Men's Basketball | December 5, 2016
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's basketball team will take on the top-ranked team in the country in local rival Villanova at the Palestra on Tuesday evening. The game, which is set for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff, will be nationally televised by ESPN2 and is also available online via WatchESPN.
NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers will play their second Big 5 contest of the season, having opened the year with an 97-92 overtime loss at Temple.
•The last time a No. 1 team played at the Palestra was when No. 1 North Carolina defeated Penn, 106-71, at the venue just over nine years ago on Dec. 4, 2007.
•The Explorers are playing a No. 1 team for the first time since 2009 (Kansas), and have defeated five nationally-ranked teams during
Dr. John Giannini's tenure.
•The last win over a ranked team came last season when the Explorers defeated No. 25 Dayton at Gola Arena, 61-57.
•The highest-ranked team that the Explorers have beaten with Giannini at the helm came against No. 9 Butler on Jan. 23, 2013.
•La Salle enters on a three-game winning streak and are averaging 87.0 points per game over the span while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor.
•The three straight games scoring 80 or more is the first time the Explorers have accomplished the feat since the 2012-13 season (Dec. 20-29, 2012).
•Redshirt junior
B.J. Johnson scored a team-high 22 points and registered nine rebounds in the 83-73 win over Bucknell on Saturday.
•Johnson went 8-for-14 from the field for the second straight game and added a pair of blocked shots and three steals in 29 minutes of action.
SCOUTING VILLANOVA
•The Wildcats enter the contest on Tuesday with a perfect 8-0 record and moved up to No. 1 in the nation on Monday after previously top-ranked Kentucky lost to UCLA.
•The defending national champions have not lost a game since falling to Seton Hall in the BIG EAST Tournament final at Madison Square Garden on March 12, 2016.
•In games held in Philadelphia, 'Nova has not dropped a game since Jan. 24, 2016 (Providence, 82-76 in OT at Wells Fargo Center).
•Josh Hart had a triple-double in Villanova's last win, an 88-57 victory over Saint Joseph's on Dec. 3.
•Hart is one of four players averaging in double figures for the Wildcats (Kris Jenkins, Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges).
TAKING ON NO. 1
•La Salle has taken on the top-ranked team in the country seven times in its history.
•The last game against No. 1 came on Dec. 12, 2009 against Kansas in Kansas City (L, 90-65).
•Here's a look at the history of the Explorers against No. 1:
Dec. 22, 1954 vs. Kentucky L, 54-63
Mar. 19, 1955 vs. San Francisco* L,63-77
Dec. 26, 1955 vs. San Francisco L, 68-79
Dec. 5, 1978 vs. Duke L, 42-66
Feb. 18, 1980 vs. DePaul L, 75-92
Feb. 15, 1996 vs. Massachusetts L, 53-70
Dec. 12, 2009 vs. Kansas L, 65-90
* 1955 NCAA Tournament Final
DYNAMIC DUO
•Senior Jordan Price and junior B.J. Johnson have been the top two scorers all season for La Salle.
•The two players each scored 20 or more points in each of the last two games.
•Price has reached the 20-point plateau in three straight games (22.0 ppg, 57.5 FG%, 62.5 3FG%).
•Johnson is shooting 60.4 percent from the floor over his last four games (including 57.9% from three-point range) and is averaging 20.0 ppg over that span.
•Johnson and Price rank eighth and ninth, respectively, in the A10 in scoring and as a team, the Explorers are tops at 83.8 points per game.
CANNON TO HAVE JERSEY RETIRED
•La Salle will retire the famed No. 20 jersey of Larry Cannon in a ceremony scheduled for halftime of the game on Tuesday.
•A second team All-American as a senior in 1968-69, Cannon led the Explorers to a 23-1 record and a No. 2 final ranking behind national champion UCLA and future Hall of Famer Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).
•Despite playing just three seasons in an era without a shot clock, the local product from Lincoln High School scored 1,430 points to rank fourth upon graduation and led the team in assists as both a junior and senior.
•A three-time First Team All-Big 5 selection, Cannon was drafted fifth overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 1969 National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft and was also a first-round selection of the Miami Floridians of the American Basketball Association (ABA).
•In 1973, Cannon became the first La Salle men's basketball player to be enshrined into the Big 5 Hall of Fame, and was later inducted into La Salle's Hall of Athletes in 1977.
