Men's Basketball | February 19, 2021

PHILADELPHIA - La Salle will play its fourth consecutive road game when it travels across the city to face rival Saint Joseph's in a nationally televised Atlantic 10 contest on Saturday. The game will air live on NBC Sports Network, beginning at 12:30 p.m.

NEWS & NOTES
•The Explorers will look for their fourth straight win over the Hawks after putting up a season-high 90 points in a seven-point win over Saint Joseph's at Tom Gola Arena on Jan. 18.
•Freshman Jhamir Brickus scored a career-high 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor while adding three steals in a 78-57 setback at Saint Louis on Tuesday.
•It was the sixth straight game in which La Salle's leading scorer set a career-high mark for points.
•Saint Louis went ahead early and La Salle didn't make a three-pointer until there was 11 seconds left in the first half, leading to a 39-23 halftime lead for the Billikens.
•The Explorers got back within 12 early in the second half, but Saint Louis went on a 16-4 run and led by as much as 26 to ultimately improve to 10-1 at home.
•La Salle couldn't get their outside game going at all, shooting just 17.9 percent (5-for28) from three-point territory, only the second time the Explorers have shot below 20 percent from deep in a game this season.
•The Billikens held the Explorers to season lows in assists (5) and made foul shots (2-for-6).
•Redshirt sophomore Jack Clark added 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting and six rebounds, while freshman Tegra Izay pulled down a career-high six rebounds.

SCOUTING SAINT JOSEPH'S
•It's been a tough season for the Hawks, sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic 10 standings at 1-14 overall and 0-9 in conference play.
•The Hawks have had to play without their top player, Ryan Daly, who went down to injury in late December.
•Even more, Saint Joseph's hasn't played since Jan. 30 (a 67-50 loss at Duquesne) due to COVID-19 issues.
•The team's lone win came at home against Albany, 67-64, on Jan. 9.
•Taylor Funk averages 16.2 points per game and Jack Forrest adds 11.2 points per contest, while Jordan Hall is second in the A-10 with 5.9 assists per game.

JAMMIN WITH JHAMIR
•Freshman guard Jhamir Brickus has shown flashes of brilliance in his first season, becoming a two-way standout as the starting point guard.
•The last time out at Saint Louis, Brickus showed his scoring ability, netting a career-high 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting from the floor and is averaging 17.5 points over his last two games.
•The talented guard has been incredibly efficient shooting the ball, hitting 50.7 percent of his shots from the floor this season to rank 14th in the Atlantic 10.
•Brickus has been one of the top back court defenders in the A-10 this season as well, averaging 1.8 steals per game, which is tied for eighth best in the league.
•The Coatesville, Pa. native scored in double figures in each of his first three career games and has done so 10 times this season, which is tied for the team lead.
•The 5-11 guard put on a passing clinic in the Jan. 2 win over Fordham, dishing out a career-high 10 assists, and he leads the team with 3.2 assists per game.
•Brickus began his career by being named to the Lapchick All-Tournament Team after averaging 10.5 points per game on 9-for-11 (81.8%) over his first two career games.
•He opened his La Salle career by coming off the bench to shoot 5-for-6 from the floor for 11 points at St. John's in his debut and followed with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting vs. Saint Peter's the next day.

GUESSING GAME
•The Explorers have shown a balanced offensive attack as 10 different players have led the team in scoring through 21 games.
•Additionally, 10 different Explorers have scored in double figures in two or more games this season.
•Five Explorers reached double-digit points in the Jan. 2 win over Fordham, six reached double figures in the win at Richmond and five put up double digits in the victory over Saint Louis on Feb. 3.
•Head coach Ashley Howard has taken advantage of that balance, utilizing 10 different starting rotations already in 2020-21.

CLARK THE SPARK
•Redshirt sophomore Jack Clark has become a consistent contributor in his first season back after a knee injury forced him to miss most of 2018-19 and all of last season.
•Clark, who has reached double-digit points 10 times this season, is averaging 12.8 points over the last five games.
•The 6-8 guard tallied 16 points and four rebounds at Fordham and totaled 15 points (6-8 FG, 3-4 3PT) and nine rebounds in the win over Saint Louis on Feb. 3.
•In only his third game back from injury this season, Clark exploded for 18 points and then-career highs in rebounds (9), field goals (5) and three-pointers (4) at Army.
•The Cheltenham, Pa. native has been all over the boards this season, averaging 5.1 rebounds per game, including a career-best 13 rebounds in the win at Drexel.