Men's Basketball | November 14, 2022
PHILADELPHIA — The La Salle men's basketball team looks to earn its second straight victory of the season on Tuesday when it hosts Queens University of Charlotte in the first game of the Jersey Mike's Jamaica Classic at Tom Gola Arena at TruMark Financial Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
The game will be televised on ESPN+, with Kale Beers and Bron Holland delivering the play-by-play and color. Explorers fans can listen to the broadcast through GoExplorers.com/watch.
NEWS & NOTES
- The Explorers will face Queens for the first time in program history in the Jamaica Classic, a round robin tournament that includes eight teams from eight conferences.
- Following this game, the Explorers will take a flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica to face ACC foe Wake Forest on Friday. The Explorers conclude their trip with a matchup against either Georgetown or Loyola Marymount on Sunday.
- The Explorers are coming off a 77-69 win over Wagner in their home opener last Saturday. Sophomore Khalil Brantley poured in a career-high 22 points and senior Josh Nickelberry scored 20 points in the victory.
- The Explorers delivered Fran Dunphy's first victory as La Salle's head coach. Dunphy, a 1970 La Salle graduate, is now the first Big 5 coach to win a game with three Big 5 teams (won 310 games with Penn and 270 with Temple). Dunphy now sports a 581-326 career record.
- La Salle will look to start the season with wins in two of its first three games for the first time since 2017, when it went 3-0 to start that year.
- The Explorers will be looking to produce a winning season for the first time since 2015-16, when they went 15-15 and 9-9 in Atlantic 10 play.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
- The Explorers have performed well at Tom Gola Arena, producing winning records at home in five of the last six seasons. The Explorers have gone 47-35 in Gola Arena during that span.
- The Explorers have won their last three games at Gola Arena dating back to last season, when they topped Dayton (62-60 on Feb. 26) and Saint Joseph's (49-48 on March 2), respectively.
- Dunphy will be looking to become the 10th head coach in La Salle history to win his first two home games as a head coach.
THE NICKELBERRY NARRATIVE
- Nickelberry has produced the best two-game scoring span of his Explorer career after pouring in 42 combined points. For the second straight season opener, Nickelberry dropped 22 points against Villanova last Monday on 7-of-12 shooting, including 5-for-9 from beyond the arc. On Saturday against Wagner, Nickelberry netted 20 points, 10 of which came from the free-throw line.
- The senior guard now has six career 20-point games and has scored in double figures in 16 career contests. Nickelberry also has led the team in scoring seven times in his time at La Salle.
- Nickelberry's best scoring performance was a career-high 28 points against Holy Cross last season. Nickelberry also recorded a career-high eight rebounds against the Crusaders.
BIG GAME BRANTLEY
- Brantley posted his best performance in a La Salle uniform last Saturday against Wagner, scoring a career-high 22 points while handing out six assists. The sophomore guard eclipsed his previous career-high mark, scoring 18 points in 34 minutes in an A-10 matchup against VCU last season.
- In the final 12 minutes against Wagner, the Bronx, N.Y. native scored 12 points. He also shot a career-best 12-for-15 from the free-throw line.
- In his first career start a year ago, Brantley nearly went the distance in the overtime defeat to St. Bonaventure. He played in 42 minutes, scoring 10 points while grabbing a career-high eight assists, five of them in the first half.
SCOUTING QUEENS (N.C.)
- The Royals have opened the season with a pair of home victories over Marshall (83-82) and Clinton College (99-65). The Royals have started 2-0 for the second consecutive season and for the third time in the last four seasons.
- In their win over Clinton, the Royals dominated in the paint, dropping 52 points. They also showed their depth, as the Royals' bench outscored Clinton, 47-17.
- Queens had all 12 players score in the game against Clinton. Kenny Dye led the way with 14 points.
- Dye is the team's leading scorer at 19.0 points per game. Gavin Rains averages a double-double for the Royals, scoring 13.0 points per game and pulling down 13.0 rebounds per game. AJ McKee (13.0) and Jay'Den Turner (10.5) have also averaged double figures on the season.
- Queens was picked to finish 13th in the ASUN Conference by the league's coaches in the preseason.
