PHILADELPHIA - The La Salle men's basketball team will open the brand new John Glaser Arena on Monday night as the Explorers host Patriot League foe American University.
The game will be televised on ESPN+, with Kale Beers and Rich Prendergast delivering the play-by-play and color commentary. In addition, Explorers fans can follow the team on X/Twitter
@LaSalle_MBB and Instagram
@lasallembb.
NEWS & NOTES
- The Explorers open a new arena in 2024, John Glaser Arena.
- The Arena will feature a 360-degree bowl with all chairbacks, state of the art video boards, both in the center hung and multiple ribbons, completely redone audio and lighting systems, and several more improvements to the fan experience that will contribute to an improved homecourt advantage for the Explorers.
- La Salle will look to continue to build on the continuous improvement of head coach Fran Dunphy's first two seasons. The Explorers' winning percentage has climbed the last two seasons to its best winning percentage since the 2019-20 season.
- Dunphy has spent his entire head coaching career at one of three Philadelphia universities. At his previous two stops, year three has been highly successful. His 1991-92 season at Penn saw his first of five consecutive winning seasons (16-10) and a second-place finish in the Ivy League. In the 2008-09 season at Temple led the Owls to their second straight A-10 title and a 22-12 record.
- Like most of college basketball, La Salle experienced heavy turnover with the transfer portal this off-season. Five players exited the program via the portal, with five transferring in plus two freshmen. All five who joined the Explorers played 20 or more games at their previous institution, with three starting a large portion of the season.
- The lone freshman joining the program, guard Deuce Jones comes to La Salle as a three-star prospect, as ranked by 24/7 Sports. The Trenton, N.J. native was rated the 17th best point guard in his class and sixth best player in New Jersey by the 24/7 Composite ranking. All five ranked above him are attending traditional men's basketball powers. He is the second highest rated La Salle signee in the modern recruiting era and fourth highest rated freshman in the A-10 this season.
STARTING ON THE RIGHT PATH
- As La Salle enters its third season under the direction of Dunphy, the Explorers will look to get started in the win column.
- In the previous 12 season openers, the Explorers have gone 6-6.
- The Explorers' snapped a three opener losing streak last season, defeating Drexel 67-61 in the Dragons' first game as a member of the Big 5.
- Dunphy has helped his teams start the season with a win more often than not. Dunphy's teams have gone 19-13 in season openers in his 32 seasons as a head coach.
SCOUTING AMERICAN
- American is coming off a season where it finished 16-16. The Eagles finished tied for second in the Patriot League despite playing through a myriad of injuries.
- The team returns a large portion of the rotation from a season ago, including Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year in forward Matt Rogers. Last season, the Maryland native averaged 16.3 points and 6.2 rebounds per game en route to being named First-Team All-Patriot League.
- American also returns senior guard Elijah Stephens, who was named First Team All-Defense and Second Team All-Patriot League last season.
- Former Maryland guard and longtime George Mason assistant Duane Simpkins leads American in his second season. He impressed in first campaign, leading the Eagles to ten wins in Patriot League play for the first time since 2020.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST AMERICAN
- Tuesday's contest is the 29th meeting between the Explorers and Eagles.
- The matchup between La Salle and American dates back to 1966, with La Salle leading the series 20-8.
- The two sides met at least once a year from 1966-1983 as members of the East Coast Conference. Their final matchup as conference foes came in the ECC Tournament in 1983, with La Salle claiming victory, 75-73.
- In the last 20 years, the two have met just once, in December of 2014. The Eagles took that contest, 68-66 in overtime.
