Men's Basketball | January 9, 2024

AMHERST, Mass. - La Salle and Massachusetts square off in an Atlantic 10 men's basketball matchup on Wednesday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m., with the game airing live on the NBC Sports App. Paul Burmeister and Dr. John Giannini will be on the call.

An online radio broadcast featuring Kale Beers (play-by-play) and Bron Holland (color) is available at GoExplorers.com.  In addition, Explorers fans can follow the team on X @LaSalle_MBB and Instagram @lasallembb.

NEWS & NOTES

• Both teams enter the contest tied in the standings at 1-1, with the Explorers coming off an 81-76 victory over Fordham on Saturday.
• Five La Salle players scored in double figures against the Rams and all seven players who saw action scored at least seven points.
• Junior Daeshon Shepherd registered team highs in both points (15) and rebounds (8), while going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
• The Explorers used the charity stripe to their advantage against Fordham, converting 25 of their 30 attempts (83.3%). The team improved to 8-0 on the year when outscoring its opponent at the line.
• Senior Jhamir Brickus and sophomore Rokas Jocius each had 14 points, with Brickus dishing out five assists on the afternoon.
• The total team effort also included double-digit scoring games from junior Khalil Brantley (12) and redshirt freshman Ryan Zan (10).
• The win snapped a five-game losing skid for La Salle against Fordham.
• La Salle is playing the second of five road games during the month of January, with future road games scheduled at Saint Joseph's (Jan. 15), George Washington (Jan. 27) and Rhode Island (Jan. 31).

SCOUTING MASSACHUSETTS

• The Minutemen are coming off a four-point loss to conference favorite Dayton, 64-60, on Sunday.
• Matt Cross tallied 18 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in the defeat, while Josh Cohen added 15 points and nine boards.
• Cohen and Cross are tied for the team lead in scoring at 16.6 points per game, while Philadelphia native Rahsool Diggins is third at 11.6 points per game
• UMass has had the same starting five all season, and four of their bench players have seen action in all 14 games.

SERIES HISTORY

• The Explorer swept the home-and-away series in 2022-23, after having dropped six straight meetings between the two schools.
• Jhamir Brickus had 25 points, including a 6-for-10 performance from three-point range, in a one-point victory on the road last season. La Salle overcame a 44-38 deficit at halftime and earned the win despite scoring just one point over the final five minutes of the game.
• In La Salle's 86-72 win at Gola Arena, five players scored in double figures including four players off the bench. Anwar Gill went 5-for-5 from the field and had 12 points along with five assists, while Rokas Jocius had 12 points and four blocked shots.