Men's Basketball | January 12, 2024

PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's basketball team returns home for the second game of a tough three-game Atlantic 10 stretch, as it takes on VCU Saturday afternoon inside Tom Gola Arena. The game will tipoff at 12:30 p.m. as the first half of a basketball doubleheader with the women's program. The contest will also air live on USA Network. Paul Burmeister and Tim McCormick will have the call.

The game is presented by Steamfitters Local Union 420, and the first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a free rally towel.

Kale Beers, Rich Tarr, and Bron Holland will bring you an online radio broadcast via goexplorers.com. In addition, Explorers fans can follow the team on X @LaSalle_MBB and Instagram @lasallembb.

NEWS & NOTES

• The Explorers play three games over a six-day stretch, which started with a road loss at Massachusetts on Wednesday.
• UMass extended a one-point halftime lead by shooting 51.5 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes.
• Four Explorers scored in double figures in the contest, led by a career-high 14 points from Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi.
• Fasasi connected on four three-pointers and also dished out three assists and had two blocked shots in a career-best 37 minutes of action.
• A normally-reliable La Salle bunch did not shoot well from the free-throw line, connecting on just six of 15 attempts from the line (40.0%).
• The Minutemen also won the battle on the boards by a fairly substantial margin, outrebounding the Explorers, 44-31.
• Junior Daeshon Shepherd had 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds, marking the eighth time this season he has paced the squad in rebounding.
• Atlantic 10 assist leader Jhamir Brickus had six assists in the game to go along with 12 points.
• Brickus is averaging 5.1 assists per game and is a fraction ahead of Loyola Chicago's Braden Norris for the league lead.

SCOUTING VCU

• The Rams snapped a two-game A-10 losing streak on Tuesday night, defeating George Mason on the road, 54-50.
• A defensive struggle throughout, both teams shot below 40 percent for the game.
• Max Shulga led the way with 13 points, including a 5-for-6 performance from the free-throw line.
• Shulga leads the way in scoring for VCU, averaging 15.3 points per game and is also distributing 3.9 assists per contest.
• VCU ranks near the top of the Atlantic 10 in three-point field goal defense, as opponents are hitting just 31.1 percent from three-point range against them this season (4th in the league).

SERIES HISTORY

• The Explorers have dropped each of the last eight games against VCU, including last year's 80-67 loss in Richmond on New Year's Eve.
• Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley combined to score 30 points, but the Explorers shot just 35.5 percent from the floor in the second half of the contest.
• The last win for La Salle against the Rams came on February 11, 2015, when Jordan Price scored 34 points and added 18 rebounds in a 74-69 double-overtime road win.