Men's Basketball | December 9, 2022
PHILADELPHIA — The La Salle men's basketball team goes for its third straight victory on Saturday when it faces City 6 foe Drexel in a nationally televised game at Tom Gola Arena. Tip-off is set for noon.
The game will be televised on USA Network, with Jason Knapp and Corey Robinson providing the play-by-play and color. Explorers fans can also listen to the broadcast through GoExplorers.com/watch, with Kale Beers and Bron Holland delivering the play-by-play and color. In addition, Explorers fans can follow the team on Twitter @LaSalle_MBB and Instagram @lasallembb.
The game is also the Sean A. Hughes Memorial Game. Hughes '92 was an undergraduate student at La Salle and a member of the men's rowing team, amongst other organizations, during his time as an Explorer.
Following graduation in 1992, Hughes would go on to a career in education and served as principal of Lower Merion High School for 13 years. Hughes tragically passed away in a car accident in November 2021.
NEWS & NOTES
- The Explorers will go up against the Dragons for the 32nd time in program history. La Salle leads the all-time series with a 24-7 record.
- The Explorers are coming off an 82-72 win over Bucknell on Tuesday night and a thrilling 84-81 overtime victory over Philadelphia Big 5 rival Penn last Saturday at The Palestra.
- In the Bucknell win, the Explorers had five players score in double figures for the first time this season. Andres Marrero led the way with 16 points, while Fousseyni Drame added 15, Hassan Drame and Jhamir Brickus chipped in 12 apiece, and Josh Nickelberry had 11.
- In the Penn game, the Explorers received monster performances from Anwar Gill and 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 585-329 career record.
- Brantley and Nickelberry have made the Explorers go this season. The dynamic duo in the backcourt has combined for 25.7 points per game, with Brantley scoring 12.9 per game and Nickelberry chipping in 12.8 per contest.
COMING OFF THE BENCH
- The Explorers have one of the top benches in the country, as they are ranked 77th in the NCAA in bench points per game at 26.89 points per game.
- The Explorers have seen their bench score over 30 points in a game three times this season, including each of their last two games against Penn (45) and Bucknell (37), respectively.
TAKING CARE OF THE BALL
- The hallmark of Fran Dunphy's teams has been not committing turnovers, and the Explorers have done well in that aspect this season.
- The Explorers are ranked in the top 100 nationally in both turnovers per game and turnover margin. The Explorers are averaging only 11.9 turnovers per game, which is good for 81st in the country. As for their turnover margin, the Explorers have a margin of 2.2, good for 92nd in all of NCAA.
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 49-35 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 fourth head coach in La Salle history to win his first five home games as a head coach.
- The Dragons are 4-5 on the season dropping four of their last five games since a 3-1 start. The Dragons have beaten Old Dominion (71-59), Arcadia (85-45), UT Arlington (59-38), and Lafayette (64-56), respectively.
- The Dragons' five losses were to Penn (64-59), Florida Gulf Coast (67-59), Indiana State (85-81), Temple (73-61), and Princeton (83-63), respectively.
- The Dragons have been paced by Amari Williams, Coletrane Washington, and Lamar Oden, Jr. in the scoring department. Williams leads the way with 15.3 points per game. Washington follows him at 12.1 points per game and Oden, Jr. has chipped in 10.7 points per game.
- Drexel is led by Zach Spiker, who is in his seventh season as head coach for the school. In his 14th season overall as a head coach, Spiker has a career record of 182-220.
