Men's Basketball | December 5, 2022
PHILADELPHIA — The La Salle men's basketball team has its eyes on climbing above the .500 mark by beating Bucknell on Tuesday night at Tom Gola Arena. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
The game will be televised on ESPN+, with Kale Beers and Rich Prendergast delivering the play-by-play and color. Explorers fans can also listen to the broadcast through GoExplorers.com/watch. In addition, Explorers fans can follow the team on Twitter
@LaSalle_MBB and Instagram
@lasallembb.
The game will also feature an Ugly Christmas Sweater contest, the university's Toys for Tots Toy Drive, and Walking Taco Tuesday, a new concession option on Tuesdays during the season. Students can obtain tickets for the game by clicking
here.
NEWS & NOTES
- The Explorers will go up against the Bison for the 28th time in program history. La Salle leads the all-time series with a 20-7 record.
- The Explorers are coming off a thrilling 84-81 overtime victory over Philadelphia Big 5 rival Penn on Saturday at The Palestra.
- In the Penn game, the Explorers received monster performances from Anwar Gill and Jhamir Brickus, who each had career highs in points with 26 and 25 points, respectively. Gill and Brickus combined for 11 of the team's 15 points in overtime to help La Salle earn the victory.
- The Explorers are led by head coach Fran Dunphy, the all-time winningest coach in Philadelphia Big 5 history. A 1970 La Salle graduate, Dunphy sports a 584-329 career record.
- Josh Nickelberry and Khalil Brantley have made the Explorers go this season. The dynamic duo in the backcourt has combined for 25.9 points per game, with Nickelberry scoring 13.0 per game and Brantley chipping in 12.9 per contest.
GILL GETS IT GOING
- Anwar Gill has provided a spark off the Explorers' bench, averaging 9.3 points per game, good for third on the team.
- The junior guard ranks in the top 25 in the Atlantic-10 in assist/turnover ratio (third at 2.4), assists per game (tied for 16th at 3.0), steals per game (tied for 18th at 1.3), and field goal percentage (tied for 21st at .483).
- Gill is coming off his best performance in a La Salle uniform, as he netted a career-high 26 points in the team's 84-81 overtime win over Penn last Saturday. In the game, Gill shot 9-for-15 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three-point range, and 5-for-7 from the free throw line in 35 minutes. The Washington, D.C. native's nine field goals made, three three-pointers made, five foul shots made, 15 field goals attempted, and 35 minutes played were all career highs.
- Gill is coming off his best performance in a La Salle uniform, as he netted a career-high 26 points in the team's 84-81 overtime win over Penn last Saturday. In the game, Gill shot 9-for-15 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three-point range, and 5-for-7 from the free throw line in 35 minutes. The Washington, D.C. native's nine field goals made, three three-pointers made, five foul shots made, 15 field goals attempted, and 35 minutes played were all career highs.
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 48-35 in Gola Arena during that span.
- By beating Wagner, Queens, and Binghamton, the Explorers won their first three home games of the season for the first time since 2013-14, when they topped Saint Peter's (61-40 on Nov. 11, 2017), South Alabama (81-73 on Nov. 16, 2017), and Temple (87-83 on Nov. 26, 2017).
- The Explorers have won their last five 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.
- The Explorers will look to win their first four home games of the season at Tom Gola Arena for the first time since 2011-12, when they went 12-0 to start their home slate that season.
- Dunphy will be looking to become the sixth head coach in La Salle history to win his first four home games as a head coach.
SCOUTING BUCKNELL
- The Bison are 5-3 on the season after winning four of their last five games since a 2-2 start. The Bison have beaten Niagara (68-50), Presbyterian (66-65), Austin Peay (79-65), Saint Francis (89-65), and NJIT (79-63), respectively.
- The Bison's three losses were to Saint Peter's (82-71), Georgia (65-61), and Marist (60-54 in OT), respectively.
- The Bison have been paced by Xander Rice, Alex Timmerman, and Andre Screen in the scoring department. Rice leads the way with 17.0 points per game. Timmerman follows him at 11.7 points per game and Screen has chipped in 10.7 points per game.
- The Bison are one of only four teams in the nation shooting over 50 percent while holding opponents under 38 percent.
- four teams in the nation shooting over 50% while holding opponents under 38%
- Bucknell is led by Nathan Davis, who is in his eighth season as head coach for Bucknell. In his 14th season overall as a head coach, Davis has a career record of 263-137.
