City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. -- La Salle made its first public appearance of the 2017-18 season, traveling up to North Jersey for an exhibition game against No. 23 Seton Hall.

The Explorers didn’t get the result they wanted against one of top teams in the Big East, leaving after an 87-74 defeat, but it’s not one that counts in the standings.

Here are some thoughts from the game:

1. Brookins makes strong first impression
La Salle’s starting big man, fifth-year center Tony Washington, barely played on Thursday night, picking up two fouls in the first three minutes of the first half and then two more in the first 70 seconds of the second.

Freshman Miles Brookins, a 6-foot-10, 210-pound center, took advantage of the opportunity to show he’s ready for serious Division I action.

Brookins didn’t take long after first entering four minutes in to make his impact felt. Matched up against Seton Hall Angel Degado, a talented 6-10 senior and the nation’s top rebounder a year ago (13.1/game), Brookins demanded the ball in the post and finished with his dominant (left) hand around Delgado, drawing a foul in the process. Several possessions later, he posted up again, this time finishing with his right, not the only time on the evening he did so with his off hand.

In 19 minutes of action, Brookins finished with seven points and five rebounds, with one assist and one steal, picking up just two fouls in the process. The Mater Dei (Cali.) native was active in post and screen situations, dove on the floor for several loose balls, and was a vocal presence on both ends of the floor.

“He’s advanced past his years,” coach John Giannini said. “He tweaked his knee a couple weeks ago and lost some of his conditioning, so I wanted to play him a little more, but he just got too tired.”

Washington played just six minutes, scoring two points and grabbing three rebounds. With him sidelined by fouls and Brookins’ unable to play 30-plus minutes, La Salle was forced to go small for long stretches against a big Pirates frontcourt.

“We have to keep Tony out of foul trouble,” Giannini said. “That was an issue tonight. They were good calls and Tony has to make sure he keeps his hands off people.”

2. Stukes continues to get better
The cliché in college basketball is that players improve the most between their freshman and sophomore seasons; or, depending on who’s saying the cliché, between that player’s first year as a regular contributor and their second. Amar Stukes is no cliché.

Stukes’ first year of significant contribution was his redshirt freshman season in 2014-15, when he averaged 5.3 ppg, 1.4 rpg and 1.3 apg. His redshirt sophomore season saw a slight uptick in raw numbers (5.8 ppg, 3.2 apg, 2.3 rpg) due to some more minutes, but his shooting percentage plummeted from 44.8 percent down all the way to 30.7 percent, and his individual offensive efficiency on KenPom fell from an already-below-average 91.1 down to 86.3.

It was between Stukes’ second and third years on the floor -- his third and fourth in college overall -- that it clicked. As a redshirt junior last year, the 6-3 La Salle HS product averaged 8.1 ppg, 4.3 apg and 2.9 rpg while hitting 50.9 percent of his shots, and his offensive rating shot up to a team-best 116.4 as a result.

Stukes looks like he’s taken yet another big step forward in his abilities. He was La Salle’s leading scorer on Thursday night with 19 points, doing so on 6-of-9 shooting while hitting 7-of-8 from the foul line. He also dished out three assists, grabbed three rebounds, two steals and a block in 33 minutes.

The fifth-year senior played like he did during his senior year in high school, when he averaged 19.6 ppg for those Explorers.

“Amar was just absolutely terrific,” Giannini said. “I can’t say enough good things about Amar Stukes.

“I’ve said this so many times, he’s such an amazing person,” Giannini added. “I really think he was far too unselfish and far too self-critical and impeded himself his first few years. So often in life whatever our strengths are can also be our weaknesses. His character is just so special, but I think he kind of held himself back a little bit.”

3. Turnovers show up early..

Despite a backcourt that has three guards in their fourth year of college or later in Stukes, Pookie Powell and Johnnie Shuler, as well as fifth-year wing B.J. Johnson, the Explorers weren’t quite on point early on.

La Salle committed 10 first-half turnovers, leading directly to 22 Seton Hall points. When they weren’t turning it over, they were rushing shots, going 9-of-26 (.346) overall and 1-of-10 (.100) from 3-point range in the game’s opening 20 minutes. Six of the eight Explorers who played in the half committed at least one turnover; Johnson had the most, with three.

That all culminated in Seton Hall holding a 44-27 advantage at the break, after leading by as many as 20 late in the period. La Salle didn’t score on consecutive possessions for the first 15 minutes.

“In our practices and scrimmages, we play together a little bit better,” Giannini said. “I thought it was too much one-on-one play. We’re trying to run some motion and keep guys moving...What’s worked for us lately didn’t work for us against Seton Hall. Seton Hall’s going to make you work a little bit longer and harder to get a good shot.”

4. ...but Explorers show signs of life late

In an unfriendly gym, down as many as 20 late in the first half, La Salle showed some punch down the stretch.

The Explorers cut the deficit to as little as six with under seven minutes to play, before the Pirates responded to close out the game strong. La Salle cut down on the turnovers (five in the second half) and started getting much better shots, hitting 18-of-32 (.563) overall and 6-11 (.545) from 3-point range.

“I just think we had energy,” Giannini said. “I think our guys settled down. I think they got some confidence. I think they stopped pressing and forcing things. But then when we had it down to six, we didn’t follow our defensive principles. Now they shot an amazing percentage and that’s a problem, but they deserve credit for that.”

Seton Hall shot 17-of-27 (.630) from the floor in the second half and 34-of-59 (.576) for the game.