Men's Basketball | December 15, 2020

PHILADELPHIA - Coming off back-to-back wins, the La Salle men's basketball team will return home to Tom Gola Arena for its Atlantic 10 Conference opener against the Massachusetts Minutemen on Wednesday. The contest will tip off at noon and will be available to watch on ESPN+ with Kale Beers on the call.

NEWS & NOTES

• Freshman Anwar Gill put up career highs with 15 points and eight rebounds and La Salle's defense flustered the Drexel Dragons for a 58-48 road win on Saturday.
• The Explorers shut down the Dragons to just 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and 15.0 percent from three-point territory.
• It was the La Salle perimeter defense setting the tone early as the Explorers limited Drexel to only 25 percent shooting in the first half and 1-of-9 from three in the period.
• The Explorers used an 18-2 run to take an 18-point lead with 5:05 left in the half before the Dragons got within nine, 32-23, at the break.
• Drexel would climb back into striking distance down just one, but Gill, fellow freshman Jhamir Brickus and sophomore Ayinde Hikim made big plays down the stretch to solidify La Salle's first road victory of the season,
• Redshirt sophomore Jack Clark grabbed a career-high 13 rebounds and added seven points, while senior David Beatty scored 11 points and Brickus chipped in eight points, four assists and three steals.
• La Salle went 5-for-10 from beyond the arc and maintained a 25-3 advantage in bench scoring, one of the Explorers' biggest strengths.

SCOUTING MASSACHUSETTS

• The Minutemen got off to a slow start this season due to COVID-19 limitations that delayed the start of their schedule, having played just two games.
• UMass hit the court for the first time this past weekend, splitting a home-and-home with Northeastern.
• On Friday, reigning Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year Tre Mitchell went off for 31 points and A-10 Rookie of the Week Javohn Garcia added 23 as UMass rolled past the Huskies, 94-79, on its home court.
• Then on Sunday at Northeastern, five Minutemen scored in double figures, but it was the Huskies coming away with a 78-75 victory.
• Through two games, Mitchell and Garcia are both averaging 20.5 points per game, with Mitchell adding 9.5 rebounds and Garcia chipping in 3.0 steals per contest.

GILL'S GOT GAME

• Only three games into his La Salle career, freshman Anwar Gill is already finding his groove and leading the Explorers to victory.
• Since making his debut at Army, Gill has scored in double figures twice to help the Explorers to a pair of wins over Lincoln (Pa.) and Drexel.
• In the win over Lincoln, the 6-4 guard did a bit of everything, tallying 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals over 25 minutes.
• On Saturday in the win at Drexel, the Washington, D.C. native posted a game-high 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting to go with eight rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
• Over those two wins, Gill averaged 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game on 47.6 percent shooting from the floor.

D IS KEY FOR EXPLORERS

• Already this season, La Salle ranks ninth in the nation with 6.4 blocked shots per game, which leads the Atlantic 10.
• The Explorers have shown their trademark perimeter defense as well, as they lead the A-10 in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to a 26.7 percent mark, which ranks 39th in the country.
• La Salle is 2-1 this season when holding its opponents under 40 percent shooting from the field.