Picked to finish last, La Salle has been flying high through its non-conference slate

If you haven’t been paying attention, you should know that when it comes to men’s hoops, La Salle has very quietly gone ahead and proved a whole lot of people wrong.

Let’s start with those who believed that the team was devoid of top talent after offseason departures left everyone wondering if this year was destined to be a rebuild.

It’s what the Atlantic 10 Conference believed, projecting the Explorers to finish dead last – mind you, that’s 15 out of 15 teams, with only junior guard Khalil Brantley earning preseason honors (second team).

It’s served as motivation for an Explorers team sitting on a 9-3 non-conference record with one more out-of-conference game to go on Saturday at home against Howard (2 p.m., ESPN+), before opening conference play again at home against George Mason on Jan. 3 (6:30 p.m., ESPN+). The Patriots top the A-10 currently alongside George Washington with 10-2 overall records.

Boding well for the Explorers: Their current 7-0 unbeaten streak inside Tom Gola Arena.

We’re talking about a La Salle team that started the year 4-0. Two of their three losses came to a pair of ranked teams in then-No. 9 Duke and then-No. 24 ranked Miami Hurricanes. La Salle’s only other loss came after forcing Temple to three overtime periods to pull off a 106-99 win in their building.

It’s why weeks ago head coach Fran Dunphy said he’s not worried about this current roster, going even as far as to say that this team will be “OK moving forward.”

» READ MORE: La Salle’s hot start has Fran Dunphy thinking Explorers are ‘going to be OK’

“I think there’s something you see in teams, every coach sees in his team opportunities,” Dunphy said. “I just thought we did a bunch of good things against Penn — we did a bunch of knucklehead things, too — but a bunch of good things that I thought we were going to be OK. Whatever we did in that particular game, we were going to be OK moving forward.”

Still, it hasn’t been perfect. The Explorers may have rattled off nine Ws, but four of those games have been a grind — won by just five points or fewer. To start conference play off on the right foot, here are four things we noticed that could be the difference between watching it all crash or continuing to prove plenty of naysayers wrong.

Brantley and La Salle teammate Jhamir Brickus have complimented each other to the tune of leading this Explorers team in both minutes and points per game. Brantley averages 16 points, while Brickus is at 14.3. Both have shown that they can both take over and want the ball in big moments, none bigger than what Brantley displayed during the Big 5 Classic with a buzzer-beater extraordinaire against Penn.

» READ MORE: La Salle’s dynamic duo of Khalil Brantley and Jhamir Brickus are ‘fire and ice’ on the court

Perhaps this is what Dunphy meant when he said his team has a penchant for doing “a bunch of knucklehead things,” given the Explorers are among conference leaders in turnovers (118; 9.8 tpg), but there’s more to the stat. Sure, that many turnovers in just 12 games is not admirable, but La Salle has forced more from its opponents with 145, an average of 12.1.

Look, he’s just fun to watch. The high-flying junior forward from Norristown ranks fourth on the team with 10.8 points per game, shooting 50.5% from the field. He has six games finishing in double figures including the last three straight. It’s evident Dunphy allows Shepherd to be creative on the floor which has led to not strong point totals, but a bit of flair while doing so.

Finally, there’s been little by way of conversation about the production La Salle has received from redshirt sophomore Andres Marrero. There have been nights where Marrero has been the leader on the team, coming off the bench.

You can trust him to hit the timely three-point shot (see games against Loyola (Md.), Miami, and Bucknell as proof), and he’s got quick handles and an even quicker release.