The La Salle Explorers men's basketball program represents La Salle University in college basketball. La Salle plays as a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, having joined in 1995. The Explorers were NCAA national champions in 1954, with future Hall of Famer Tom Gola being named the tournament's most outstanding player. La Salle has appeared in the NCAA tournament 12 times, most recently in 2013.

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 died on December 22, 2022, at the age of 76.

Coaches

Paul Westhead, who coached the Explorers from 1970-79, led the Los Angeles Lakers to the 1980 NBA championship. Westhead was hired in the summer of 1979 as an assistant to Jack McKinney, the former coach at Big 5 rival Saint Joseph's, then was promoted to head coach when McKinney suffered a near-fatal bicycling accident on November 8, 1979. Westhead remained with the Lakers until November 1981, when he was fired by Lakers owner Jerry Buss and succeeded by Pat Riley.

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.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, where he helped led the Wildcats to two NCAA Division 1 basketball championships. After four losing seasons at La Salle, Howard was fired in March 2022.

On April 5, 2022, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that La Salle would hire alum Fran Dunphy to be the Explorer's next men's basketball coach. After 3 seasons, Dunphy announced in February 2025 that he would retire from his head coaching role while staying with the school as special assistant to the Vice President of the university.

On March 11, 2025, La Salle announced the hiring of Radford head coach Darris Nichols as the new head 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.

1954 First roundSweet SixteenElite EightFinal FourNational Championship FordhamNC StateNavyPenn StateBradley W 76–74OTW 88–81W 64–48W 69–54W 92–76 1955 First roundSweet SixteenElite EightFinal FourNational Championship West VirginiaPrincetonCanisiusIowaSan Francisco W 95–61W 73–46W 99–64W 73–76L 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 RoundFirst Round No. 12 Boston University#5 VCU W 70–58L 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 roundSecond Round No. 13 Southern Miss#5 Clemson W 79–63L 75–79 1992 No. 13 First round No. 4 Seton Hall L 76–78 2013 No. 13 First FourSecond RoundThird RoundSweet Sixteen No. 13 Boise State#4 Kansas State#12 Ole Miss#9 Wichita State W 80–71W 63–61W 76–74L 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.

1948 Quarter-finals WKU L 61–68 1950 First roundQuarterfinals ArizonaDuquesne W 72–66L 47–49 1951 First round Saint Louis L 61–73 1952 First roundQuarterfinalsSemi-finalsFinals Seton HallSt. John'sDuquesneDayton W 80–76W 51–45W 59–46W 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 roundSecond RoundQuarterfinalsSemi-finalsFinals VillanovaNiagaraIllinois StateArkansas–Little RockSouthern Miss W 86–84W 89–81W 70–50W 92–73L 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

La Salle has retired five jersey numbers:"Exploreres never stop" on La Salle Magazine La Salle Explorers retired numbers No.PlayerPos.Career 15 Tom Gola SF/G 1951–1955 22 Lionel Simmons SF 1986–1990 20 Larry Cannon G 1966–196932 Michael Brooks PF 1976–198033 Ken Durrett PF 1968–1971 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.

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 1943–448–8 1944–4511–8 1945–469–14 1946–4720–6 1947–4820–4 NIT 1948–4911–8 Cincinnati Invitational Tournament 1949–5021–4 NIT 1950–5122–7 NIT 1951–52 25–7 NIT champion 1952–5325–3 NIT 1953–54 26–4 NCAA champion 1954–55 26–5 NCAA finalist 1955–5615–10 1956–5717–9 1957–5816–9 1958–5916–75–2 1959–6016–66–1 1960–6115–77–2 1961–6216–95–3 1962–6316–87–1 NIT 1963–6416–95–1 1964–6515–84–1 NIT 1965–6610–153–2 1966–6714–122–3 1967–6820–88–0 NCAA tournament 1968–6923–17–0 *Suspended from Postseason 1969–7014–123–2 1970–7120–75–1 NIT 1971–726–192–4 1972–7315–103–3 1973–7418–105–1 1974–7522–75–1 NCAA tournament 1975–7611–151–4 1976–7717–123–2 1977–7818–125–0 NCAA tournament 1978–7915–1310–3 1979–8022–97–4 NCAA tournament 1980–8114–138–3 1981–8216–137–4 1982–8318–147–2 NCAA tournament 1983–8420–1111–3 NIT 1984–8515–138–6 1985–8614–148–6 1986–8720–1310–4 NIT Finalist 1987–8824–1014–0 NCAA tournament 1988–89 26–613–1 NCAA tournament 1989–90 30–216–0 NCAA tournament 1990–9119–1012–4 NIT 1991–9220–1112–4 NCAA tournament 1992–9314–139–5 1993–9411–164–6 1994–9513–147–7 1995–966–243–13 1996–9710–175–11 1997–989–185–11 1998–9913–158–8 1999-0011–175–11 2000–0112–175–11 2001–0215–176–10 2002–0313–166–10 2003–0410–205–11 2004–0510–195–11 2005–0618–1010–6 2006–0710–203–13 2007–0815–178–8 2008–0918–139–7 2009–1012–184–12 2010–1114–166–10 2011–12 21–129–7 NIT 2012–13 23–911–5 NCAA round of 16 2013–14 15–167–9 2014–15 17–168–10 2015–16 9–224–14 2016–17 15–159–9 2017–18 13–197–11 2018–19 10–218–10 2019–20 15–156–12 2020–21 9–166–11 2021–22 11–195–13 2022–23 15–197–11 2023–24 16–176–12 2024–25 14–195–13

References

External links