Fade Adams Wednesday Game Analysis
[h=4]Wednesday's Selection ...[/h] For Wednesday in college basketball, Highest-Rated 2000♦ Winner #8 of 10 goes on the La Salle Explorers as the "home" favorite against the visiting Penn State Nittany Lions. As of 6:30 am eastern when I release this selection, La Salle is listed as the -10 point favorite both in Vegas and offshore.
At first glance you may say to yourself, "who is La Salle to be laying double-digits to anyone?" Well, that is a good question, and I am here to give you the answer. The Explorers are out of the gate at 4-1 this season, including an overtime win over a Villanova team they had lost 11 in a row against. They very easily could have suffered a letdown their next time out, but went wire-to-wire in a road win and cover at Rider.
Bottom line, La Salle has some talent, and tonight's showcase game (bumped to a 9pm start to honor 150 years of La Salle hoops, and being shown locally on NBC TV) will be their chance to show Philadelphia just how good they are.
La Salle's Achilles heel in the past has been poor rebounding, but in Jerrell Wright and Steve Zack, they have a pair of boarders that are both in the top ten in the Atlantic 10 in that category! Throw in the scoring pop of Ramon Galloway, and Tyreek Duren's scoring, and this has the makings of an Explorers blowout.
The game is being contested at the famed Palestra on Penn's campus, the court that La Salle used to call "home", and the Explorers are honoring the 1968-68 team that went 23-1 under Tom Gola. The team will wear throwback jerseys from that era, and they are also giving out 500 throwback t-shirts with Gola's retired #15 on them. Yep, there hasn't been this amount of excitement on campus since the "L" Train days when Lionel Simmons used to be in uniform.
As for Penn State, well without star guard Tim Frazier - out for the season - there is not much proven experience in their lineup to slow the Explorers down and control the perimeter. If La Salle starts to hit from tripleville, look out, this one will balloon in a hurry.
Also note: Penn State did play a pair of games in Puerto Rico in the middle of November, but this is State's first true road game of the season.
Special night for La Salle, and the Explorers do not disappoint. Lay it!