Game of the Day

La Salle Explorers vs. Florida Gulf Coast Eagles, 1:30 PM ET

La Salle will be playing on the road on Thursday in yet another tough matchup. The Explorers have lost their last 4 games and are certainly struggling in the non-conference portion of their season. They recently lost on the road to Villanova, got blown out at home by Miami (FL), and now have to go on the road and play a tough Eagles team.

Florida Gulf Coast (6-6), was able to edge Massachusetts earlier this season in a 77-76 victory. They have experience beating an Atlantic 10 team and shouldn’t be deterred by the thought of facing another one. Though the Eagles certainly don’t pack the same punch as the time they made it to the Sweet 16, they still know how to give their opponents a run for their money.

The Explorers will need to be on the lookout for Florida Gulf Coasts’ Marc-Eddy Norella and Christian Terrell; the two average 30 points per game together and have been the focal points of the Eagles’ offense. In their close win over UMass, the two combined to score 34 points to lift (no pun intended) the Eagles to victory.

La Salle has some scoring power of its own in Jordan Price, averaging 22.6 points per game, but the senior was non-existent last time out against Miami (FL). He scored just 6 points on 2 of 11 shooting and was a big reason that the Explorers only managed 49 points. La Salle needs a win against Florida Gulf Coast in order to get some momentum heading into conference play. Their first Atlantic 10 contest will be on Sunday at home against Massachusetts.