# 2017–18 La Salle Explorers men's basketball team

The 2017–18 La Salle Explorers basketball team represented La Salle University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Explorers, led by 14th-year head coach John Giannini, played their home games at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as members of the Atlantic 10 Conference. They finished the season 13–19, 7–11 in A-10 play to finish in a three-way tie for 10th place. As the No. 12 seed in the A-10 tournament, they lost in the first round to Massachusetts.
On March 23, 2018, head coach John Giannini and the school mutually agreed to part ways after 14 seasons. Giannini left with a 212–226 record at La Salle. On April 8, the school hired Villanova assistant Ashley Howard as head coach.

## Previous season

The Explorers finished the 2016–17 season 15–15, 9–9 in A-10 play to finish in a tie for seventh place. As the No. 8 seed in the A-10 tournament, they lost to Davidson in the first round.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Cleon Roberts | 3 | G | 6'6" | 190 | RS Senior | Miami, FL | Graduated |
| Hank Davis | 4 | G | 5'11" | 170 | Senior | Cherry Hill, NJ | Graduated |
| Yevgen Sakhniuk | 12 | F | 6'7" | 235 | Junior | Kyiv, Ukraine | Transferred to Philadelphia |
| Jordan Price | 21 | G | 6'5" | 220 | RS Senior | Decatur, GA | Graduated |
| Demetrius Henry | 24 | F/C | 6'9" | 225 | RS Junior | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Left the program |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Traci Carter | 24 | G | 6'0" | 175 | Junior | Philadelphia, PA | Marquette |

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jamir Moultrie #70 PG | Bishop McNamara High School | Forestville, MD | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 178 lb (81 kg) | Oct 28, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 72 ||||||
| Miles Brookins #81 PF | Mater Dei High School | Santa Ana, CA | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Oct 12, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 69 ||||||
| Dajour Joseph SF | Lauderdale Lakes, FL | Combine Prep Academy | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 210 lb (95 kg) | Oct 31, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 26, 2017. ||||||

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2018 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Jared Kimbrough #62 C | Neptune, NJ | Neptune High School | 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) | N/A | Sep 9, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 70 |||||||
| Jack Clark SF | Wyncote, PA | Cheltenham High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 220 lb (100 kg) | Oct 5, 2017 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR |||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: |||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 26, 2017. |||||||

## Preseason

In a poll of the league’s head coaches and select media members at the conference's media day, the Hawks were picked to finish in ninth place in the A-10. Senior forward B.J. Johnson was named to the conference's preseason second team.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Nov 2, 2017* 7:30 pm | | at No. 23 Seton Hall Charity Exhibition | L 74–87 | | Walsh Gymnasium (1,140) South Orange, NJ |
| Nov 4, 2017* 2:00 pm | | Shippensburg | W 74–60 | | Tom Gola Arena Philadelphia, PA |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 11, 2017* 3:00 pm | | Saint Peter's Hall of Fame Tip Off | W 61–40 | 1–0 | Tom Gola Arena (2,822) Philadelphia, PA |
| Nov 13, 2017* 7:00 pm, NBCSP | | at Penn Big 5 | W 75–71 $^{2OT}$ | 2–0 | Palestra (2,073) Philadelphia, PA |
| Nov 16, 2017* 7:00 pm | | South Alabama Hall of Fame Tip Off | W 81–73 | 3–0 | Tom Gola Arena (1,488) Philadelphia, PA |
| Nov 18, 2017* 2:30 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. No. 20 Northwestern Hall of Fame Tip Off Naismith Bracket semifinals | L 74–82 | 3–1 | Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT |
| Nov 19, 2017* 3:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Boston College Hall of Fame Tip Off Naismith Bracket third place game | L 61–82 | 3–2 | Mohegan Sun Arena Uncasville, CT |
| Nov 22, 2017* 6:00 pm | | vs. No. 11 Miami (FL) Reading Showcase | L 46–57 | 3–3 | Santander Arena (6,735) Reading, PA |
| Nov 26, 2017* 5:00 pm, NBCSN | | Temple Big 5 | W 87–83 | 4–3 | Tom Gola Arena (2,855) Philadelphia, PA |
| Dec 1, 2017* 2:00 pm, CBSSN | | vs. Towson Hall of Fame Belfast Classic semifinals | L 60–67 | 4–4 | SSE Arena (5,256) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Dec 2, 2017* 9:30 am, CBSSN | | vs. Holy Cross Hall of Fame Belfast Classic 3rd place game | W 58–54 | 5–4 | SSE Arena (3,882) Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| Dec 7, 2017* 7:00 pm | | Drexel | L 70–72 | 5–5 | Tom Gola Arena (1,451) Philadelphia, PA |
| Dec 10, 2017* 12:00 pm, FS1 | | at No. 4 Villanova Big 5 | L 68–77 | 5–6 | Wells Fargo Center (10,611) Philadelphia, PA |
| Dec 17, 2017* 4:30 pm | | Mercer | W 95–85 | 6–6 | Tom Gola Arena (1,251) Philadelphia, PA |
| Dec 22, 2017* 7:00 pm | | at Bucknell | L 81–87 | 6–7 | Sojka Pavilion (2,553) Lewisburg, PA |
| Atlantic 10 regular season ||||||
| Dec 30, 2017 2:00 pm | | Saint Louis | W 83–60 | 7–7 (1–0) | Tom Gola Arena (1,437) Philadelphia, PA |
| Jan 3, 2018 7:00 pm | | at Rhode Island | L 62–74 | 7–8 (1–1) | Ryan Center (4,549) Kingston, RI |
| Jan 6, 2018 2:00 pm, NBCSN | | VCU | L 74–80 | 7–9 (1–2) | Tom Gola Arena (2,312) Philadelphia, PA |
| Jan 10, 2018 7:00 pm, NBCSN | | at Massachusetts | L 79–86 $^{OT}$ | 7–10 (1–3) | Mullins Center (2,056) Amherst, MA |
| Jan 13, 2018 12:30 pm, NBCSN | | at Duquesne | L 94–101 $^{3OT}$ | 7–11 (1–4) | Palumbo Center (2,145) Pittsburgh, PA |
| Jan 17, 2018 7:00 pm | | Fordham | W 75–67 | 8–11 (2–4) | Tom Gola Arena (1,458) Philadelphia, PA |
| Jan 20, 2018 2:30 pm, NBCSN | | at Richmond | L 74–81 | 8–12 (2–5) | Robins Center (6,686) Richmond, VA |
| Jan 24, 2018 7:00 pm | | Massachusetts | W 87–72 | 9–12 (3–5) | Tom Gola Arena (1,214) Philadelphia, PA |
| Jan 31, 2018 7:00 pm, Stadium | | at Davidson | L 65–84 | 9–13 (3–6) | John M. Belk Arena (3,248) Davidson, NC |
| Feb 3, 2018 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | Saint Joseph's Big 5 | W 81–78 | 10–13 (4–6) | Tom Gola Arena (3,045) Philadelphia, PA |
| Feb 7, 2018 7:00 pm | | at George Washington | L 69–80 | 10–14 (4–7) | Charles E. Smith Center (2,017) Washington, DC |
| Feb 10, 2018 8:00 pm | | at Saint Louis | L 62–70 | 10–15 (4–8) | Chaifetz Arena (5,229) St. Louis, MO |
| Feb 13, 2018 7:00 pm | | St. Bonaventure | L 68–79 | 10–16 (4–9) | Tom Gola Arena (1,312) Philadelphia, PA |
| Feb 17, 2018 2:00 pm | | George Mason | W 69–62 | 11–16 (5–9) | Tom Gola Arena (2,801) Philadelphia, PA |
| Feb 20, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 18 Rhode Island | L 93–95 $^{OT}$ | 11–17 (5–10) | Tom Gola Arena (1,841) Philadelphia, PA |
| Feb 24, 2018 2:00 pm | | at Fordham | W 73–60 | 12–17 (6–10) | Rose Hill Gymnasium (2,366) Bronx, NY |
| Feb 28, 2018 7:00 pm | | Dayton | W 71–53 | 13–17 (7–10) | Tom Gola Arena (1,378) Philadelphia, PA |
| Mar 3, 2018 2:00 pm, Stadium | | at Saint Joseph's Big 5 | L 70–78 | 13–18 (7–11) | Hagan Arena (4,200) Philadelphia, PA |
| Atlantic 10 tournament ||||||
| Mar 7, 2018 6:00 pm, Stadium | (12) | vs. (13) Massachusetts First round | L 67–69 | 13–19 | Capital One Arena (5,333) Washington, DC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source