Men's Basketball | December 29, 2014

PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team returns to Tom Gola Arena for the first time in two weeks when it hosts the Penn Quakers for Tuesday's Big 5 matchup with tip scheduled for 7 p.m.  
 
Penn Quakers (3-6, 0-1 Big 5) at La Salle Explorers (7-5, 0-2 Big 5)
Tuesday, December 30 | 7 PM | Tom Gola Arena
 
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Game Notes
La Salle | Penn
 
Last Time Out
Redshirt sophomore Jordan Price scored a game-high 28 points and added seven assists and five rebounds to lead La Salle to an 83-74 victory over Hofstra. Classmate Cleon Roberts scored a season-high 18 points and shot 6-for-10 from the field and four-of-six from behind the arch to aid in the victory. Senior Jerrell Wright had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Steve Zack added eight points and 11 rebounds in the win. The Explorers utilized a season-high19 assists and nine three-point baskets in the win.

All-Time Series
The two Big 5 rivals have played 67 previous games with Penn holding a 38-29 advantage in the all-time series. La Salle has won the past seven meetings, its longest streak in the series...The first 42 meetings and 53 of the last 66 games have been at the Palestra. The two teams have met every year since the Big 5 began in 1955-56. The teams played eight times prior to that. The first meeting was on December 13, 1933.

Scouting the Explorers
Jordan Price enters the game leading the Atlantic 10 and Big 5 averaging 18.8 points per game. The redshirt sophomore is also one of only two players in the country with three games of 25+ points, 5+ rebounds, and 5+ assists having achieved this against American, St. Francis Brooklyn, and Hofstra with Iona's A.J. English being the other.

Seniors Steve Zack and Jerrell Wright each rank in the top ten of the Atlantic 10 having pulled down 109 and 83 rebounds respectively on the season. Zack ranks second in the conference with 6.9 defensive rebounds per game and fifth in blocked shots with 1.8 blocks per game. Wright has helped give La Salle second chances offensively thanks to 3.1 offensive rebounds per game, good for sixth in the conference. 
Wright also became just the 11^th Explorer with at least 1,200 points and 700 rebounds in his career during the Hofstra game.

Defense continues to be the cornerstone of success for La Salle this season. The Explorers are limiting opponents to an average of 57.4 points per game and a 35.2 field goal percentage in their five wins compared to 68.4 ppg and a 48.7 field goal percentage in losses this season.

Explorer notes
• Jordan Price has scored 85 points in his last three games (28.3 ppg.), the most by an Explorer during a three-game span since Steven Smith scored 89 points (29.7 ppg.) from Dec. 22-31, 2004. Price is also averaging 4.7 rpg. and 4.7 apg. during those three games, while adding 1.7 spg. 

• Price is leading the Atlantic 10 and Big 5 in scoring at 18.8 ppg. He ranks 46th nationally. It's the highest scoring average by an Explorer since Steven Smith in 2005-06 (19.7 ppg.). He is the 10th highest scoring sophomore in the nation. 

• Price is one of two players in the nation with three 25-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist games (St. Francis Brooklyn, American, Hofstra). A.J. English of Iona has four. The last Explorer with three of the 25/5/5 games was Donnie Carr in 1999. 

• La Salle is second in the nation in true road wins with four behind Tennessee Martin (5). The Explorers have the most true road wins without a loss in the nation (4-0). Four teams in the nation are 3-0. 

• Cleon Roberts has made a three-pointer in his last eight games and is shooting 14-for-29 (.482) from long-range during that span. He's averaging 11.0 ppg. in his last five games.

• Jerrell Wright is one of 11 Explorers all-time with 1,200 career points and 700 career rebounds. 

• La Salle has won 21 of its last 25 non-conference games at Tom Gola Arena. 
 
Scouting the Quakers
Penn will be playing just their second game in the city of Philadelphia in the past month when the travel to Tom Gola Arena to faceoff with the Explorers. The Quakers have hit the road for five of their last six games with their sole home game against Marist coming on December 9. Penn has rebounded from a rough 0-5 start by winning three straight prior to falling to Vanderbilt in their most recent game.

Junior Tony Hicks has led the way in scoring for the Quakers, averaging 14.8 points per game. Hicks has shot .391 from the field on the season and has proved to be a threat from behind the arch, shooting .360 with 27 made three pointers on the year. Hicks also leads the team with 3.6 assists per game. Classmate Darien Nelson-Henry has led the way on the boards for the Quakers with 6.9 rebounds per contest. Nelson-Henry has also pulled down 3.22 offensive rebounds per contest for Penn.

Penn has had issues taking care of the ball as they rank 339^th in the nation averaging 17.2 turnovers per contest. In their wins this year the Quakers are shooting 46% from the field and 41.7% from behind the arch.
  
Up Next
La Salle opens up its Atlantic 10 conference schedule as they travel south to Fairfax, Virginia to take on the George Mason Patriots on Saturday, January 3 with tip slated for 7 p.m.