La Salle opened Glaser Arena with a win over American on November 4th. The Explorers will host Temple there on Saturday. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
November 28, 2024
Glance over at the Temple bench during a timeout on Saturday and you will see the Owls huddled closely together, squeezed tightly in a bunch around coach Adam Fisher. Literally, they’ll need to be that close, Fisher thinks, to hear the coach’s instructions. Figuratively, they’ll have to be that together to defeat La Salle in what figures to be a raucous, excited atmosphere at La Salle’s brand-new Glaser Arena.
The stakes are huge for both teams: Win and get Saint Joseph’s in the second edition of the Big 5 Classic championship game at 7 o’clock Saturday, December 7, at the Wells Fargo Center. The loser meets Villanova in the third-place game at 4:30.
The Explorers and Owls will tip at 4 p.m., and Fisher can’t wait.
“First off, it’s great for the city,” Temple’s coach told Big5Hoops.com in a phone interview. “It’s great you have these rivalries in the city like nobody else in the country is doing something like this. That’s great. It gives you this little energy and excitement going into every one of these games.
“They’re going to have a great crowd. You all want to compete for that city championship. These games really prepare you because they’re all well-coached—I have such respect for the coaches in the Big 5—and you know the teams are going to battle. Every game is going to be tight, and those are the games that prepare you to play meaningful games in March.”
From his experience on staffs at Villanova, Penn State, and Miami, as well as his first year at the helm at Temple last season, Fisher knows there are certain things that teams need to do when playing in hostile environments. Glaser Arena isn’t big, but the 3,000 or so fans packed into the beautiful, new arena likely will be loud, intense, and doing everything they can to lift the Explorers to victory.
“The first thing is you have to control your emotions,” Fisher said of the key to dealing with tough environments. “You can’t get too high or low in a game that is going to be high energy. It is going to be a battle. Let’s control our emotions and go out and play Temple basketball for forty minutes. And you have to stick together.
“Your huddles have to be tighter. Your bench has to be tighter together. You have to make sure everybody is on the same page. You have to make sure you know hand signals. Maybe you can’t hear us. You have to have hand signals for the calls. For us, it’s just about doing everything, but just a little tighter and more together.”
Scouting Temple
Like La Salle, Temple is off to a good start. The Owls are 4-2 and in position to play for a Big 5 title after a 69-61 home defeat of Drexel on November 12. New Mexico transfer Jamal Mashburn Jr. has been sensational for the Owls, scoring at least 20 points in every game while shooting 47.5 percent (48 of 101) from the field, including a whopping 55.2 percent (16 of 29) from three-point range.
Nationally, Kadary Richmond’s move from Seton Hall to St. John’s has been talked about as the best transfer portal addition in the country. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more impactful transfer through nearly four weeks of the season than Mashburn.
“He’s been outstanding,” Fisher said of Mashburn, who’s averaging 23.3 points per contest and went over 2,000 for his career in Saturday’s 87-80 win over UMass in Uncasville, Connecticut. “He can really score the basketball. He’s making really good decisions. He’s doing it at a great clip, too. It’s not a guy that’s taking 30 shots and getting 15. He’s been really efficient. It’s a great credit to him. He watches a ton of film. He stays after practice. And he’s a great leader, the way he helps the young guys. That part has been really impressive.”
The Owls have not been a one-man show, as they’ve gotten a strong contribution in a supporting role from Steve Settle III (13.2 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 1.5 bpg).
“It’s his second year with us in our system,” Fisher said of Settle. “It’s really helped him. He looks more comfortable, more confident, offensively, defensively. He’s doing a lot of great things, he’s being efficient, he’s getting to the foul line. He’s impacting the game.”
Zion Stanford adds 11.5 points per contest and rookie Babatunde Durodola has displayed eye-opening rebounding prowess, averaging 6.8 boards over 17.9 minutes that extrapolate out to 15.2 rebounds over 40 minutes.
As a team, Temple Is averaging 79.7 points while shooting 45.5 percent from the field. The Owls are making 7.2 three-pointers per contest at a 36.4 percent clip.
“We’re sharing the ball, we’re taking better shots,” Fisher said. “Whether it’s a make or miss, we grade the shots. We continue to get better, we continue to get healthier.”
Fisher knows the Owls will need to be on top of their games against a La Salle team that has looked really good at times this season.
“He’s got a great mix,” Fisher said of La Salle coach Fran Dunphy. “I think Coach Dunph and their staff did a really nice job in the transfer portal piecing together with what they had coming back and put together a really talented group. I know they lost a lot of pieces, and really good players, but they brought in a lot of really good, talented guys.
“They’re doing a great job of scoring as well. We have to do a good job of keeping them off the glass. We have to limit our live-ball turnovers. They do a really good job of forcing turnovers and trying to get you out in the open floor and go.”
Scouting La Salle
The Explorers (5-2) started off the season on a roll, averaging a 16.7-point margin of victory in home wins over American, Lafayette, and Cornell before taking a tough 71-68 win at Drexel on Nov. 16 to improve to 4-0. The excitement of the start dimmed a bit with a disappointing 1-2 showing last weekend in the Boardwalk Battle in Daytona Beach, Florida, where La Salle opened with losses to UC San Diego and Illinois Chicago before rebounding with a victory over Stetson last Saturday. Still, La Salle has shown enough and has enough talent to enter Saturday’s match against Temple with a legitimate chance to earn a spot against the Hawks in the Big 5 title game.
“We will learn from our experience and hopefully be ready to take on a very good Temple team on Saturday,” Dunphy, through a spokesperson, told Big5Hoops.com after the Explorers’ Florida trip.
Arguably, this is the Explorers’ biggest game since their heady trip to the Sweet 16 in the 2013 NCAA tournament.
“Rivalry games like this are what makes Philadelphia and the historic Big 5 a great experience for our student-athletes and fans,” La Salle athletic director Ash Puri told Big5Hoops.com.
Explorers fans have been excited by the start of Rider transfer Corey McKeithan, who has burst onto the Atlantic 10 scene by averaging 17.7 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists while shooting 45 percent from the field and 40.5 percent from the arc. Temple transfer Jahlil White has been solidly productive, with 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per contest. La Salle is averaging 78.9 points and shooting 45.2 percent as a team.
Penn State transfer Demetrius Lilley (8.3 ppg, 7.9 rpg) has been a force down low, highly touted rookie Deuce Jones (8.9 ppg) has been aggressive and as advertised, Daeshon Shepherd (10.9 ppg) continues to show freakish flashes of athleticism with rim-rattling dunks, and Andrés Marrero (9.7 ppg) is a legitimate three-point threat that Owls defenders can’t lose on the perimeter.
“They have a really good team,” Fisher said. “They can really score. Guys that stay with Coach Dunph, they just get better. Marrero looks much better out there. Shepherd, I’ve known for a long time; he can really score, great athlete, he rebounds. Then, obviously, two guys I’m familiar with: Jahlil White, Temple grad, I know he’ll be excited to face us, great young man. And then Demetrius Lilley, who I got to coach at Penn State. Local guy, I think he’s playing great.”
It all adds up to what sets up to be a fun, exciting matchup on Saturday at Glaser.
Big5Hoops.Com Coverage
Big5Hoops.com will provide in-depth coverage of Saturday’s game, both on social media and online. Follow @Aaron_Bracy on X and AaronBracy.Bsky.Social on Blue Sky for live updates during the game and postgame video and reaction. Look for a live postgame wrapup @Aaron_Bracy on Instagram. And, of course, check Big5Hoops.com after the game for more coverage.
—
Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. His byline regularly appears on Associated Press stories. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.