La Salle Explorers men's basketball

The La Salle Explorers men's basketball program represents La Salle University in college basketball.

La Salle Explorers Basketball
2024–25 La Salle Explorers men's basketball team
University	La Salle University
Head coach	Fran Dunphy (3rd season)
Conference	Atlantic 10
Location	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Arena	John Glaser Arena (capacity: 3,000)
Nickname	Explorers
Student section	Explorer Entourage (Formerly) Olney Outlaws (2024-Present)
Colors	Blue and gold
Uniforms
Home Away Alternate
NCAA tournament champions
1954
NCAA tournament runner-up
1955
NCAA tournament Final Four
1954, 1955
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
1954, 1955
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
1954, 1955, 2013
NCAA tournament round of 32
1975, 1978, 1983, 1990, 2013
NCAA tournament appearances
1954, 1955, 1968, 1975, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2013
Conference tournament champions
East Coast: 1975, 1978, 1980, 1983 MAAC: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
Conference regular season champions
1968, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1983 (ECC) 1984, 1988, 1989 (MAAC)

Rivalries

The Explorers, a member of the Big 5, have long-standing rivalries with multiple institutions including Temple University, University of Pennsylvania, Saint Joseph's University, and Villanova University. La Salle also has a rivalry with Drexel University who were previously a member of the now defunct City 6, and who were added to the Big 5 in 2023.

History

The program has been rated the 53rd "Greatest College Basketball Program of All-Time" by Street & Smith's magazine and 71st by the ESPN College Basketball Encyclopedia.

La Salle has won one National Championship, one National Invitation Tournament Championship, and advanced to two Final Fours. The Explorers have also made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, won eight Philadelphia Big 5 city championships, and four Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships. The program is one of only two schools (with Houston) to have two players in the top 25 in all-time NCAA scoring – Lionel Simmons and Michael Brooks. It's also had three National Players of the Year.

Brother Edward J. Sheehy, FSC, Ph.D., '68

Brother Edward J. Sheehy, FSC, Ph.D., ’68 was a history faculty member, alumni, Christian Brother, and the chaplain for the men's basketball team from 1992-2022. La Salle is a Catholic university affiliated with the De La Salle Brothers. Brother Ed led the team in prayers before, during, and after games. Men's basketball coach Dr. John Giannini would spend 15 minutes talking to Brother Ed prior to games. On January 21, 2012, Brother Ed bobbleheads were distributed to the first 750 fans to attend the men's basketball game against Rhode Island. In 2013, Brother Ed was featured in a New York Times article while the men's basketball team advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament. Brother Ed passed away on December 22, 2022, at the age of 76.

Coaches

Main article: List of La Salle Explorers men's basketball head coaches

Previous head coach Dr. John Giannini previously coached at Rowan College, where he won the NCAA Division III national championship in 1996, and the University of Maine, where he left with the Black Bears' best winning percentage in school history.

Fran Dunphy, the head men's basketball coach at La Salle

On April 8, 2018, La Salle announced Ashley Howard as the next head coach of the Explorers. Howard previously served as an assistant coach under Jay Wright at Villanova University. As assistant coach, he helped lead the Wildcats to two NCAA Division 1 basketball championships. After four losing seasons at La Salle, Howard was fired.

On April 5, 2022, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the La Salle would hire Fran Dunphy to be the Explorer's next men's basketball coach.

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Explorers have appeared in the NCAA tournament 12 times. Their combined record is 14–11. They were National Champions in 1954 and National Finalists in 1955.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1954		First round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	Fordham NC State Navy Penn State Bradley	W 76–74OT W 88–81 W 64–48 W 69–54 W 92–76
1955		First round Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	West Virginia Princeton Canisius Iowa San Francisco	W 95–61 W 73–46 W 99–64 W 73–76 L 63–77
1968		First round	Columbia	L 69–83
1975		First round	Syracuse	L 83–87OT
1978		First round	Villanova	L 97–103
1980	No. 11	First round	No. 6 Purdue	L 82–90
1983	No. 12	Preliminary Round First Round	No. 12 Boston University #5 VCU	W 70–58 L 67–76
1988	No. 13	First round	No. 4 Kansas State	L 53–66
1989	No. 9	First round	No. 8 Louisiana Tech	L 74–83
1990	No. 4	First round Second Round	No. 13 Southern Miss #5 Clemson	W 79–63 L 75–79
1992	No. 13	First round	No. 4 Seton Hall	L 76–78
2013	No. 13	First Four Second Round Third Round Sweet Sixteen	No. 13 Boise State #4 Kansas State #12 Ole Miss #9 Wichita State	W 80–71 W 63–61 W 76–74 L 58–72

NIT results

The Explorers have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) 12 times. Their combined record is 9–11. They were NIT champions in 1952, when the tournament was considered an elite event.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1948	Quarter-finals	WKU	L 61–68
1950	First round Quarterfinals	Arizona Duquesne	W 72–66 L 47–49
1951	First round	Saint Louis	L 61–73
1952	First round Quarterfinals Semi-finals Finals	Seton Hall St. John's Duquesne Dayton	W 80–76 W 51–45 W 59–46 W 75–64
1953	Quarter-finals	St. John's	L 74–75
1963	First round	Saint Louis	L 61–63
1965	First round	Detroit	L 86–93
1971	First round	Georgia Tech	L 67–70
1984	First round	Pittsburgh	L 91–95
1987	First round Second Round Quarterfinals Semi-finals Finals	Villanova Niagara Illinois State Arkansas–Little Rock Southern Miss	W 86–84 W 89–81 W 70–50 W 92–73 L 80–84
1991	First round	Massachusetts	L 90–93
2012	First round	Minnesota	L 61–70

Explorers in the NBA

La Salle has an extensive history of players who played professional basketball, including:

• Michael Brooks, 1980 College Player of the Year
• Joe Bryant, father of former pro Kobe Bryant
• Rasual Butler
• Larry Cannon
• Ken Durrett
• Bobby Fields
• Larry Foust, eight-time NBA All-Star selection
• Tom Gola, Naismith Hall of Fame, 1955 College Player of the Year
• B. J. Johnson
• Tim Legler, current basketball analyst for ESPN, 4th all-time in NBA three-point shooting percentage
• Ralph Lewis
• Gary Neal
• Doug Overton
• Jim Phelan
• Lionel Simmons, 1990 College Player of the Year
• Steven Smith
• Fatty Taylor
• Randy Woods
• Bernie Williams

Explorers in international leagues

• Stephen Zack (born 1992), basketball player for Hapoel Holon in the Israeli Basketball Premier League

Retired numbers

Main article: List of NCAA men's basketball retired numbers

La Salle has retired five jersey numbers:

La Salle Explorers retired numbers
No.	Player	Pos.	Career
15	Tom Gola	SF/G	1951–1955
22	Lionel Simmons	SF	1986–1990
20	Larry Cannon	G	1966–1969
32	Michael Brooks	PF	1976–1980
33	Ken Durrett	PF	1968–1971

La Salle Explorers vs. Penn Quakers at Tom Gola Arena.

Year-by-Year Records

La Salle has held membership in five conferences throughout its existence. After being an independent for several years they officially joined the Middle Atlantic Conference in 1958, before the larger schools in the conference created the East Coast Conference in 1974. In 1983 the team switched to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), staying until joining the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now known as the Horizon League) in 1992. In 1995 the team joined fellow Philadelphia Big 5 teams Temple and Saint Joseph's in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Season	Record	Conference Record	Postseason
1931–32	15–8
1932–33	13–3
1933–34	14–3
1934–35	15–6
1935–36	4–13
1936–37	12–7
1937–38	13–6
1938–39	13–6
1939–40	12–8
1940–41	11–8
1941–42	12–11
1942–43	13–10
1943–44	8–8
1944–45	11–8
1945–46	9–14
1946–47	20–6
1947–48	20–4		NIT
1948–49	11–8		Cincinnati Invitational Tournament
1949–50	21–4		NIT
1950–51	22–7		NIT
1951–52	25–7		NIT champion
1952–53	25–3		NIT
1953–54	26–4		NCAA champion
1954–55	26–5		NCAA finalist
1955–56	15–10
1956–57	17–9
1957–58	16–9
1958–59	16–7	5–2
1959–60	16–6	6–1
1960–61	15–7	7–2
1961–62	16–9	5–3
1962–63	16–8	7–1	NIT
1963–64	16–9	5–1
1964–65	15–8	4–1	NIT
1965–66	10–15	3–2
1966–67	14–12	2–3
1967–68	20–8	8–0	NCAA tournament
1968–69	23–1	7–0	*Suspended from Postseason
1969–70	14–12	3–2
1970–71	20–7	5–1	NIT
1971–72	6–19	2–4
1972–73	15–10	3–3
1973–74	18–10	5–1
1974–75	22–7	5–1	NCAA tournament
1975–76	11–15	1–4
1976–77	17–12	3–2
1977–78	18–12	5–0	NCAA tournament
1978–79	15–13	10–3
1979–80	22–9	7–4	NCAA tournament
1980–81	14–13	8–3
1981–82	16–13	7–4
1982–83	18–14	7–2	NCAA tournament
1983–84	20–11	11–3	NIT
1984–85	15–13	8–6
1985–86	14–14	8–6
1986–87	20–13	10–4	NIT Finalist
1987–88	24–10	14–0	NCAA tournament
1988–89	26–6	13–1	NCAA tournament
1989–90	30–2	16–0	NCAA tournament
1990–91	19–10	12–4	NIT
1991–92	20–11	12–4	NCAA tournament
1992–93	14–13	9–5
1993–94	11–16	4–6
1994–95	13–14	7–7
1995–96	6–24	3–13
1996–97	10–17	5–11
1997–98	9–18	5–11
1998–99	13–15	8–8
1999-00	11–17	5–11
2000–01	12–17	5–11
2001–02	15–17	6–10
2002–03	13–16	6–10
2003–04	10–20	5–11
2004–05	10–19	5–11
2005–06	18–10	10–6
2006–07	10–20	3–13
2007–08	15–17	8–8
2008–09	18–13	9–7
2009–10	12–18	4–12
2010–11	14–16	6–10
2011–12	21–12	9–7	NIT
2012–13	23–9	11–5	NCAA round of 16
2013–14	15–16	7–9
2014–15	17–16	8–10
2015–16	9–22	4–14
2016–17	15–15	9–9
2017–18	13–19	7–11
2018–19	10–21	8–10
2019–20	15–15	6–12
2020–21	9–16	6–11
2021–22	11–19	5–13
2022–23	15–19	7–11
2023–24	16–17	6–12

External links

• Official website