The game will be broadcast in eastern Pennsylvania on Comcast SportsNet Phialdelphia, and in New York state on SNY. The game will NOT be televised locally on the Ocean State Network (OSN, Cox 1005), which has chosen instead to carry the Xavier at Providence basketball game in the same timeslot.
A radio broadcast of the game can be heard locally in southern New England on B101; in the Philadelphia area, the game will be covered by radio station WNTP 990AM.
Thursday's matchup between URI and La Salle is the first game of a home-and-away conference series, the second game coming on Saturday 28-Feb-2015 in Philadelphia, at the 3400-seat Tom Gola Arena.
The head coach for LaSalle M-BB is Dr John Giannini, now in his eleventh season with the Explorers. The son of Italian immigrants, Giannini grew up in the Chicago area, and received a bachelor's degree in psychology from North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. Giannini also holds a master's degree in physical education with a specialization in sports psychology from North Texas University, as well as a doctorate in kinesiology with a specialization in sports psychology from the University of Illinois.
Giannini was hired as the eighteenth head coach of the La Salle men's basketball team on 23-August-2004. He succeeded Billy Hahn, who was forced to resign in July-2004, following a rape scandal. The university had originally sought to hire La Salle alumnus Fran Dunphy (who at the time was the UPenn head coach), but settled on Giannini after Dunphy turned the school down.
Before arriving at La Salle, Giannini previously coached at the University of Maine, where he left with the Black Bears' best winning percentage in school history. Giannini started his head coaching career at Rowan College, where he won the NCAA Division III national championship in 1996.
Since joining La Salle, Dr Giannini has been assisted by Horace "Pappy" Owens, the URI basketball Hall of Famer and former NBA Draft Pick. Sixth on the URI all-time scoring list, Pappy Owens is in his 11th season as an assistant at La Salle. He entered the collegiate coaching ranks after 14 years as a juvenile probation officer for the City of Philadelphia.
As an assistant coach and recruiter at La Salle, Pappy Owens has been instrumental in the Explorers' recent success, including the 2012-13 Sweet 16 season, in which the team won 24 games, three of which were in the NCAA Tournament (over Boise State, Kansas State and Ole Miss). The Explorers’ Sweet 16 run two years ago certainly has made the school a more well-known name on the recruiting trail.
Coach G recruits good basketball players, and also graduates those players from college. Last spring, the graduation rolls of La Salle included Tyreek Duren, Sam Mills, Ty Garland, and Taylor Dunn.
Joining the Explorers on the hardwood this season are two talented wings who sat out transfer years last season, Jordan Price (Auburn) and Cleon Roberts (Georgia Southern), meaning that even with the graduation of some key personnell, La Salle’s backcourt has the talent to compete in the Atlantic 10 this year.
The Explorers' current record stands at 10-8 (2-3 in A-10 play), a record that indicates that while able to compete, this year's La Salle team has not exactly been burning things up:
Code: Select all
Sat, Nov 15 Colgate W 57-52
Tue, Nov 18 @Quinnipiac W 60-58
Sat, Nov 22 Saint Peter's W 59-50
Tue, Nov 25 St. Francis (NY) W 73-60
Fri, Nov 28 #8 Virginia* L 64-56
Sat, Nov 29 Vanderbilt* L 68-55
Wed, Dec 03 #10 Villanova L 84-70
Sat, Dec 06 Temple* L 58-57
Sat, Dec 13 @Drexel W 65-55
Tue, Dec 16 American L 68-66 OT
Sat, Dec 20 @Towson W 67-53
Tue, Dec 23 @Hofstra W 83-74
Tue, Dec 30 Pennsylvania W 84-67
Sat, Jan 03 @George Mason L 70-62
Wed, Jan 07 Massachusetts L 71-65
Sat, Jan 10 George Washington W 63-50
Wed, Jan 14 @Dayton L 61-50
Sat, Jan 17 Fordham W 60-49
In terms of statistics (as of the end of the day Saturday 17-Jan-2015),
- Win-Loss record
- URI is 11-5 overall, 3-2 against Atlantic-10 opponents
- La Salle is 10-8 overall, 2-3 against Atlantic-10 opponents
- ESPN RPI
- URI has a RPI rank of 83, with a RPI score of .5562
- La Salle has a RPI rank of 101, with a RPI score of .5469
- ESPN's Basketball Power Index
- URI has a BPI rank of 60, with a BPI of 72.3
- La Salle has a BPI rank of 93, with a BPI of 65.1
- Ken Pomeroy
- URI has a KenPom rank of 69, with AdjO=100.7 and AdjD=91.7
- La Salle has a KenPom rank of 99, with AdjO of 101.9 and AdjD=95.3
- Hank Davis (5-11 160) Sophomore guard from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Walk-on.
- Johnnie Shuler (5-11 170) Freshman guard from Washington, DC. A good 3-point shooter, he is extremely quick with the ball in his hands. A pure point guard in high school, you would think that Shuler would fit well with La Salle’s system, but the young man has just not seen much playing time so far this season.
- Olajuwon "O.J." Lewis (6-0 175) Junior guard from the DC suburb of Mitchellville, Maryland. Gets double digit minutes in those games that he gets to play in, with his contributions apparently coming more on the defensive end than the offensive side.
- Amar Stukes (6-2 180) Redshirt freshman guard from Philadelphia, where he attended La Salle College High School. He had ten points (8 in the second half) in the first game of his college careeer, the season opener win against Colgate. Even though he has been starting for La Salle since about the beginning of Atlantic-10 Conference play, he typically has the least minutes of any of the five starters. Stukes is an outstanding defender, and offensively has the ability to penetrate defenses and find open teammates.
- Khalid Lewis (6-3 185) Redshirt junior guard from Trenton, New Jersey. A transfer from Delaware, he had an injury-plagued, difficult season last year during his first year of eligibility at LaSalle, although he still managed to score seven points against Rhode Island when the two teams last met on 15-Jan-2014. He was one of the Explorers' starters at the beginning of this season, but now comes off the bench to provide great defense and solid play making. As one of the Explorer's point guards, he both takes care of the ball, and is an efficient shooter who can drive and score.
- Cleon Roberts (6-5 175) Redshirt sophomore guard from Miami, Fla. Transfer from Georgia Southern, he sat out last season. This season, he starts, and is not afraid to take the big shots. As a basketball fan, he is the type of opposing player that you just have to like, even when he is breaking your own team apart. Roberts had a hot hand in the win over GW, in which he tallied 15 points before fouling out. He had 10 points in the La Salle loss at Dayton, and Saturday against Fordham he had 12 points and 6 rebounds.
- Jordan Price (6-5 220) Redshirt sophomore from Decatur, Georgia. The transfer from Auburn ranks seventh in the Atlantic 10 this season with 16 points per game. He scored 30 points in the 25-November game versus St. Francis Brooklyn. In the La Salle win at Towson, he scored a career high 31 points, hitting 8-for-16 from the field and 12-for-14 from the line. He had a team high 20 points in the win over George Washington, 13 points in the road loss to Dayton, and a team high 15 points in the home win over Fordham.
- D.J. Peterson (6-6 195) Senior guard from Burnsville, Minnesota; he prepped at Lee Academy (Maine). Typically comes off the bench to get double digit minutes per game.
- Rohan Brown (6-6 210) Redshirt junior swingman from Hartford, Conn. The eighth man in what is basically a seven man rotation, the under-rated Brown may see more time than usual against Rhody.
- Yevgen Sakhniuk (6-7 225) Freshman forward from Kiev, Ukraine. A non-player for 2014-2015, as the NCAA has required Sakhniuk to serve a year in residence this season before beginning three years of eligibility.
- Jerrell Wright (6-8 245) Senior forward from Philadelphia. A solid rebounder, his shooting performance tends to run either hot or cold. He had eight blocks and a team-high 15 points, in the cross-town loss to Temple. In loss to Dayton last Wednesday, he shot 2-of-7 from the field for eight points.
- Tony Washington (6-10 210) Redshirt freshman forward/center from Detroit; he prepped at The Miller School in Charlottesville, Virginia. He sat out last year to mature and gain some strength. This year, he is competing for game time behind the starting bigmen, seniors Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack, who have been fixtures on the glass for LaSalle this season.
- Steve Zack (6-11 240) Senior center from New Cumberland, Pennsylvania. Even with the height and weight advantage, it is unclear whether this guy will be able to contain Hassan Martin.
La Salle has been winning with strong backcourt play the last few years, during which Dr Giannini was known to go with a four guard line-up when that matchup gave the Explorers an advantage. This season, the La Salle offense is again guard-oriented, although at times earlier this season that approach degenerated into undisciplined play at both ends of the floor.
Of late, Cleon Roberts and Jordan Price have been La Salle's most consistent scorers. Roberts has scored in double figures in seven straight games, while Price has reached double digits in 11 of the last 12 contests. For the season, Roberts is averaging 14 points per game, and Price averages 12.4 ppg. Roberts is .810 from the foul line, while Price hits from the charity stripe at an impressive .857.
Despite the focus on guard play, La Salle big men Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack make reasonable contributions in the frontcourt. Wright pulls down 6.0 rebounds per game while Zack is averaging 5.8. Wright is second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg) and Zack chips in 7.9 points per game.
Look - compared to last season, Rhody is arguably the most improved team in the A-10, while this year's La Salle squad has shown the ability to compete but not always to complete. I am not sure I would be making the same prediction if this were a road game in Philly, but for this home game in the Ryan Center I look for Rhody to take advantage of any defensive breakdown by La Salle, and pull away strong from the visiting Explorers. You just can't beat home-cooking.
Go Rhody!
