PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The La Salle University men’s basketball team will head to the University of Maryland Tuesday night.
La Salle is 3-4 (0-1 in the A-10) and coming off a 71-61 win over Delaware on Saturday. It was the third win in four games for the Explorers, who have bounced back after early struggles.
“We started the season off rough — 0-3 — played three pretty good opponents,” La Salle head coach Ashley Howard said. “And I think we’ve learned from it. We had a tough loss against UMass that we learned from. The biggest thing for us is just to continue to keep getting better. Our attitudes have been great, practices have been great, and I love this team. I’m excited for the direction that we’re going in.”
The Explorers have used a balanced attack at the offensive end so far. Their top eight scorers all average between 6.2 and 10.4 points per game. Senior guard David Beatty paces the team with that 10.4 average.
Defensively, La Salle is holding opponents to 66.1 points per game and 41% shooting from the field.
Maryland comes in 4-2. After a 4-0 start, the Terrapins have dropped their last two games, but they have the Explorers’ attention.
“Obviously, Maryland is a talented team,” Howard said. “They have some local Philadelphia products who have been playing well for them. They’re a team that can get it going if they’re feeling good, so we want to go out there and set the tone defensively, try to keep them in front of us.
“They’re a team that thrives in transition, so our transition defense is going to be of the utmost importance.”
Tuesday night’s game will get underway at 7 p.m.