City of Basketball Love

Andrew Albert (@andrewjalbert01)
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It took La Salle just four minutes and two seconds to score 16 points in their 83-75 win over Lafayette at home. The Explorers’ shooters were hot early and often, pushing them out to an early lead they would never surrender.

If you watched La Salle at all last year, you know how different it is to see.

John Giannini’s 2014-15 team had a hard time with the explicit goal of the game: putting the ball in the hoop. In the disappointing 17-16 season, the Explorers shot just 42 percent from the floor, 32.1 percent from deep.

Giannini thought early in the season the fix was simple. They needed to shoot the ball more. He thought his team was hesitant to shoot, and he didn’t know why. They had the tools to make shots. Cleon Roberts and Jordan Price showed they had the ability to score the ball. They just didn’t.

This year’s Explorer team looks much different. Price is hoisting the ball any time he gets a chance to, and it’s working well for both him and La Salle. He is the nation’s leading scorer after dumping in 33 points against Lafayette.

But it was never Price that was hesitant to shoot. At times, Roberts, along with Amar Stukes and Johnnie Shuler, when he got in the game, looked like they would rather pass than take an open shot.

Not the case this year. Roberts came into Monday night shooting 62.5 percent from the floor, a potent 60 percent from beyond the arc. He took 12 shots, making just three of them for 10 points. Shuler took just 41 shots all of last season, but had already taken 20 before his 3-for-8, nine-point performance against the Leopards.

Why are the Explorers more ready to shoot when called upon?

“How were you your first weeks at your job,” Giannini responded when asked.

Well, not great, to be honest.

His point was that Shuler, Stukes, Roberts and even Price were in their first weeks of game action at 20th and Olney, and needed time to adjust.

“There's a big jump from the first to the second year,” Giannini said. “After that, it depends on a guy's motivation.”

“They've played college basketball and they know they're not bad and they're more comfortable. That makes them more aggressive,” Giannini added.

The biggest difference on the La Salle roster is the absence of forward tandem Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack. The two big men clogged up the middle, and much of the Explorers’ offense ran through getting them the ball in the post.

This season, Tony Washington is the only real threat on the blocks, and he played his first minutes Monday after sitting out the first two games with a concussion. He did manage 14 points in his 2015 debut, but the offensive load falls upon the shoulders of the guards, and they know that.

La Salle’s best basketball of the last few years came in the NCAA Tournament in 2013, when they were forced to play four guards and only one big due to an injury to Zack. Perhaps Giannini’s system is more favorable to a four-guard lineup. Many La Salle fans have called for it since the 2013 run to the Sweet 16, but it was hard to not have Wright and Zack on the floor at the same time.

With guards like Stukes, Shuler and Roberts being more aggressive with Price scoring almost at will, the Explorers are scoring at a greater clip than any time in recent memory, and the confidence will only continue to grow as the wins pile.

Regardless of what it is, the Explorers are off to a 3-0 start. They are averaging 78 points a game, a number that they only eclipsed a total of three times last year. If the hot shooting continues as the cold weather comes, it could be a brighter-than-expected winter for Giannini’s squad.