Coach K meets with Fran Dunphy and the Explorers traveling party prior to Tuesday's game. (Photo: La Salle Athletics)
As he watched shootaround prior to La Salle’s game at Duke on Tuesday night, longtime Explorers broadcaster Kale Beers looked around at the large contingent of supporters, saw Coach K addressing the traveling party and felt like it was 2013 all over again.
“The last time I saw that good spirit, feel-good, all-in vibe was the Sweet 16,” Beers said.
You remember, right? The Southwest Philly Floater and the Cinderella run of Ty Garland, Ramon Galloway and Tyreek Duren to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in 2012-13. Heady days for the Explorers, indeed. But that kind of fun and excitement has been mostly missing from the proud program, as La Salle has just one winning season and hasn’t been back to the NCAA Tournament since 2013.
But there are signs of hope for La Salle and Explorers fans.
Why?
Let’s start with the arena. La Salle’s home court is getting a long-overdue upgrade that is set to be unveiled next fall.
Then, there’s the administration. In the press release for the renovation of Gola Arena, president Daniel J. Allen said, “Athletics is really the front porch for the university.” If you want a good athletics program, you need buy-in from the top. And that quote would seem to be it. Ashwin Puri came on board as La Salle’s new athletics director over the summer, bringing several years of experience in a high-up AD role at Villanova with him. Any inside knowledge of how the Wildcats run their uber-successful men’s basketball program can only help.
Finally, and most importantly, there’s on the court. In Fran Dunphy, the Explorers have one of the winningest and most-respected coaches in college basketball. Dunphy’s roster, led by seniors Anwar Gill and Jhamir Brickus and junior Khalil Brantley, has talent and experience. After a strong finish last season in Dunphy’s first at the helm when La Salle won a pair of games in the Atlantic 10 tournament, the Explorers ran off four straight wins to start this season.
Yes, some hope.
“People believe in Dunph, people trust Dunph,” Beers said. “We have a very likable team. They work their tails off. Our fan base is passionate, blue collar and astute. They’ve been through a lot. They feel it. They feel good things are happening. Our fan base is hungry. They want it back again.”
Many of La Salle’s most ardent supporters traveled to Duke. There was an Eagles-Chiefs watch party the night before the game, the aforementioned gathering at shootaround and then many blue & gold cladded fans among the 9,314 at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
After a promising first half, the Explorers, playing in snazzy, new jerseys, couldn’t keep up with ninth-ranked Duke and were defeated 95-66.
“Our defense needs to get better,” Dunphy told reporters afterward. “They pushed like crazy. They took great advantage of that. Obviously, we would have liked it to be more competitive.”
Some might say that getting routed at Duke is just the same-old, same-old for La Salle. And maybe they will be proven right. Or maybe the Explorers can take the positives from the experience and use it to build on their best start in nine years.
“Our guys kept fighting,” Beers said. “They grinded it out. They got experience at the highest level. That’s going to pay off.”
Time will tell.
The Explorers will have to prove themselves on the court and will have to convince many doubters, including the pollsters who predicted La Salle to finish 15th out of 15 teams in the Atlantic 10 Conference this season.
That will be for later.
For now, the Explorers have a potentially program-shifting stretch in the next week, beginning with Sunday afternoon’s home matchup against Coppin State in which a win would mark Dunphy’s 600th career victory. Then, they’ll head to Temple on Wednesday night with a chance to earn a spot in the first-ever Big 5 tournament championship game on Dec. 2 with a victory over the Owls.
The opportunity to bring more hope and respect to the program is right there for the Explorers’ taking.
Can they?
“I believe in Dunph, I believe in our guys and I believe we’re going to get better and better,” Beers said. “I’m thoroughly excited.”
-St. Joe’s story: Watching St. Joe’s go punch for punch with 16th-ranked Kentucky in Lexington on Monday night, it’s hard to fathom how the Hawks lost at home to Texas A&M-Commerce in their previous game.
Erik Reynolds II was dominant in scoring a game-high 28 points, including 6 of 12 from 3-point range. Xzayvier Brown showed no freshman jitters at all on the big stage of Rupp Arena, finishing with 17 points, six assists and six rebounds and had two blow-by drives after halftime that were special. Cameron Brown hit a huge 3 late in the second half and overcame foul trouble to finish with 17 points.
St. Joe’s had the lead late in regulation and could’ve taken a one-point advantage in the final seconds of the second half, but Christ Essandoko’s good-looking free throw hit the back rim on his second try after making the first. Kentucky couldn’t score on its ensuing possession but outlasted the Hawks in overtime, eventually winning 96-88.
“I thought our guys played well enough to win,” Hawks coach Billy Lange told reporters afterward. “We didn’t, and that’s what we came here to do. We believe we should win every game we play and we represent a great university that has an amazing fighting spirit. We needed to do that in front of Big Blue Nation, and I thought we did.”
True that.
The Hawks gave Kentucky all it wanted and more.
This is the type of performance from St. Joe’s that had the program’s followers so excited prior to the season – and so shocked when they lost to A&M-Commerce on Nov. 17.
Still, this showing has to be a confidence booster for Lange’s squad. The Hawks return home to host Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon. Then, like La Salle, they’ll have a chance for a berth in the Big 5 tournament title game when they travel to Villanova on Wednesday in a Holy War showdown at the Pavilion.
After last Friday’s defeat, it would’ve seemed like a long shot for the Hawks to defeat Villanova. If St. Joe’s plays like Monday at Kentucky, however, there’s no doubt that the Wildcats will need to be at their very best to win.
-Villanova story: Eric Dixon had a monster game on Thursday in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals, finishing with 34 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Wildcats to an 83-81 overtime win over 14th-ranked North Carolina in a rematch of the 2016 NCAA title game. Villanova carried over its impressive performance in the 88-69 quarterfinal win over Texas Tech into the matchup against the Tar Heels. Justin Moore added 16 points and Mark Armstrong had 10. Kyle Neptune’s squad has done a superb job of rebounding from the Penn loss, suffocating Maryland, running past Texas Tech before eking out a win over the Tar Heels.
The Wildcats will play Memphis for the Battle 4 Atlantis title at 3:30 on Friday on ESPN.
-Tip-ins: I tuned in to Temple-Ole Miss on Wednesday with about 1 1/2 minutes left and saw the Owls lose a heartbreaker, 77-76. After Allen Flanigan hit a pair of free throws with 9 seconds left to put Ole Miss up one, Temple got a great look at a potential game-winner but Quante Berry’s jumper from the right wing caromed off the rim. Hysier Miller led the Owls with 21 points while Flanigan had a game-high 26. … Penn hasn’t played since we last wrote. The Quakers host Belmont, Lafayette and Monmouth in the three-day Cathedral of College Basketball Classic that begins today at the Palestra. … Garfield Turner came off the bench to score a career-high 13 points and lead Drexel to a 62-52 win over Queens (N.C.) last Sunday. The Dragons are back in action on Sunday at Old Dominion. … The game times for the first Big 5 Classic on Saturday, Dec. 2 at the Wells Fargo Center are as follows: 2 pm, Fifth-place game; 4:45 pm, Third-place game; 7:30 pm, Championship game.
Rankings (through games 11/23):
1. Villanova (5-1)
2. St. Joe’s (3-2)
3. La Salle (4-1)
4. Penn (3-2)
5. Temple (3-2)
6. Drexel (3-2)
Big 5 leaders (through games 11/23):
Scoring Top 10
1. Hysier Miller, Temple, 20.2
2. Clark Slajchert, Penn, 18.8
T3. Erik Reynolds II, St. Joe’s, 17.0
T3. Sam Brown, Penn, 17.0
5. Justin Moore, Villanova, 16.3
6. Khalil Brantley, La Salle, 15.8
7. Tyler Perkins, Penn, 15.2
8. Eric Dixon, Villanova, 14.5
T9. Jhamir Brickus, La Salle, 14.0
T9. Jahlil White, Temple, 14.0
Rebounding Top 10
1. Amari Williams, Drexel, 9.4
2. Jahlil White, Temple, 8.0
T3. Tyler Burton, Villanova, 7.5
T3. Eric Dixon, Villanova, 7.5
5. Tyler Perkins, Penn, 7.4
6. Christ Essandoko, St. Joe’s, 7.3
7. Nick Spinoso, Penn, 7.2
8. Rasheer Fleming, St. Joe’s, 6.0
T9. Sam Hofman, Temple, 5.6
T9. Rokas Jocius, La Salle, 5.6
Last week’s results:
Saturday, Nov. 18
Columbia 78, Temple 73
La Salle 79, Southern Indiana 78
Maryland Eastern Shore 83, Penn 80, OT
Sunday, Nov. 19
Drexel 62, Queens (N.C.) 52
Monday, Nov. 20
Kentucky 96, Saint Joseph’s 88, OT
Tuesday, Nov. 21
Duke 95, La Salle 66
Wednesday, Nov. 22
Villanova 88, Texas Tech 69
Ole Miss 77, Temple 76
Thursday, Nov. 23
Villanova 83, North Carolina 81
This week’s schedule:
Friday, Nov. 24
3:30 pm, Villanova vs. Memphis, Nassau, Bahama
4:30 pm, Lafayette at Penn
Saturday, Nov. 25
4:30 pm, Belmont at Penn
Sunday, Nov. 26
1 pm, Sacred Heart at Saint Joseph’s
1 pm, Coppin State at La Salle
2 pm, Drexel at Old Dominion
2:30 pm, Monmouth at Penn
Wednesday, Nov. 29
6:30 p.m., Saint Joseph’s at Villanova
7 pm, La Salle at Temple
7 pm, Drexel at Lafayette
Saturday, Dec. 2
Big 5 Classic, Wells Fargo Center
2 pm, Fifth-place game
4:45 pm, Third-place game
7:30 pm, Championship game
