PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team will host Penn State on Wednesday at 9 PM at the Palestra. The Explorers will wear throwback uniforms to help celebrate the University's 150th Anniversary. The uniforms are modeled after the 1968-69 team that went 23-1.

Penn State Nittany Lions (4-3) vs. La Salle Explorers (4-1)
Wednesday, December 5, 2012 | 9 PM | The Palestra
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Live Statistics
Regular 

Game Notes
La Salle | Penn State

Last Time Out
La Salle dropped Rider, 63-52, in Lawrenceville on Thursday night behind a 20 point (8-8 FG, 6-9 FT) outing from Tyreek Duren. Ramon Galloway drained 17 points and added four steals while Jerrell Wright pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

All-Time Series
The Explorers are 2-1 all-time against their in-state rival. The first meeting was a 69-54 La Salle victory in the 1954 Final Four in which Tom Gola and Frank Blatcher each had 19 points in the victory. The next day, the Explorers won by a 92-76 score over Bradley to capture the NCAA Championship. 

The next meeting was a 70-55 La Salle win in the 1968 Quaker City Tournament at the Spectrum. That season, the Explorers went 23-1 behind All-American Ken Durrett and the team is considered one of the top in Big 5 history.

Penn State won a 59-58 game to open the 1986-87 season at the AMI Classic in Miami. La Salle advanced to the NIT Championship game that season before falling to Southern Miss, 84-80.

Coach's Corner
Head Coach Dr. John Giannini on...

His team's defense in the win over Rider:
We pressured the ball very well and played good team defense. I thought it was overall a very good effort. Rider beat two good teams before they played us and had a good win at Drexel right afterwards. 

What to expect from Penn State:
They're going to be very physically strong and physically tough. Nothing is going to be easy. There will be a battle for every rebound. They're going to play defense with pride and loose balls are going to have bodies flying all over the place. 

His team's preparation for a 9 PM game at the Palestra:
We've already practiced at the Palestra so our preparation will be exactly the same as it normally is. We always get a practice in at the venue. The 9 o'clock thing is a non-issue because kids stay up late. 9 o'clock might be late for the coaches but I don't think it's late for players at all.

Scouting the Explorers
Duren has been red-hot of late, dropping 58 points in the last three games, all Explorer wins. The junior is averaging 16.4 points/game which rank fourth in the Atlantic 10 and stands in the conference's top 15 in assists/game (3.6), free throw percentage (.789), steals (1.6), assists/turnover ratio (1.4), and minutes played (37.6).

Galloway enters Wednesday averaging 15.6 points/game, good for second on the team and eighth in the A-10. The senior ranks second in the conference in steals/game (2.8) and third in three point field goals/game (2.8).

Sophomores Jerrell Wright (7.2 rpg, sixth in A-10) and Steve Zack (6.8 rpg, 10^th in A-10) have formed one of the strongest rebounding tandems in the A-10 thus far. La Salle is one of only two schools in the conference to have two players in the top 10 in the category.

Sam Mills leads the A-10 in minutes/game (39.2) and ranks second on the Blue and Gold in three point field goal percentage (.357).

Scouting the Nittany Lions
Penn State enters Wednesday winners of two of its last three, knocking off Bucknell and Penn with a loss to Boston College coming in between.  Redshirt sophomore guard D.J. Newbill averages 14.7 points/game while leading the team in rebounds (5.6 rpg) and assists (3.4 apg).

Head coach Patrick Chambers, a Philadelphia area product and former assistant at Villanova, is in his second year at the helm in University Park and led the Nittany Lions to a 12-20 (4-14 Big 10) mark in his first season a year ago.

Up Next
The Explorers travel to Northeastern on Saturday for a 7 PM showdown against the Huskies.