Men's Basketball | December 15, 2023

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - The La Salle men's basketball team (8-2) heads south for its final road non-conference contest of the season as it takes on nationally-ranked Miami (Fla.) Saturday. Tipoff is set for 12 p.m., with the actiona available live nationally on The CW Network. The Hurricanes (7-2) enter ranked 24th nationally both in the Associated Press and Coaches Poll.

An audio broadcast of the game will be available on GoExplorers.com, with Kale Beers and Bron Holland calling the action. In addition, Explorers fans can follow the team on X @LaSalle_MBB and Instagram @lasallembb.

NEWS & NOTES

• Last Saturday, the Explorers won their third straight game and improved their record to 8-2 on the year with a 67-51 victory at Lafayette.
• Redshirt sophomore Andres Marrero registered a career-high 20 points, marking the second straight game in which he had set a new career mark for points in a game.
• The Venezuelan knocked down five three-pointers, one-third of the team's season-best 15 three-point field goals.
• Nearly 70 percent (68.2%) of La Salle's made field goals were three-pointers against the Leopards, the highest ratio of three-pointers/field goals made in at least 13 seasons.
• Senior Jhamir Brickus (14 points) connected on four three-pointers and junior Daeshon Shepherd (11 points) hit three more from downtown. Brickus also added a team-best eight assists and seven rebounds.
• La Salle is undefeated in the month of December (3-0), stands a perfect 5-0 in games played in the afternoon, and is 4-0 in games played on Saturday this season.
• Marrero was named Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week after his career games last week, averaging 19.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and shooting 50.0% from three-point range in two wins.

SCOUTING MIAMI (FLA.)

• The Hurricanes enter with a 7-2 overall record, falling to Colorado at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. in their last outing on Dec. 10.
• Three players are averaging 15 points or more, led by Wooga Poplar (15.9 ppg). Poplar is also the team's top three-point shooter (52.3%).
• Norchad Omier (15.7 ppg) and Matthew Cleveland (15.0 ppg) are the second and third leading scorers, with Nigel Pack (12.8 ppg) also averaging double figures.
• Omier is the team's leading rebounder at 9.2 rebounds per contest, while Pack has totaled a team-high 35 assists.

SERIES HISTORY

• Saturday will mark the 19th time the two teams have squared off against one another, with each team having won nine games.
• The last two matchups between the two teams came on neutral sites, with the last coming at the Wooden Classic in California (Miami won, 85-49).
• La Salle's last win came during the 1970-71 season, when they defeated the Hurricanes, 97-77.
• All-American Ken Durrett went for 40 in that victory for the Explorers.