Men's Basketball | December 29, 2016
DAYTON, Ohio -Â After a week-long break, the La Salle University men's basketball team returns to action and begins Atlantic 10 play on Friday, December 30 at Dayton. The contest will be televised live on CBS Sports Network, with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 p.m.Â
NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers are coming off a thrilling 98-96, triple-overtime victory on the road at Mercer on Dec. 22.Â
•Senior Jordan Price, who played high school basketball less than 90 miles from Mercer's campus in nearby Decatur, Ga., led the way with 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists.
•The Explorers led the game for a total of 35 minutes and 30 seconds, including 8:10 in the three overtime periods.
•La Salle turned the ball over just eight times in 55 minutes of action against Mercer and are averaging just 10.9 turnovers per game, 20th among all NCAA Division I teams.
•The Explorers also rank as one of the top scoring teams in the country, averaging 84.2 points per contest to stand second in the A10 (St. Bonaventure) and 29th nationally.
•After compiling 21 assists against just eight turnovers against Mercer, La Salle has a team assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.50, 18th-best in the country.
•Individually, sophomore Pookie Powell is fifth in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 4.43. Powell has dished out 31 assists and turned the ball over just seven times in 10 games.
•The game on Friday will begin La Salle's 22nd season of Atlantic 10 basketball.
•The Explorers joined the league in 1995, along with current members Dayton and Fordham.
SCOUTING DAYTON
•The preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10, according to a poll of the league's coaches and media prior to the season, Dayton enters Friday with a 9-3 record.Â
•The Flyers most recently defeated VMI by a score of 92-56, with seven players reaching double figures in scoring.
•Charles Cooke, who currently leads the team in scoring at 19.2 ppg, did not play in the game due to a wrist injury.
•Dayton's three losses on the year have come by a total of nine points to Alabama, Saint Mary's and Northwestern (28-8 combined record).
THRILLER IN THE PEACH STATE
•La Salle has won two straight, including an incredible three-overtime win on the road at Mercer on Dec. 22.
•The Explorers led by seven with 2:03 remaining before the Bears battled back to tie the game in the final seconds with a contested three-pointer.
•Senior Jordan Price, junior B.J. Johnson and sophomore Pookie Powell each had 20 or more points in the game.
•The game marked the first time that a La Salle trio had individually scored 20+ points in a single game since at least 2000.
POOKIE PROVESÂ EFFECTIVE
•Sophomore Pookie Powell has upped his scoring output in recent weeks.
•Powell had 27 against top-ranked Villanova and had 20 in the win over Mercer, and is averaging 15.8 ppg over his last four games.
•The sophomore transfer is tops in the A10 and fifth in the NCAA in assist/turnover ratio (4.4).
B.J. HEATING UP AS A10 PLAY BEGINS
•Redshirt junior B.J. Johnson has been on a tear of late, having scored in double figures in each of his last eight games.
•Johnson picked up Atlantic 10 Player of the Week honors for the second time this year after scoring a career-high 35 points, including 28 in the second half, against FGCU on Dec. 17.
•The 30-point outburst was the first time an Explorer had scored 30+ points in a game since Jordan Price had 36 against Duquesne in last year's Atlantic 10 Tournament.
•On the year, Johnson is ranked in the Atlantic 10's top 10 in scoring (20.2 ppg), field goal percentage (.516), free throw percentage (.860) and three-point shooting (.424)
•Previously, he was named the Atlantic 10's Co-Player of the Week on Dec. 5.
•The award was the first for an Explorer since 2/16/15, as Jordan Price picked up the honor.
PRICE GOES HOME; PICKS UP WIN
•Senior Jordan Price fought through a tough shooting first half to help the Explorers earn a 98-96 win over Mercer on Dec. 22.
•The 6-5 guard went 7-for-14 from the field in the second half and three overtimes, and finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists in the win.
•Price grew up less than 90 miles from Mercer's campus in Decatur, Ga., and starred for Southwest DeKalb High School from 2010-12.
•At La Salle, Price moved into 28th place on the school's all-time scoring list with his 26 points to give him 1,349 for his La Salle career, seven points shy of 27th (Kurt Kanaskie, 1976-80).
•Price was projected by SportsIllustrated.com to be the fourth-leading scorer in the country in 2016-17.
VALUING THE BALL
•The Explorers have done a tremendous job taking care of the basketball so far in 2016-17.
•On the year, La Salle has recorded 163 assists against 109 turnovers for a ratio of 1.5.
•The ratio ranks 18th in the country, and the Explorers are in a virtual tie with Kansas and USC at 1.41.
•Individually, sophomore guard Pookie Powell has 31 assists against just seven turnovers (4.4 ratio) and junior guard Amar Stukes has 41 assists and 16 turnovers (2.6).
