City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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All six of Philadelphia’s Division I teams are in action this weekend, five on Saturday and a total of five teams play at home. So you have the chance to watch a lot of basketball in person if you so desire in the next few days. If you do, here’s a look at each team’s matchup, by the numbers.

Temple (17-10, 11-4 American) vs. Central Florida (11-15, 5-10), 12 p.m.

11: That’s the seed ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has for the Owls as of Feb. 25. Temple’s NCAA Tournament hopes can’t grow too much on Saturday, but a loss could help knock the team out of the field.

16: Mark Williams scored a season-high 16 points when the Owls escaped Orlando with a 62-60 win on Feb. 6 against the Knights.

La Salle (6-20, 2-13 Atlantic 10) vs. George Mason (10-18, 4-11), 2 p.m.

18.7: Jordan Price’s points per game average is the 59th-best in the nation. The junior wing also averages 3.1 assists per game.

6: The Explorers and Patriots have combined for just six Atlantic 10 victories this season. The two are in the bottom two spots in the standings entering the weekend.

Villanova (24-4, 13-2 Big East) at Marquette (18-10, 7-8), 2 p.m.

March 22, 2013: It’s been nearly three years since Villanova lost back-to-back games, and the second loss in that season came to North Carolina in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats lost on Wednesday to No. 5 Xavier.

5: The Wildcats have a quintet of players – Josh Hart, Ryan Arcidiacono, Jalen Brunson, Daniel Ochefu and Kris Jenkins – who are all averaging at least 10 points per game.

Drexel (5-23, 3-14 CAA) vs. Northeastern (16-14, 8-9), 4 p.m.

2: Drexel has nearly doubled its win total in the last week, winning two games in a row against William & Mary and Delaware.

1: The Dragons only have one guaranteed game after Saturday. The game against Northeastern is their regular season finale, and they’ll play in the first round of the CAA Tournament next Friday night.

Penn (10-13, 4-5 Ivy) vs. Columbia (19-8, 8-2), 7 p.m.

12.8: Darien Nelson-Henry, a senior who will play his final game in the Palestra on Saturday night, averages a team-high 12.8 points per game.

21: Columbia’s leading scorer, Mado Lo, scored 21 points in the team’s first meeting this season, a 63-53 Lions victory.

St. Joseph’s (23-5, 12-3 Atlantic 10) vs. St. Louis (10-17, 5-10)

1st: The Hawks enter the weekend tied in first place in the conference with VCU and Dayton at 12-3. The other two teams face each other next weekend, so if St. Joe’s wins out, the team assures itself at least a share of the conference’s top spot with one other team.

45.4: The Hawks went 10-for-22 (45.4 percent) on 3-pointers in their 74-57 win at UMass on Wednesday. Isaiah Miles, who had a game-high 20 points, hit four of his five attempts from beyond the arc.