Men's Basketball | January 18, 2017
PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University men's basketball team (10-5, 4-1 A10) will host "90s Night" at Gola Arena on Thursday, as it looks for its fifth straight Atlantic 10 win against Davidson (9-7, 2-3 A10). Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. All fans that were born in the 1990s will be admitted free of charge with valid identification. Tickets for non-90's babies are also available by calling 215-951-1999 or visiting
goexplorers.com/buytickets. The game will feature giveaways and promotions with a 90s theme, as well as music from that era. The contest will air nationally on CBS Sports Network, as Tom McCarthy and Alaa Abdelnaby will have the call.
NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers are coming off a 79-69 victory over George Washington on Sunday afternoon.
•Led by a 9-for-11 performance from senior
Jordan Price, La Salle shot a season-high 61.4% from the field, including 68.2% in the opening half.
•Price finished with 23 points, seven rebounds and five assists in 36 minutes of action, and went 4-for-5 from three-point range.
•Over the four-game winning streak, the Explorers are averaging 82.3 points and allowing 69.8 points per game (+12.5 margin).
•Senior
Cleon Roberts went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc and scored 13 points to go along with a season-best four steals.
•The Explorers shot 11-for-17 from three-point range, good for a season-best 64.7 percent.
•La Salle is one of only eight teams since 2010 to shoot 60 percent or better from the field, 60 percent or better from three-point range and 90 percent or better from the free-throw line while making 10 or more three-pointers in a game.
•The only other team to accomplish this feat in 2016-17 was UCLA, who did so in a 114-77 victory over Long Beach State on Nov. 20.
•GW was led by Jair Bolden, who scored 16 points. The contest marked the fourth straight game in which the Explorers have not allowed a player to score 20 or more points.
ALL-TIME SERIES
•The Wildcats have won four straight matchups between the two teams since joining the Atlantic 10 in 2014-15, and leads the overall series 4-1.
•The first meeting of the series came on Nov. 20, 2009 at the Charleston Classic in South Carolina.
•La Salle fell in both meetings last season, including in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament in Brooklyn.
•The Wildcats have knocked out the Explorers in each of the last two A10 Tournaments.
•
Jordan Price is averaging 16.0 points per game over his four career games vs. DC.
SCOUTING DAVIDSON
•After dropping their first two A10 games, the Wildcats have won two of their last three outings including a victory over VCU, who entered the contest with a perfect 4-0 league record.
•Davidson held the Rams to just 35.4 percent shooting including a 3-for-17 performance from three-point range.
•Jack Gibbs and Peyton Aldridge comprise the top scoring duo in the league, averaging a combined 42.6 points per game.
•Gibbs is second in the conference at 21.6 ppg while Aldridge is one spot behind him at 21.0 ppg.
•The team has used just three different starting lineups this season, with their third coming last game against VCU.
EFFICIENCY ON OFFENSE
•La Salle is amongst the nation's leaders in offensive efficiency, according to statistical guru Ken Pomeroy's website (kenpom.com).
•The Explorers are ranked 25th nationally with a 115.4 rating (national average is 103.5).
•Over the first five league games, La Salle is second in the Atlantic 10 at 113.5, slightly behind Rhode Island (113.8).
FIRST HALF FIRE
•La Salle has put together two impressive shooting performances in the first halves of its last two games.
•La Salle shot 65.0% from the field against Rhode Island on Jan. 12, then 68.2% in the opening half vs. George Washington on Jan. 15.
•The Explorers are 28-for-42 (66.7%) from the floor in the first half over the last two games including 9-of-15 (60.0%) from three.
TRIPLE TROUBLE
•The Explorers have proven that they are a team that can make teams pay from three-point range.
•Against GW on Jan. 15, La Salle connected on 11 three-pointers, the fifth time this season that the team has made double-digit threes.
•At 39.4 percent, the Explorers rank in the nation's top 30 (29th) in the category.
•Individually, senior
Cleon Roberts and junior
B.J. Johnson rank 1-2 in the Atlantic 10 in three-point field goal percentage at 55.1 and 41.9 percent, respectively.
•Roberts' percentage puts him on track to break the single-season three-point percentage record of 49.1 percent set by Tim Legler in 1987-88.
