PHILADELPHIA — The La Salle men's basketball team will begin a new era Monday night when the Explorers take on Philadelphia Big 5 rival No. 16 VIllanova at 6:30 p.m. at Finneran Pavilion. The season opener will feature legendary head coach and alum Fran Dunphy's debut leading the Explorers on the sidelines after being hired by the university to take over the program last April. 

 

The game will be televised by Fox, airing as part of the comprehensive coverage of eight BIG EAST home openers Monday. Brandon Gaudin and Jim Spanarkel will be courtside. Complete game coverage, from tip-off to final horn, can be found on the Fox Sports app. The FS1 feed will include portions of the contest. There will also be an audio broadcast available to fans through SIDEARM on GoExplorers.com/watch. Kale Beers will be on call for the opener. 

 

• La Salle begins the 2022-23 season with not only a nationally ranked opponent, but also against Philadelphia Big 5 rival Villanova in a nationally televised game at Finneran Pavilion. The matchup against the Wildcats is the 71st meeting in the all-time series and the first time the Explorers faced a Big 5 school to open the season since 2018-19, when they opened with Temple. 
• The Explorers will be led this year by Dunphy, who is beginning his first season as head coach. A 1970 graduate, Dunphy is the all-time winningest coach in Philadelphia Big 5 history, having amassed 580 wins in 30 seasons while coaching at Penn (17 seasons) and Temple (13 seasons). 
• The Explorers will be looking to have a winning season for the first time since 2015-16, when it went 15-15 and 9-9 in Atlantic 10 play.  
• The Explorers return eight players from last year's squad, including guards Jhamir Brickus, Josh Nickelberry, and Anwar Gill. Brickus led the team in assists per game (3.3), Nickelberry paced the Explorers in three-point field goal percentage (.361) and Gill led the squad in steals per game (1.2). 
• Seven newcomers joined this summer, as four freshmen and three transfers look to give the Explorers balance and depth. Two of those transfers are Hassan and Fousseyni Drame, who helped Saint Peter's make history last season by becoming the first 15th seed to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. 

STARTING ON THE RIGHT FOOT 

• As La Salle enters the first season under the direction of head coach Fran Dunphy, the Explorers will look to get started on the win column. 
• In the previous 10 season openers, the Explorers have gone 5-5.  
• The Explorers' most recent season-opener win was against Iona to kick off the 2019-20 campaign. The Explorers knocked off Iona, 70-64, in overtime. 
• Dunphy has helped his teams start the season with a win more often than not. Dunphy's teams have gone 18-12 in season openers in his 30 seasons as a head coach. 

• Fran Dunphy has always made sure his teams are prepared, especially against the Big 5. In his 30 seasons as a coach, Dunphy has posted a 58-55 record against Big 5 programs. 
• Dunphy has also guided his teams to the NCAA Tournament in a short amount of time. Dunphy led Penn to the Big Dance in his fourth season in 1992-93 and helped Temple reach it in his second season in 2007-08. 
• In his previous 30 years coaching, Dunphy directed his teams to 16 NCAA Tournament appearances (eight appearances with Penn, eighth with Temple).  

• The Wildcats open the season as the No. 16 ranked team in the nation after reaching the Final Four for the seventh time in school history in 2021-22.  
• The Wildcats are coming off their sixth season in which they won 30 or more games after winning 30 contests. 
• Villanova also has a change in its coaching guard, as Kyle Neptune begins his first season as head coach after replacing one of the most successful coaches in college basketball history in Jay Wright, who retired last April. Neptune, who was Fordham's head coach last season, spent eight seasons as an assistant on Wright's staff from 2013-21. 
• Despite being ranked in the AP poll, the Wildcats have been picked to finish third in the BIG EAST behind Creighton and Xavier, respectively. 
• The Wildcats bring back three quality players in guards Justin Moore and Caleb Daniels and forward Eric Dixon, who were selected to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Second Team.