KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Coming off an 80-71 win over Boise State in the NCAA First Four, the La Salle men's basketball team will square off against No. 4 seed Kansas State on Friday in Kansas City.
#13 La Salle Explorers vs. #4 Kansas State Wildcats
Friday, March 22, 2013 | 3:10 PM (ET) | Sprint Center
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Live Video | Live Statistics
TV: TruTV (pbp: Marv Albert; color: Steve Kerr; sideline: Craig Sager)
Radio: 990 AM WNTP
Game Notes
Thursday Media Coverage
Last Time Out
Tyrone Garland led the Explorers with 22 points (9-11 FG, 2-4 3-PT, 2-3 FT) and
Ramon Galloway added 21 (8-13 FG, 3-6 3-PT, 2-2 FT) and dished out four assists the victory over the Broncos. As a team, the Blue and Gold shot a season-high 63 percent (31-49) from the field including an 11-21 line (52 percent) from behind the arc.
La Salle Notes
• La Salle is 12-10 all-time in 12 NCAA?Appearances and is looking for its second win in the tournament for the first time since reaching the NCAA?finals in 1955.
• La Salle won the 1954 NCAA?Championship at Kansas City's Kemper Arena, beating Bradley, 92-76, behind Most Outstanding Player Tom Gola.
• Dr. John?Giannini needs one more win to tie Paul Westhead for third place on La Salle's all-time win list with 142 victories.
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Ramon Galloway needs 31 points to reach 1,000 for his career at La Salle. He has scored 1,529 points in his four-year college career.
• The two teams met in the 1988 NCAA?First Round in South Bend, Ind., with Kansas State taking a 66-53 victory, snapping the Explorers 15-game win streak. Mitch Richmond had 30 points for the Wildcats, while Lionel Simmons led La Salle with 20. Richmond and Simmons were later teammates for the Sacremento Kings from 1991-97.
• La Salle improved to 15-1 when dishing at least 15 assists and 13-1 when making at least nine three-pointers.
Scouting the Wildcats
Coached by Big 12 Coach of the Year Bruce Weber, Kansas State won two of its last three games, falling to Kansas 70-54 in the Big 12 Championship. The Wildcats played the conference's stingiest defense (60.4 ppg) this season and also ranked first in the league in assists/game (16.03).
Senior guard Rodney McGruder was a first-team All-Big 12 choice and was the conference's fourth leading scorer (15.7 ppg). He also pulls down a team-best 5.4 rebounds/game. Sophomore point guard Angel Rodriguez ranks third in the conference in assists/game (5.3) and is the Wildcats' second-leading scorer at 11.7 points/game.
Junior guard Shane Southwell was an honorable mention All-Big 12 choice, averaging 8.1 points/game, 3.8 rebounds/game, and 2.6 assists/game. While no Wildcat pulls down more than 5.4 boards/game, Kansas State has managed to outrebound its opponents by an average of 3.2 per game this season.
Up Next
The winner of La Salle – Kansas State will take on the winner of Wisconsin – Ole Miss on Sunday.
