GAME NOTES: The Minnesota Golden Gophers and the St. John's Red Storm will face off at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night as part of the NIT Season Tip-Off.

The winner will advance to Friday's championship game to play either Gonzaga or Georgia, while the losers also play Friday in the third-place game.

St. John's has started the season off red hot with three straight wins, all at home. The Red Storm last played on Nov. 19 and dismissed cross-town rival LIU Brooklyn, 66-53

Minnesota opened the season with an 81-68 loss to nationally-ranked Louisville in the Armed Forces Classic in Puerto Rico, but it rebounded nicely from that setback with three straight wins. The Gophers most recently downed UMBC on Saturday, 69-51, to close out a three-game homestand.

The Red Storm and the Gophers have never before played one another in men's basketball.

The Red Storm faced a slight deficit early in the second half of their most recent game but pulled away late in the contest to secure the 13-point victory. They shot an impressive 48.1 percent from the field, but the big story came on the other end of the floor, where they held LIU Brooklyn to only 29.6 percent shooting. Sir'Dominic Pointer was a force in the paint with 18 points, eight rebounds and six blocks, while his running mate at forward Chris Obekpa (10 rebounds, eight blocks) was also a difference maker. Rysheed Jordan netted 15 points in the triumph and D'Angelo Harrison added 14 points and seven boards.

On the season, St. John's has controlled both ends of the floor with strong margins in terms of scoring (+15.0), rebounding (+8.0) and turnovers (+2.3) while outshooting its opponents from the field, 45.8 percent to 34 percent. Harrison is a nightly double-double threat with 18.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg. Jordan (17.3 ppg), Pointer (13.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg), Phil Greene IV (9.3 ppg) and Obekpa (8.7 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 4.7 bpg) round out the strong starting five.

The Gophers allowed UMBC to hang around for most of their latest game, as they led by just six midway through the second half, but they got hot toward the end of the contest to pull away, leading by as many as 23 down the stretch. They shot a modest 40 percent from the field on the evening, including just 6- of-23 from 3-point range, but on the other end of the court they forced UMBC into more turnovers (23) than field goals (17). Maurice Walker scored a team- best 15 points to go with five blocks, Andre Hollins poured in 12 points, and DeAndre Mathieu (eight points, eight assists) and Carlos Morris (nine points, nine rebounds) both flirted with double-doubles.

It was an uncharacteristic offensive showing for Minnesota, which shoots just shy of 46 percent from the field for 80.5 ppg. Its defensive prowess has been well established, as it allows only 60.8 ppg. Hollins scores 13.3 ppg and has been on point from beyond the arc (10-of-19). Walker puts up 11.8 ppg, Nate Mason (10.8 ppg) is a valuable asset off the bench and Morris brings 10.8 ppg to the table.

These evenly matched teams will likely be in for a back-and-forth battle from the very start, but St. John's, which plays several home games a season at MSG, will use its suffocating interior defense to take care of the Gophers.