After its fourth straight loss, it’s clear La Salle has lost its shot. Fran Dunphy plans to find it, in practice.
In a Tuesday night loss to No. 16 ranked Dayton, the Explorers shot just 35.6% from the field and 27.6% from three.
La Salle put up one heck of a fight — got to give them that.
Hosting No. 16 Dayton inside Tom Gola Arena on Tuesday, it was the Flyers who led by as much as 15 points in the second half, but a pair of big runs from the Explorers made it a one-possession game with a little over nine minutes left.
Despite a late comeback, the Explorers were unable to limit Dayton’s response and found themselves on the latter end of a 66-54 final, continuing what has now amounted to a four-game skid.
All-American candidate DaRon Holmes II scored 22 points and added eight rebounds as Dayton outscored La Salle in the paint, 36-12.
Here are a few other observations from La Salle’s near comeback:
Struggles in the A-10
La Salle’s loss Tuesday was its sixth defeat in its last seven games and marked a 1-5 start to Atlantic 10 play. The Explorers started the season 9-3 but are currently 10-9 overall.
Coming into the season, the Explorers were pegged to finish last out of the 15 A-10 teams and six games in, they’re tied for last. The struggles have come in more than just the win-loss record with three of La Salle’s A-10 losses coming by at least 15 points.
How does La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy think his team is responding to the struggles?
“I hope that they’re going to do well,” he said postgame. “Then the next challenge will be Saturday at [George Washington]. [The] next challenge really will be tomorrow afternoon for practice, see where all of our minds are. … This is a really good league, [with] a lot of really good teams, [and] a lot of really good players. We got to be ready to go. We got to be ready to go for Saturday. We got 12 games left.”
Shooting woes continue
Ahead of Tuesday’s game, La Salle was last in the A-10 in conference field goal percentage (38.7%) and second to last in three-point percentage (29%), and its loss to Dayton didn’t help those numbers.
La Salle shot just 35.6% from the field and 27.6% from three against the Flyers (16-2, 6-0 A-10). Only redshirt sophomore Andres Marrero scored double figures, finishing with 13 points on 5-for-10 shooting and 3-for-8 from deep.
“I thought we had some good shots tonight, just didn’t go,” Dunphy said. “But we could shoot better shots in addition to that. It’s one of those things you keep working on. We’ll do it again tomorrow. We’ll work like crazy on our shooting tomorrow. But we can shoot it better than we have been, for sure.”
The return of Anwar Gill
Out since Jan. 3 with an ankle injury, La Salle guard Anwar Gill returned to the floor on Tuesday. He came off the bench for the first time all season and only played 18 minutes, but made some plays, including a three-point play during a run in the second half to help cut Dayton’s lead to three.
La Salle is 9-5 with Gill and while he won’t solve everything, he’ll give a nice boost to an Explorers team that’s been reeling.
“He knows how to play,” Dunphy said. “He’s got some ruggedness to him. So it’s good to have him back. Certainly helps our bench at this point.”
Up next
La Salle plays at George Washington (14-4, 3-2) on Saturday (6 p.m., ESPN+). The Colonials have four players averaging double figures including senior guard James Bishop IV who is averaging 18.1 points per game.