Men's Basketball | January 23, 2017

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle University men's basketball team (11-6) hosts Big 5 foe Penn (6-9) on Wednesday evening at Tom Gola Arena. The contest, which will feature a "Dollar Dog Night" promotion for all fans in attendance, is scheduled to tipoff at 7:00 p.m. A free video stream of the contest is available online via the Atlantic 10 Digital Network and GoExplorers.TV, with the Voice of the Explorers Kale Beers calling all the action. Tickets are available by calling 215-951-1999 or by visiting goexplorers.com/buytickets.

NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers have lost their first two Big 5 games of the season, falling to Temple in the season opener in overtime, 97-92, and dropping an 89-79 decision to No. 1 Villanova.
•La Salle will host Saint Joseph's in its final Big 5 contest of the year on Saturday, Feb. 18.
•Villanova has already clinched the Big 5 championship by virtue of a perfect 4-0 record.
•On Sunday against Atlantic 10 foe VCU, the Explorers saw their five-game winning streak snapped by the Rams.
•The loss moves La Salle into a three-way tie for second place in the A10 standings with VCU and Richmond at 5-2, one game behind Dayton.
•Freshman Saul Phiri recorded a career-high 11 points in 17 minutes, and tied for team-high honors with senior Jordan Price.
•La Salle suffered through its worst shooting performance of the year, connecting on just 28.3 percent of its shots including a 4-of-26 (15.4%) showing in the opening half.
•VCU was able to extend what was a 19-14 lead with just over seven minutes left in the first half with a game-changing 28-2 run that essentially put the game out of reach early in the second half.
•Sophomore Pookie Powell was the third player to score double figures for the Explorers with 10 points, including 5-of-5 from the free-throw line. 

ALL-TIME SERIES
•Penn leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 39-30 margin, but the Explorers have won eight of the last nine contests.
•The first meeting between the two schools dates back to the 1933-34 season, with the Quakers earning a 35-22 win.
•La Salle is 5-5 all-time at Gola Arena against the Quakers, but has won the last four of those meetings
•Last year's contest at the Palestra saw Penn snap La Salle's three-game winning streak to start the year with an 80-64 win.
•Senior Jordan Price is averaging 18.0 points per game in the two games against Penn in his career.

SCOUTING PENN
•The Quakers have dropped four straight games and stand at 6-9 overall following a 4-1 stretch in December. 
•Their most recent defeat came at the hands of Saint Joseph's on Saturday. 
•In the game, senior guard Matt Howard scored a team-high 19 points to go along with 12 rebounds for the double-double. 
•Freshman guard Ryan Betley came off the bench to score a season-high 15 points. 
•Junior guard Darnell Foreman had 11 points, his sixth double-figure scoring game of the season, in addition to six rebounds and four assists in the game.