Tom Gola arena will be the center of attention this Saturday morning when St. Joe’s comes in following a short bus ride across the City of Brotherly Love. These two A-10 and Big Five rivals have little love lost between them and this should be a good one to kick off your Saturday morning.
St. Joe’s has been red hot for the most part recently. Prior to losing to St. Louis in the middle of last week, the Hawks had been on a 6-1 tear. They also rebounded from that let down quite well in defeating the Rams of VCU just days later.
St. Joe’s executed very well in the half court in that game and also played great defense in containing the rams to just 62 points. Langston Galloway and DeAndre Bembry have really come on for the Hawks, and the pair combined to score 42 points in the win.
While Galloway has been somewhat of a constant this season and throughout his career, Bembry has been a revelation in making this program relevant once again. The 6’6, long-armed freshman rarely comes off the floor and he has scored in double figures in eight of their previous 11 ball games.
But Bembry’s contributions also extend to the defensive end of the floor where he has become a nightmare match-up at times. He took turns in dealing with both Treveon Graham and Jordan Burgess in that VCU win, and neither player was much of an offensive factor.
It will be interesting to see what they do with Bembry in this game, however. LaSalle features a three guard lineup and the emergence of Khalid Lewis off the bench allows them to stay with that for the majority of games. Bembry could have a more difficult time in dealing with a smaller and shiftier defender, and foul trouble could also limit his impact in this game.
St. Joe’s struggles in A-10 play have always come at the hands of quality defensive teams, such as St. Louis, UMass and Richmond. LaSalle is 84th nationally in defensive efficiency, and so I would not necessarily call them a defensive juggernaut.
But the other factor they have in their back pocket is that they have the guard depth to defend what St. Joe’s likes to do offensively. They run Galloway off a ton of screens, and if you can contain him with one body, you can more easily defend the rest of what is a versatile offensive attack.
LaSalle’s offense can be a mess to watch at times. They often end up in one on one scenarios that result in perimeter looks with little quality ball movement. That leaves them at 145 in offensive efficiency metrics currently and has been a staple in many of their shortcomings recently.
This number opened at LaSalle -2.5, moved up to 3 and has since shifted back down toward two. Spread bets seem to be relatively even with a slightly higher percentage of backers taking position with the road dog.
This isn’t a serious road game, although the crowd will be against the Hawks for the most part. But my bigger concern with them is their ability to sustain the play that has made them successful recently. It’s hard to argue they could be due for any sort of a letdown given their current resume and standing when it comes to NCAA tournament positioning.
The number seems relatively fair, all in all. St. Joe’s is a very good defensive rebounding group, which will severely limit LaSalle’s ability to get quality second chance opportunities. LaSalle is also a bad defensive rebounding team. Should St. Joe’s man the glass well, and given what they’ve done recently in general, it’s safe to say that the Hawks should not be catching a full three which would indicate these two clubs are dead even.
St. Joe’s is a slightly better team, but this is a great opportunity for LaSalle to get going. The last time these two clubs played back in 2013, Tyrone Garland was a non factor, but Tyreek Duren poured in 29 on 5-6 shooting from deep, and the Explorers won with relative ease at the Palestra.
St. Joe’s is in better standing now, and this is a tough bet to make considering the tightness of the spread and the fact this is a rivalry game. I tend to lean toward LaSalle as I just feel the Hawks are due for a loss. But this game should be tight and entertaining no matter the winner.
