PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle men's basketball team will host Big 5 and Atlantic 10 rival Saint Joseph's on Saturday at 11 AM. The game will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
Saint Joseph's Hawks (16-7, 6-3 A-10) at La Salle Explorers (12-11, 4-5 A-10)
Saturday, February 15, 2013 | 11 AM | Tom Gola Arena
TV: ESPNU (Mike Crispino, Bob Valvano)
Video Stream: Click Here (Watch ESPN)
Radio: 97.5 the Fanatic (Kale Beers, Steve Degler)
Audio Web Stream: Click Here (Stretch)
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Game Notes
La Salle | Saint Joseph's
Quick Hits
•
Jerrell Wright has 992 career points and needs eight to reach 1,000 for his career.
• La Salle's strength of schedule is ranked 29th nationally and is second in the Atlantic 10 behind Richmond (28), according to ESPN.com.
• La Salle is 9-2 when scoring at least 73 points
• La Salle has won its past 18 games when making at least nine three-pointers.
•
Steve Zack leads the A-10 in double-doubles with 13 and ranks fifth nationally. It is the most double-doubles by an Explorer since K'Zell Wesson had 16 in 1998-99. Zack also leads the A-10 in rebounding at 9.8 rpg and ranks 19th nationally. The last Explorer to lead the A-10 in any category was Steven Smith in scoring (20.3) in 2004-05.
• La?Salle has won 34 of its last 42 in Gola Arena, including 17 of last 21 . The Explorers have also won 12 of the last 15 games vs. A-10 opponents at Gola.
•
Tyreek Duren is one of four Big 5 players and four A-10 players with 1,500 career points, 450 career assists and 200 career steals. He is ranked fourth all-time at La Salle in steals and assists.
The Explorers suffered a heartbreaker last Saturday, falling to Saint Louis 65-63 in the final seconds. The Blue and Gold battled back from a seven-point deficit with just over three-minutes remaining to tie the game at 63-63 on
Tyreek Duren's layup with 33 seconds left. However, the Billikens All-Conference guard Jordair Jett spoiled the Explorers upset bid, hitting a contested layup with 3.7 seconds remaining.
Last Matchup Against the Hawks
This Saturday marks the first of two meetings this season between the A-10 and Big 5 rivals. The teams will meet again to wrap up the regular season on March 9
at Hagan Arena. That game will count in the Big 5 standings. In the last matchup between these teams last season the Explorers coasted over the Hawks 76-64 at The Palestra. The Blue and Gold outscored Saint Joseph's in both the first and second half en route to the comfortable 12-point victory. The Hawks could not contain the explosiveness of
Tyreek Duren, who matched a career-high with 29 points (9-of-12 FG; 5-of-6 3-PT; 6-of-6 FT) in the contest.
Series Notes
This will be the first meeting at Gola Arena since March 3, 2001...Every other La Salle home game in the series since then has been played at the Palestra...This will be the second overall meeting at Gola Arena and just the second game on either school's campus since La Salle joined the A-10 in 1995-96...The other meeting on campus was March 6, 2010 at Hagan Arena (74-59 SJU?win)...Only 12 meetings out of 116 have been played on campus...Saint Joseph's is La Salle's most commonly played opponent with 116 meetings...A total of 55 meetings have been played at the Palestra and 23 were played at Convention Hall...Twelve meeting locations are unknown (1909-1922)...The teams played three times from 1900-02 when SJU was a non-varsity team.
Last Meeting At Gola Arena: St. Joe's Marvin O'Connor scored a remarkable 18 points in the final minute on his way to a game-high 37 points but La Salle upset the #18 Hawks, 91-90, at Gola Arena on March 3, 2001, snapping a 10-game win streak for SJU. Explorer senior Victor Thomas had 26 points during Senior?Night. With O'Connor on fire after the Explorers built an 80-70 lead with 1 minute, 9 seconds to go, La Salle could not afford to miss a free throw down the stretch. The Explorers didn't, hitting all 10 foul shots in the final 38 seconds. Rasual Butler, who scored 25 points, and guard Julian Blanks each hit four of them. Blanks, a junior, played one of the finest games of his career, scoring 20 points with seven assists and only one turnover in 40 minutes.
Coach's Corner
Head Coach
Dr. John Giannini on...
...His team's mental condition:
...It's a real veteran team. There's nothing that's going to happen to this team – good or bad – that they haven't been through before. I think we'll do a good job just focusing on St. Joe's and moving ahead. I actually think because of the emotion factor of a game you wanted so badly against such a strong opponent and that you invested so much in, I actually think it's good that we practice and get back on the court.
...The challenges the Hawks present:
I don't think it will be a complicated game. I think the inside matchups are terrific. I think Bembry is a special freshman and Galloway is key because when he plays well they tend to win. I think individual matchups and which players are able to stop who will end up being the key.
...The competitiveness of the A-10:
The teams like Saint Louis, UMass, and GW are at the top of the league because they found a way to make that extra play. The difference is not big but mentally it is a difference. It's all mental. We know our strengths and weaknesses and those are not going to change in a week or two.
...Moral victories:
There's no one at the Atlantic 10 level that has any time or interest in moral victories. There are teams in this league with tremendously, proven, veteran players, coming off 20-win seasons with those guys on their rosters that are struggling to win games now. There's no one in this league that is going to talk positively about losses.
Scouting the Explorers
La Salle's front court combo of
Steve Zack and
Jerrell Wright has carried the Explorers in recent weeks. Zack leads the A-10 in rebounds/game (9.8) and ranks fifth in blocks/game (2.0). He has recorded 13 double-doubles, good for fifth nationally. Wright is second on the team in rebounds/game (6.0) and third in points/game (12.6). He is shooting 56 percent from the field, eighth in the conference.
Tyreek Duren leads the squad in scoring (14.5 ppg), assists/game (3.5), and steals (39). He comes in second in the A-10 in minutes/game (35.8) and ranks in the top-15 in eight statistical categories on the conference leaderboards. Backcourt mate
Tyrone Garland is second on the team in scoring (13.5 ppg) and assists/game (2.4).
Sam Mills leads the Explorers in three point field goal percentage (42%). In conference play, Mills has bucketed 45% of his treys, the fourth-best tally in the A-10.
D.J. Peterson,
Khalid Lewis, and
Rohan Brown continue to see major minutes in supplemental roles for the Blue and Gold.
Scouting the Hawks
Saint Joseph's enters Saturday's matchup with the Explorers on a bit of a roll in recent weeks. They have won seven of their last nine contests. The Hawks just completed a 2-1 stretch against the top of the conference, sandwiching victories over Massachusetts and VCU around a loss to Saint Louis. They enter with a 16-7 overall record and a 6-3 mark in Atlantic 10 play.
The Hawks have struggled to get their offense rolling in A-10 play, ranking second to last in scoring average (67.1 point/game). However, their defense has been stifling, holding opponents to just (67.4 points/game), which has kept them competitive in many low scoring matchups.
Saint Joseph's backcourt is led by Preseason All-Conference Second Team selection Langston Galloway. He ranks sixth in the conference in scoring average (16.6 points/game), while averaging just a shade under that (15.7 points/game) in conference play. He is especially potent from three-point range. Galloway ranks second in the conference this season averaging 2.9 three-point makes per game and ranks fourth in A-10 play averaging 2.4 makes from beyond the arc.
The frontcourt is where Saint Joseph's focuses much of their offensive attack. The matchup of the game will certainly be how
Jerrell Wright and
Steve Zack can contain the Hawks talent down low.
Preseason All-Conference Second Team selection Ronald Roberts Jr. has been a force all season long for the Hawks. He ranks 15
th in the conference in scoring, averaging 14.1 points/game this season. The senior forward rarely misses when he gets his hands on the rock, ranking 7
th in the conference in shooting percentage (55.9% FG). He ranks 8
th in the conference in rebounding, collecting 7.2 boards per contest. He also is a defensive presence in the low block, ranking 10
th in the conference in blocks, averaging 1.2 blocks/game.
Halil Kanacevic joins Roberts in the frontcourt to form a powerful combo in the low post. He has enjoyed a fantastic season, averaging just shy of a double-double with 10.9 points/game and 8.7 rebounds/game. He also adds 4.4 assists/game and 1.3 blocks/game. Kanacevic's play has risen to another level since the conference season has begun. He is averaging 13.8 points/game and ranks fourth in conference play just behind
Steve Zack, averaging 9.3 rebounds/game.
Up Next
The Explorers will hit the road for a pair next week. They will take on Dayton for a 9:00pm tip Wednesday evening, before heading south to Richmond for a 4:00pm tip Saturday afternoon. Both games will be broadcast on the CBS Sports Network.
