La Salle, UMass meet in conference play

La Salle (10-4, 1-1) vs. UMass (6-8, 0-1)

William D. Mullins Center, Amherst, Massachusetts; Wednesday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: A10 foes meet as La Salle matches up against UMass. Each team last saw action on Sunday. La Salle won 66-60 at Fordham, while UMass fell to Saint Louis in overtime, 83-80.

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED: La Salle has been fueled by senior leadership this year while UMass has relied on freshmen. For the Explorers, seniors Isiah Deas, Saul Phiri and Scott Spencer have combined to score 39 percent of the team's points this season. On the other bench, freshmen Tre Mitchell, Carl Pierre and Sean East II have collectively accounted for 56 percent of all UMass scoring this season and 70 percent of the team's points over its last five games.

CREATING OFFENSE: East has directly created 48 percent of all UMass field goals over the last three games. The freshman guard has 23 field goals and 17 assists in those games.

FLOOR SPACING: UMass's Pierre has attempted 104 3-pointers and connected on 38.5 percent of them, and is 19 of 42 over the last five games.

PASSING FOR POINTS: The Explorers have recently converted baskets via assists more often than the Minutemen. UMass has 39 assists on 84 field goals (46.4 percent) over its past three contests while La Salle has assists on 38 of 70 field goals (54.3 percent) during its past three games.

STIFLING DEFENSE: La Salle has held opposing teams to 40 percent shooting, the lowest percentage among all A10 teams. Over their last five games, the Explorers have held opposing shooters to 39.9 percent.