Men's Basketball | January 20, 2015

KINGSTON, R.I. – The La Salle men's basketball team hits the road as it travels to Rhode Island for a 7 p.m. tip on Thursday from the Ryan Center. The game will be broadcast regionally on CSN Philadelphia and SNY.
 
La Salle Explorers (10-8, 2-3 A-10) at Rhode Island Rams (11-5, 3-2 A-10)
Thursday, January 22 | 7 PM | Thomas M. Ryan Center
 
TV: CSN Philadelphia, SNY (pbp: Eric Frese, color: Abu Bakr) | Video Stream (PPV)
Radio: WNTP 990 AM | Live Audio

Live Stats  | Live Tweets @GoExplorers | Text Alerts

Game Notes
La Salle | Rhode Island

Last Time Out
The La Salle men's basketball team cruised past the Fordham Rams 60-49 on Saturday afternoon. Fordham's 49 points marks La Salle's lowest opponent point total since the Explorers held Massachusetts to 44 points in February of 2006. Fordham also shot just 31.7 percent from the field, the lowest since Robert Morris shot 28 percent on November 25, 2011. The Explorers jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never trailed in the contest. Sophomore Jordan Price led the team with 15 points on the afternoon.

All-Time Series
The Explorers have won the past four matchups, including a 72-62 win last season at Tom Gola Arena. The two have split the six career matchups at the Ryan Center, with La Salle coming out victorious in the two most recent games held there.
 
Scouting the Explorers
La Salle looks to even out its conference record at 3-3 after picking up a win over Fordham on Saturday afternoon.

Cleon Roberts, who had 12 points against the Rams, has scored in double figures for seven straight games. The redshirt sophomore has made a three-pointer in his last 14 games and is 27-for-58 (.466) from long-range during that span. Amar Stukes made his fourth consecutive start after working his way into the starting five against Massachusetts on January 7. Stukes is averaging 8.0 points per game during that stretch, and is coming off eight points, four rebounds and three assists in the win over Fordham.

Redshirt sophomore Jordan Price is fourth in the A-10 in scoring (16.9 ppg), and continues to be La Salle's most consistent offensive threat. The 6'5" guard has scored in double figures in 15 of 18 games this season.

La Salle's defense limited Fordham to a 31.7 shooting percentage from the field, making the Explorers 8-1 this season when holding an opponent to under 40 percent from the field.

Scouting the Rams
After winning their first three games in conference play, the Rams have dropped their past two conference games by a combined nine points. Rhode Island dropped a narrow five-point game to VCU before falling by four at UMass on Saturday afternoon.

Much of Rhode Island's success is due to their stout defense. The Rams are ranked 23^rd in the country, yielding only 58.1 points per contest. Rhody has been equally successful altering shots inside and outside, as they rank tenth in the nation in three-point field goal defense (27.5%) and 22^nd in the country with 5.3 blocked shots per game.

E.C. Matthews has been a catalyst for the Rams offensively, leading the team with 17.3 points per game. The sophomore is also fifth in the conference in scoring during league play, averaging 17.4 points per Atlantic 10 game thus far. Matthews' classmate Hassan Martin has also been a force for Rhode Island. He ranks 22^nd in the conference with 12.2 points per Atlantic 10 game while shooting at a 57.5 percent clip. The freshman also leads the conference with 4.4 blocked shots per game against conference opponents and has pulled down the fifth most rebounds (8.8 rpg).

Up Next
La Salle returns to Tom Gola Arena as they welcome Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's for a 7 p.m. tip on Tuesday with TV coverage on TCN, SNY, and CSN-MA. Tickets are on sale here.