The La Salle Explorers men’s basketball team is off to a 5-2 start and senior Rodney Green has a little something to do with it. The Prep Charter grad is averaging a team-best 17 points and two steals to go along with 5.7 rebounds through seven contests. Last month, the 6-foot-5 guard was honored as La Salle’s Student Athlete of the Week, as well as a selection to the All-Tournament team at the Charleston Classic.

Saturday, in Kansas City, Green will be reunited with a couple of his former high school teammates when La Salle faces No. 1 Kansas in a 2 p.m. tilt. It’s where sophomore twins Marcus and Markieff Morris are creating double trouble for opposing squads. Marcus is contributing 10 points and 5.6 rebounds a contest while his sibling is chipping in 9.1 points and 5.7 rebounds. In Sunday’s 73-61 victory over UCLA, the 6-foot-9 Markieff led the way with a career-high 19 points while the 6-foot-8 Marcus grabbed nine boards.

Neumann-Goretti grad Rick Jackson has started all eight games for the undefeated Syracuse men’s basketball team and is averaging 8.3 points and 6.8 rebounds a game. In Saturday’s win over Maine, the junior tallied eight points, eight rebounds and a block. In the same match, fellow Neumann-Goretti product Antonio “Scoop” Jardine finished with 10 points, seven assists and five rebounds. The sophomore, who is averaging 21.6 minutes a night, leads the Orange with 48 assists.

At the University of Rhode Island, sophomore Jamal Wilson, who also played at 10th and Moore, is averaging six points per game for his 5-1 squad.

Staying in the Atlantic 10, Jason Love, of 22nd and Tasker streets, is averaging a double-double of 11 points and 10.9 rebounds a game as a senior for the Xavier Musketeers. In Friday’s 77-61 win over Kent State, he tallied 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

On North Broad Street, Southern grad Ramone Moore is contributing 5.9 points and 3.5 rebounds a game for the Temple University men’s basketball team. The 6-foot-4 guard is in his second season with the Owls.

Staying at Temple, freshman defensive end Kadeem Custis is going bowling Dec. 29 in Washington, D.C. as his football team has accepted an invitation EagleBank Bowl and will face either Army or UCLA. Kickoff is 4:30 p.m. on ESPN. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound athlete has seen action in nine of 12 games and has recorded three tackles. This is the first time in 30 years that Temple has qualified for a postseason game. In the 1979 Garden State Bowl, the Owls defeated California 28-17.