DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. – The La Salle men’s basketball team opens up the Boardwalk Battle at The Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Thursday at 1 p.m., facing off against the UC San Diego Tritons. The Explorers defeated the Drexel Dragons on Saturday to achieve its first time starting 4-0 in consecutive seasons since 1967-68 and 68-69. La Salle has not begun a season 5-0 since 2005-06, when the Blue & Gold started with seven straight wins.
The game will be streamed on BallerTV, with each game of the tournament available to purchase for $5. Explorers fans can listen to the game for free on GoExplorers.com, with Kale Beers, and Richie Tarr providing play-by-play and color commentary. Additionally, Explorers fans can follow the team on X/Twitter @LaSalle_MBB and Instagram @LaSalleMBB.
La Salle has had one of the more impressive starts in college basketball this season. The Explorers have climbed the KenPom rankings to 119, a monumental leap of 47 spots from their preseason projection of 167. The team is one of eight teams in the Atlantic-10 that remains undefeated.
The Explorers claimed an impressive victory in a hostile environment at Big 5 rival Drexel on Saturday, 71-68.
After an impressive first half that saw La Salle build a 43-31 advantage, the Explorers ferociously defended their lead in the second stanza against an aggressive Drexel offense. After briefly losing the lead with only 1:30 remaining, La Salle regained its composure and stood strong on defense, allowing the Blue & Gold to secure the win thanks to a go-ahead, second-chance bucket from Demetrius Lilley.
La Salle’s powerhouse trio of transfers, Lilley, Corey McKeithan, and Jahlil White, each scored over 17 points. The three have all reached double-figures in a combined 9 out of 12 games.
Lilley reached a new career-high for the second straight game, pouring in 18 points to pair with 11 rebounds, his first career double-double. The Philadelphia native was named Atlantic-10 Player of the Week for both his performance against Drexel and his 16 points, 7 rebound outing against Cornell last Tuesday. He is ranked third in the Atlantic-10 with 9.0 rebounds per game.
Elsewhere on the stat sheet, White put together another very impressive performance. The Temple transfer led all scorers with 19 points, just two short of his career-high of 21. He also grabbed six rebounds and shot 77.8% from the field. The forward is averaging 14.0 points and 7.3 boards per contest, both far and away career-highs.
McKeithan has continued to impress, far outpacing his career average with a team-leading 18.0 points (8th in the A-10). The graduate transfer has scored 14 or more points in every game this season.
Two areas where the Explorers have truly distinguished themselves are at the charity stripe and on the boards. La Salle ranks second in free throw percentage (.778), while its opponents are tied for the lowest combined free throw percentage in the nation (.509).
The Explorers are also crashing the boards at a staggering rate, ranking second in the conference in rebounds per game (41.75) and third in rebounding margin (+10.5).
SCOUTING UC SAN DIEGO
UC San Diego is a young Division I program, only moving up from D-II in 2020. The Tritons had far and away their best season since transitioning last year, earning a 21-12 record and a berth in the CBI Tournament, where they lost in the first round. The team did not get the opportunity to compete in the Big West conference tournament due to the NCAA four-year transition period.
The Tritons are 2-2 thus far in 2024-25, with victories over Pepperdine and Seattle and losses at the hands of San Diego State and Seattle U.
Despite high-profile transfers of Bryce Pope (USC), and Francis Nwaokorie (Loyola Chicago), UC San Diego returns a wealth of talent from a season ago, including last season’s Big West Newcomer of the Year, Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones. Tait-Jones is averaging 19.8 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Guard Tyler McGhie is another player to watch. He is slashing 18 points per game.
Eric Olen enters his 20th season on the sidelines at UC San Diego and 11th as head coach. Olen built the Tritons into a D-II powerhouse, making three Elite Eights in four seasons from 2016 to 2019. He led the lead to an outstanding 30-1 record in 2020 before Covid shut down the season. Olen has amassed a 212-116 record as a head coach.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST UC SAN DIEGO
This will be the first La Salle and UC San Diego have met on the basketball court.
republished from goexplorers.com
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