Men's Basketball | January 24, 2020

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle men's basketball hosts VCU on Hall of Athletes Day at Tom Gola Arena on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is set for 12:00 p.m., with the game airing live nationally on NBC Sports Network. Todd Harris and Dave Kaplan will be on the call. 

The first 400 students in attendance will receive a free Gold Out t-shirt, courtesy of Kampus Klothes, and fans are encouraged to wear gold. At halftime of the game, former Explorer Steven Smith '05 joins men's swimming alum Mark McElwee '68 and the 1988-89 women's basketball team as inductees into the prestigious Hall of Athletes.

NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers return home for the first of two straight contests after playing four of their last five contests on the road.
•Freshman Sherif Kenney registered a career-high 19 points in La Salle's 75-57 loss to Richmond on Wednesday.
•Kenney had 11 of his 19 points after halftime and added four rebounds, four steals and three assists. 
•The 6-4 guard joins Richmond's Jacob Gilyard, URI's Fatts Russell and Davidson's Jon Axel Gudmundsson as the only A-10 players this season to have at least 19 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists in a game.
•Sophomore Ed Croswell tallied his fifth double-double of the year against the Spiders, scoring 13 points and adding 11 rebounds. 
•Croswell has pulled down offensive rebounds at an 18.5 percent rate this year, ranking third among all NCAA Division I players (Oscar Tshiebwe of WVU - 19.8%; Kevin Marfo of Quinnipiac - 19.7%).
•After holding Richmond to 5-for-16 (31.3%) from three-point range on Wednesday,  six full percentage points below their season average, the Explorers now rank first in the Atlantic 10 and 25th nationally in 3-pt. field goal defense (29.3%).

SCOUTING VCU
•Winners of two straight, the Rams enter Saturday's contest with a 14-5 mark and 4-2 in the Atlantic 10.
•Against Saint Joseph's on Tuesday, 12 different players found the scoring column in a 73-60 victory.
•Keshawn Curry had 13 points in 19 minutes while De'Riante Jenkins and Malik Crowfield each had 10.
•VCU ranks second in the league at 61.9 points allowed per game and is tops in turnover margin (+5.37), as they force a league-high 18.1 turnovers/contest.

NEW SHERIF IN TOWN
•La Salle's Sherif Kenney had a career night at Richmond on Jan. 22.
•Kenney had 19 points and four steals, which set new personal bests for the 6-4 guard.
•The Washington, D.C. native connected on three of his seven attempts from three-point range and drew an impressive 10 fouls in the contest that led to nine free-throw attempts.
•Kenney is the top scoring freshman on the team at 7.4 points per game and is third on the squad in assists.

D'ING THE THREE BALL
•La Salle has been one of the top teams in the country in defending the three-point field goal in 2019-20.
•The Explorers have allowed opponents to shoot just 29.3 percent from deep through 18 games, good for 25th nationally and first in the Atlantic 10.
•Rhode Island shot just 23.5 percent from beyond the arc on Jan. 18, and only one team this season (UMass -- 9-for-16 on Jan. 8) has shot above 40% in a single game.
•Richmond entered Wednesday's game as the top three-point shooting team in the conference at 37.3 percent, but hit just five of its 16 attempts from deep.