The Penn State men’s basketball team returns to action on Saturday, November 15 to face La Salle in a neutral site battle at Xfinity Mobile Arena, the home of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers. The Nittany Lions and Explorers will be Game 1 of a doubleheader in the Basketball on Broad Autumn Invitational. Tipoff is slated for 1:00 P.M. on Peacock. The second game of the doubleheader will feature the Syracuse Orange taking on the Drexel Dragons at 3:30 P.M.
La Salle is led by first-year, head coach Darris Nichols, who most recently served as the head coach at Radford University. The Explorers compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Their last year’s overall record was 14-19 with a conference record of 5-13.
They are currently sitting at 2-1 with wins over Coppin State (87-59), Monmouth (73-60) and a lost to Temple (90-63).
The Explorers are led by 6′-5″ graduate student guard, Jaeden Marshall, who is coming into Saturday’s game averaging 16.7 ppg. He is followed by 6′-9″ redshirt junior, Jerome Brewer, who is scoring 11.0 ppg. Redshirt sophomore, Rob Dockery, is a 6′-6″ guard averaging 9.3 ppg. and Ashton Walker is a 6′-5″ freshman guard averaging 8.7 ppg and 5.3 apg.
Penn State is coming into the Autumn Invitational with four Nittany Lions averaging double digits in points. Freshman, Kayden Mingo, is scoring 15.7 ppg., 4.0 apg. and 6.0 rpg. Fellow freshman, Melih Tunca, is averaging 14.0 ppg., 3.6 apg. and 2.7 rpg. Redshirt junior, Freddie Dilione V. is scoring 11.0 ppg., 2.3 apg. and 3.7 rpg., and sophomore, Dominick Stewart, is averaging 11.0 ppg.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a big, home victory against this year’s Patriot League favorite, Navy Midshipmen, with a final score of 80-71, on Military Appreciation Night on Veteran’s Day.
Penn State and LaSalle meet for just the sixth time in program history. They first met in the 1954 NCAA Final Four where the Explorers won the contest, 69-54.
Nittany Sports Now will be live at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Saturday to bring you all the updates and action between Penn State and La Salle.
