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2016-17 Postmortem: La Salle Explorers

04/04/2017, 12:00pm EDT
By Will Slover

Despite a deep and talented roster, Jordan Price (above) and La Salle never quite got rolling in 2016-17. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After the long awaited arrival of the three high-major transfers who had to sit out last season, expectations were high for the La Salle Explorers. After posing the lowest win total the program had seen since the 1997-98 season last year, the only way to go for La Salle was up. The Explorers did just that in the 2016-17 season, though there is still room for improvement going forward for La Salle as this season’s 15-15 record wasn’t nearly what some expected of this year’s talented Explorers squad. 

Here’s a look at La Salle’s 2016-17 season:

In a Nutshell…
After posting a poor 9-22 record in the 2015-16 season with a roster that only boasted seven scholarship players at certain points due to injuries and transfers having to sit out, 2016-17 was bound to be a better year for La Salle. With the beginning of this season came the beginning of the careers of three high-major transfers in La Salle uniforms. B.J. Johnson (Syracuse), Pookie Powell (Memphis), and Demetrius Henry (South Carolina) could all return to play after sitting out last season. Joining the trio would be all five of La Salle’s starters from the season prior as Jordan Price, Cleon Roberts, Amar Stukes, Johnnie Shuler and Tony Washington rounded out La Salle’s core.

After kicking off the season with an overtime loss to Temple, John Giannini’s squad won four of its next five, including a W over Patriot League champion Bucknell to start the season 4-2. The Explorers continued their solid start by giving defending National Champion Villanova a run for its money in a hard fought battle at the Palestra before closing out non-conference play with a triple overtime victory over Mercer and boasting a 6-4 record. 

Though the Explorers kicked off league play with a loss to Dayton, the Explorers best basketball of the season came immediately following that defeat. La Salle ripped off a five game win streak which including a victory in the home gym of Atlantic 10 champion Rhode Island and had people around the nation talking a possible NCAA Tournament berth for the team from 20th and Olney.

Following the win streak, the wheels fell off for La Salle as after starting the season 11-5 through the first 16 games, La Salle lost 90-52 at the hands of VCU and La Salle never truly recovered from this defeat. This loss began a three-game skid for the Explorers,which included losses to city foes St. Joseph’s and Penn, and a span where La Salle would go 2-6 over its next eight contests.

With a 13-11 record and five regular season games left to play, La Salle posted a revenge win over St. Joe’s and it looked as if La Salle could get back on track to finish the season on a high note, but another three game win streak came immediately following the win before La Salle closed out the season with a win over Fordham to finish the regular season a game above .500 (15-14) and the No. 8 seed heading into the Atlantic 10 Tournament.

La Salle’s first-round matchup in the Atlantic 10 Tournament was the No. 9 seeded Davidson Wildcats, who La Salle had topped earlier in the season during their five-game win streak to kick off Atlantic 10 play. That wasn’t the case in this game though, as Davidson topped La Salle by a score of 82-73 to close out the Explorers’ season and send La Salle home with a final record of 15-15 after starting the season 11-5.


Amar Stukes (above) became an invaluable part of the La Salle rotation in his redshirt junior season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

The Good…
The Explorers boasted one of the most potent offensive attacks in the Atlantic 10 as they ranked in the top three in points per game, free throw percentage, field goal percentage, three-point field goal percentage and three-point field goals made. La Salle also ranked 68th nationally in offensive efficiency and 58th in effective field goal percentage, per KenPom.

Another positive of La Salle’s season is that the two of the transfers certainly didn’t disappoint. Johnson was a star from the get-go as the Lower Merion graduate ranked in the top 10 in the Atlantic 10 in both scoring with 17.6 points per game and rebounding with 6.3 boards per contest. Powell, a 6-foot shifty point guard, stuffed the stat sheet for the Explorers all season long as he averaged 13.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.3 steals per contest. 

Of La Salle’s returning players from the 2015-16 season, the redshirt junior Stukes made the biggest improvements. After posting an abysmal offensive rating of 86.3 last season, he turned his game around this season and turned in a 116.4 offensive rating this season. Stukes was especially impressive in conference play where his rating of 123.5 was good enough for fourth in all of the Atlantic 10. Stukes’ most impressive performance of the 2016-17 season was in La Salle’s biggest win of the year where the 6-foot-2 guard poured in a career-high 22 points in the January 12th win over Rhode Island. 

The Bad…
When everyone was healthy and things were going well for the Explorers, they were one of the best teams in the Atlantic 10. But when one piece went missing, it looked like a completely different team was out on the floor. While each of the transfers proved to be effective in their first season wearing a La Salle uniform, the injury bug also bit all three of them. While Johnson and Henry only missed one game a piece, Powell was affected long-term. After incurring a bone bruise in practice prior to the Penn game on January 25th, Powell missed the next six games before making his return against St. Bonaventure on February 15th and finished his redshirt sophomore season in good health.  

While Stukes was one of the returning players whose game grew and improved over the offseason, the same can’t be said for fellow juniors Shuler and Yevgen Sahkniuk. After Shuler played in 89.8 percent of La Salle’s minutes in his sophomore season and averaged 9.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per contest, the 5-foot-11 guard scored just 2.8 points per contest and was only on the floor for 28.6 percent of the Explorers’ minutes this season. Sahkniuk experienced similar regressions as after averaging 6.1 points per game in his sophomore season, the Ukraine native was just about nonexistent as he only played in 4.9 minutes per game and scored just 1.1 points per contest. 

The Ugly…
While the offense was the motor that started the boat that was La Salle basketball in the 2016-17 season, the defense was the anchor that kept the boat from moving forward. Ranking last in the Atlantic 10 in scoring defense, defensive field goal percentage, defensive three-point field goal percentage, and second to last in blocks, La Salle’s defense proved to be its achilles heel all season long. La Salle’s defense wasn’t just poor in Atlantic 10 standards either as the Explorers also ranked 250th in defensive efficiency and 321st in defensive effective field goal percentage, according to KenPom.


Syracuse transfer B.J. Johnson (above) led La Salle in scoring and rebounding in his first year as an Explorer. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Notable Numbers:
2: This season is the second in a row that La Salle has failed to post a winning season. Good news for Explorers fans though, is that Giannini has never strung together three seasons in a row without going above .500 since taking the reigns over from Billy Hahn prior to the 2005-06 season.

3: La Salle topped three teams that earned spots in this March’s NCAA Tournament. With wins over Bucknell, Florida Gulf Coast and Rhode Island, the Explorers showed that when healthy and playing balanced basketball, they can compete with the upper-echelon mid-major teams throughout the NCAA. 

83: When La Salle put up 83 points or more on the board, it was an almost guaranteed win for the Explorers. Except for a 97-92 overtime loss to Temple to start the season, the La Salle went 11-0 when reaching this margin. 

Senior Sendoff…
La Salle will be without the services of Price, Roberts and walk-on Hank Davis following this season as the three seniors will be graduating in May. 

Price, who transferred to Auburn following his freshman season, made a huge impact in his time at La Salle. The 6-foot-5 Price led the Explorers in scoring in his first two season in blue and gold and will leave La Salle with a career scoring average of 17.2 points and 1623 points scored in an Explorer uniform. Price was also named to All-Big 5 and All-Atlantic 10 teams during his time at La Salle.

Roberts, who transferred into La Salle from Georgia Southern the same year as Price, was also a staple in La Salle rotation from the time he stepped on campus. After making solid contributions his sophomore season, Roberts enjoyed a stellar junior season where he ranked second on the team in scoring with 12.9 points per game before accepting the role of sixth man in his senior campaign.

The last of the three seniors who will be saying their good-byes to La Salle in just a couple of months is Davis. The 5-foot-11 Cherry Hill East (N.J.) graduate ended his career in style as he went coast to coast for a flashy and-one on his senior day and sent Tom Gola Arena into a frenzy. He was also named Big 5 Scholar Athlete of the Year at the conclusion of the 2014-15 season. 

Future Outlook: Unclear
Although losing two seniors who have had such an impact on the program in their time at La Salle, their departure opens up spots for current rotational guys and promising young players to make a bigger impact next season. With the trio of transfers all one year older, along with Stukes, Shuler and Washington putting another year of experience under their belt heading into their senior campaigns, La Salle will boast one of the most experience rosters in the country next season as both Johnson and Henry will be seniors too and Sahkniuk will round out the senior class of six players. Experience doesn’t always guarantee success though, as these experienced players will have to continue to improve if La Salle wants to make its way back to playing in March. 

The departure of Roberts and Price will create much more opportunity for current freshmen Isiah Deas and Saul Phiri, who saw very limited minutes this season. The classmate of these two, Cian Sullivan, a 7-foot-2 center from Ireland, will also be making his debut in a La Salle uniform as he spent this season as a redshirt. With the small sample size from these three players, it is hard to say what kind of impact they will make in the blue and gold next season. 

Joining this strong roster will be a solid recruiting class as well. Giannini and Co. recruited a little bit of everything for their 2017 recruiting class as La Salle will be bringing in three players who each play a different position. The front court presence is Miles Brookins, a 6-foot-10 center from Mater Dei (Cali.) and the Explorers also landed a solid wing in Dajour Joseph, who hails from Combine Academy (Fla.). The real prize of La Salle’s recruiting class though, is point guard Jamir Moultrie. The Bishop McNamara (D.C.) playmaker is rated as a four-star recruit by Scout.com and ESPN and picked the Explorers over the likes of Georgetown, Butler, West Virginia, and Rhode Island.

La Salle’s unique combination of experience and promising young talent could make for a good season at 20th and Olney and hopefully a return to the NCAA Tournament, which has eluded the Explorers since making the Sweet 16 in 2012-13. On the contrary, with just Johnson, Stukes and Powell as the only proven players in the La Salle rotation, there is also a chance that the struggles continue for the Explorers.

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