Tulane @ Colorado St. preview

Tulane and Colorado State take their perfect 2-0 records on the road Friday for their opening matchup of the 2017 Jamaica Classic in Montego Bay. The Rams come in after a thrilling 80-76 victory over defending Big South Conference champion Winthrop, while the Green Wave soundly defeated Southeastern Louisiana 89-66 Monday for their first 2-0 home start since 2013.

Picked to finish 10th out of 12 teams in the American Athletic Conference preseason poll, the Green Wave have been scoring almost at will in their first two contests, hitting 54.9 percent of their shots for an average of 95.5 points a game, a huge improvement from last year (70.3) in Mike Dunleavy's first season as head coach. Tulane has done it with surprising balance, with six scorers hitting double digits in the season-opening 102-96 win over LIU Brooklyn and five accomplishing the feat in the victory over Southeastern Louisiana. Last year, Tulane had at least five players score in double figures just four times and the team went 2-2 in those contests. Colorado State, with just three returning players with significant starting experience from a team that went 24-12 and reached the second round of the NIT, had balance in rallying from a 14-point deficit to defeat Winthrop, but the Rams have shown far less scoring punch overall, hitting on just 42.2 percent of their shots and averaging 76 points in their two victories.

TV: 2 p.m. ET, CBS.

ABOUT TULANE (2-0): Junior guard Melvin Frazier put it all together in the win over Southeastern Louisiana, registering his first career double-double with 25 points, including a personal-best four 3-pointers, and a team- and career-high 10 rebounds in addition to five assists to lead five Green Wave players in double-figures. Ray Ona Embo scored 14 points, Cameron Reynolds chipped in with 13 and Samir Sehic scored 12 off the bench thanks to a perfect 10-for-10 on free throws. Reynolds and Sehic each had six rebounds, while forward Blake Paul scored 10 points and tied the single-game school record with eight blocked shots.

ABOUT COLORADO STATE (2-0): The Rams rallied to defeat Winthrop with a prolific final 20 minutes in which they scored 48 points, led by point guard Prentiss Nixon, who posted 16 points, five rebounds and six assists for the game. "My job as the point guard is to get everyone involved, and in the first half, I think I did a poor job of doing that," Nixon told reporters afterward. "In the second half, we started moving the ball better and finding open people. Once we start making shots, everyone feeds off the energy. I take responsibility of the lack of offense in the first half, and I knew I needed to make a change for the second half." Nixon led five players in double figures, as sophomore Nico Carvacho registered a double-double with 11 points and a career-best 20 rebounds, junior Deion James chipped in with 14 points and five boards off the bench and Raquan Mitchell and J.D. Paige added 11 and 10, respectively.

TIP-INS

1. This will be the first meeting between Tulane and Colorado State.

2. A Colorado State win would give the Rams a 3-0 start for the fifth time in six years under head coach Larry Eustachy.

3. Dunleavy went just 6-25 in his first year as Tulane's head coach.

PREDICTION: Tulane 82, Colorado State 78