook is 0-8 all-time against Big East schools. After tonight the Seawolves will play two more games this season against Big East schools -- Boston College (Dec. 15) and Seton Hall (Dec. 31)

JAY MAC ATTACK: Junior forward Jairus McCollum willed a Stony Brook victory on Saturday against Sacred Heart. The 6-5 forward set new career highs in points scored (21), rebounds (14), assists (5) and steals (3) en route to his first collegiate double-double. McCollum has emerged as the X-factor for the Seawolves during his two plus years at the Brook. During that time, he has scored in double figures on 20 occasions and the Seawolves have gone 15-5 in those games.

STONY BROOK LINEUP: Stony Brook's starting lineup will likely feature three starters who suited up against St. John's last season in Mike Orfini, Jairus McCollum and Mike Konopka. The two new faces will be point guard Larry Jennings and center JonPaul Kobryn.

BOBBY SOCKS 'EM: Rookie Bobby Santiago enjoyed an impressive Seawolf debut against Sacred Heart. The former standout at All Hallows HS in the Bronx came off the bench to score 16 points and hand out four assists. Santiago came through in the clutch, scoring nine of his 16 points in the overtime period, including the jumper that put SB ahead for good with just over three minutes to go.

THE JPK ADMINISTRATION: Center JonPaul Kobryn scored 12 points and pulled down five rebounds in the season opener. He averaged 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds last season.

RADIO GA-GA: Stony Brook and Island Talk WLIE 540-AM entered an agreement to broadcast eight men's and eight women's basketball games this season, it was announced on Saturday. It is the biggest commercial radio deal for the Brook since moving to the Division I level.

FAMILIAR FACES: Kobryn will recognize a player in the other uniform tonight. Both he and St. John's guard Elijah Ingram starred for St. Anthony High School.

IMPROVING D FROM THREE: Last year, SB's opponents shot over 37 percent from three-point range. The Seawolves limited Sacred Heart to 11.8 percent (2-17) from behind the arc.

LENDING A HAND: Stony Brook recorded 18 assists on its 27 baskets against Sacred Heart.

SLOW STARTS: Stony Brook will hope to avoid a slow start against the Red Storm tonight. The Brook hit only one of its first 16 shots against Sacred Heart.

FIVE FOR FIGHTING: Stony Brook had five players score in double figures against Sacred Heart, the first time that SB has had five or more players score in double figures since November 29, 2000 vs. New Hampshire when Jairus McCollum (12), Josh Little (12), Chris Balliro (12), D.J. Munir (12), and Leon Brisport (11) all went for double figures in a 67-60 road win.

FIRST THINGS FIRST: Stony Brook's win over Sacred Heart was its first season-opening win at the Division I level and first since November 10, 1997.

IF IT'S FOR FREE: Stony Brook has had trouble from the free throw line in two games this year. Against SHU, SB shot only 18-32 (.563) from the line, a performance that followed a 10-22 effort in an exhibition matchup against the One World All-Stars. Stony Brook has traditionally shot well from the charity stripe -- it shot 71 percent as a team last year.

SEASON OPENERS: Stony Brook is now 24-17 all-time in season openers. The Seawolves are 1-3 in openers at the Division I level. The last time SB won its first road game of the season was in 1992.

GETTING OFF TO A GOOD START: The Seawolves are hungry to get off to a good start this season. Last year, the first win did not come until game number seven against Cleveland State and SB went on to drop 12 of its first 13 games.

HITTING THE BOARDS: Stony Brook outrebounded the Pioneers 48-39 on Saturday, a critical stat in the win. Even more impressive was that 23 of 48 came of the offensive end. Last year the Seawolves outrebounded opponents only seven times in 28 games.

GOOD AND SEVENTY: There are more early signs that things may be different for Stony Brook this season. The Seawolves finished with 75 points versus the Pioneers. SB scored 70 or more points only four times last season.

WORKING OVERTIME: The Seawolves overtime win against Sacred Heart was its first since a 67-63 overtime triumph over Columbia on December 9, 2000. SB had lost three straight overtime games.

IT'S A JERSEY THING: Stony Brook has several New Jersey natives has have developed into big contributors. Jairus McCollum (Mt. Holly, N.J./Rancocas Valley HS), Mike Konopka (Tom River, N.J./Tom River East HS) and JonPaul Kobryn (Bayonne, N.J./St. Anthony HS) will all be in the starting lineup against St. John's.

THE LOOK FROM DOWNTOWN: Stony Brook will also look to improve on its three-point shooting from last season. The Seawolves shot only 33 percent from behind the arc and averaged only 4.2 threes per game, the worst in the America East. SB needs to improve on the defensive end in this area as well. The Seawolves were also dead last in three-point field goal percentage defense as opponents connected on 37 percent of their three-pointers last season.

17 AGAIN?: Stony Brook is hoping to bounce back from a 6-22 season last year just like they did two years ago following a 6-23 record. In 1999-00, the Seawolves posted a 6-23 mark in their first foray into Division I competition. But if a six-win season is any indication of what will happen the following year, the signs are good for SB. Stony Brook followed the 6-23 campaign with a 17-11 record, one of the most successful seasons in the program's history.

SEE YOU IN DECEMBER: The Seawolves will be without last year's second-team All-Conference pick D.J. Munir until late December. Munir led the team in scoring, assists and free throw percentage last season. Academically ineligible for the first semester, Munir is expected to join the Seawolves following the completion of the first semester's exam schedule. The Sacred Heart game will be the first game that Munir has missed since setting foot on campus as a freshman. Munir will also be joined by a few transfers. Cori Spencer (Fordham), Tyrone Stallings (Fordham) and Al Hannah (Dominican) will also become eligible to compete in late December.

LARRY'S BACK: Senior guard Larry Jennings returns to the lineup after suffering through a difficult 2001-02 season. The St. Joe's (Pa.) transfer expected to make big splash last year but broke his foot in preseason practice and never fully recovered. He attempted to make a comeback in late December but it was discovered after seven games that the foot had healed improperly. Jennings underwent season-ending surgery and now is ready to play in his first season-opening game since 1999.