Men's Basketball | November 5, 2018

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle University men's basketball opens its 89th season on Tuesday, Nov. 6, as it takes the short trip down Broad Street to tangle with Big 5 rival Temple at Liacouras Center. The game is schedule to tipoff at 7:30 p.m., with all of the action available live online on ESPN3.

NEWS & NOTES
•The contest will be the first in the head coaching career of Ashley Howard, who was named the program's 14th head coach in April.
•Graduate student Pookie Powell returns to lead the Explorers after averaging 16.9 points per game last season.
•Powell, a Preseason All-Atlantic 10 Second Team selection, received a waiver from the NCAA granting him a sixth year of eligibility this past August.
•The dynamic guard stands just 48 points shy of scoring 1,000 for his collegiate career  and 165 from 1,000 in La Salle career.
•La Salle was picked to finish 12th in the 14-team Atlantic 10 in 2018-19, according to a poll of the league's coaches and media.

THE SERIES
•The meeting between La Salle and Temple is the 119th in the history of the two Big 5 schools.
•The Explorers won last year's meeting just after Thanksgiving by an 87-83 margin at Tom Gola Arena.
•Pookie Powell had 29 points, including a 10-for-19 performance from three-point range, while recent graduate B.J. Johnson added 25. 
•La Salle committed just four turnovers through 40 minutes of action and went 14-for-15 from the free-throw line.

ABOUT TEMPLE
•A familiar face will be pacing the sidelines for Temple on Tuesday, as La Salle graduate and former basketball standout Fran Dunphy begins his 13th and final season at the helm of the Owls.
•Aaron McKie, who has served on Dunphy's staff for the last four years, will take over as head coach beginning in 2019-20.
•The top two scorers from last year's team return for the Owls, led by Quinton Rose who scored 14.9 ppg.
•Shizz Alston Jr. averaged 13.3 ppg and was second on the team in assists with 102.

A NEW ERA BEGINS!
•Philadelphia native Ashley Howard became the 14th head coach in La Salle University men's basketball history in April, and will begin his head coaching career at Big 5 rival Temple on Tuesday.
•Howard, who most recently served as the top assistant for head coach Jay Wright and the defending national champion Villanova, spent four years as an assistant with the Explorers from 2004-08.
•A Drexel University alum, he also spent time on Chris Mack's staff at Xavier and under Bruiser Flint as his alma mater.
•Howard is the son of Maurice Howard, a standout player at Maryland and a second-round selection in the 1976 NBA Draft of the Cleveland Cavaliers.