City of Basketball Love

By Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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It’s year two for Fran Dunphy as La Salle’s men’s basketball coach. In his first year at his alma mater, Dunphy’s team went 15-19 and 7-11 in the Atlantic 10, certainly not a campaign to hang your hat on, but the wins overall and in the league marked the highest in a few seasons.

He’ll have the dynamic backcourt of Khalil Brantley (14.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Jhamir Brickus (9.8 ppg) back leading the way this season.

The Explorers got out of the gate with an 8-8 non-conference record last season. Their 2023-24 slate was released on Friday, featuring the revamped Big 5 format and a pair of trips to ACC teams. It begins at home Nov. 7 against Drexel, which marks the Dragons first official contest as a member of the Big 5.

La Salle has three more home games against Northeastern (Nov. 11), Bucknell (Nov. 14) and Southern Indiana (Nov. 18), which is in its second year at the Division I level. The four-game homestand is followed by a Nov. 21 road trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium to finish off the Blue Devil Challenge. It’s the program’s first matchup with Duke since 1983.

The Explorers host Coppin State on Nov. 26 then make the short trip to Temple on Nov. 29 before the Big 5 tournament concludes with a triple header at the Wells Fargo Center on Dec. 2 against either Penn, Villanova or St. Joe’s.

Dunphy’s squad will face off against a pair of Patriot League opponents with a home game against Loyola-Maryland on Dec. 6 and a road trip to Lafayette on Dec. 9. The Explorers will take another road trip after that to Miami (Fla.) on Dec. 16 to face the Hurricanes a season after playing in the Final Four.

La Salle’s non-conference slate concludes against Rosemont on Dec. 21 and nine days laster finishes against Howard on Dec. 30.

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2023-24 La Salle MBB Non-Conference Schedule
All game times TBD; bold games are home. Last year’s record in parenthesis

* = Big 5 Contest; #= Blue Devil Challenge

*Tues., Nov. 7 vs. Drexel (17-15, 10-8 CAA)
Sat., Nov. 11 vs. Northeastern (10-20, 6-12 CAA)
#Tues., Nov. 14 vs. Bucknell (12-20, 5-13 Patriot)
#Sat., Nov. 18 vs. Southern Indiana (16-17, 9-9 Ohio Valley)
#Tues., Nov. 21 at Duke (27-9, 14-6 ACC)                                             
Sun., Nov. 26 vs. Coppin State (9-23, 4-10 MEAC)
*Wed., Nov. 29 at Temple (16-16, 10-8 AAC)        

*Sat., Dec. 2 vs. TBD/Big 5 Classic
      Wells Fargo Center                                                   
Wed., Dec. 6 vs. Loyola Maryland (13-20, 7-11 Patriot)
Sat., Dec. 9 at Lafayette (11-23, 7-11 Patriot)
Sat., Dec. 16 at University of Miami (Fla.) (29-8, 15-5 ACC)
Thurs., Dec. 21 vs. Rosemont College 
Sat., Dec. 30 vs. Howard (22-13, 11-3 MEAC)