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Matchup pits La Salle's speed against Wichita State's strength

Explorers know they have their work cut out for them, but are approaching West semifinal with confidence.

La Salle's Ramon Galloway led the Explorers with 24 points against Ole Miss. (David Maialetti/Staff Photographer)
La Salle's Ramon Galloway led the Explorers with 24 points against Ole Miss. (David Maialetti/Staff Photographer)Read more

LOS ANGELES - Going 4 days without a game must seem like a vacation for a La Salle team that earned the right to keep playing in the NCAA Tournament by winning three games in 5 days. But play they must and play they will Thursday night in the Sweet 16 at the Staples Center against Wichita State.

How the game will be decided is no big secret.

"Is their strength going to beat our quickness?" La Salle coach John Giannini said, asking the big question that will have a definitive answer sometime after midnight.

There is chance backup big man Steve Zack, who has not played since March 2, when he sprained a ligament in his left foot, could get some minutes. He was cleared Wednesday afternoon to start running again. And this would be the right time, as Wichita outrebounds teams by nearly eight boards per game.

"Everyone who knows our team knows he gives us something that no one else has," Giannini said. "We can go from a small team to a big team just by putting him in for one of those guards. And we function extremely well with that kind of lineup."

But the game likely will come down to what most La Salle games have come down to this season against bigger front lines. Will the speed of La Salle's guards be enough to overcome their size disadvantage? The speed has overcome through three NCAA games.

"I think the rebounding could be the biggest issue in the game," Giannini said. "Their biggest strength is our biggest weakness."

Wichita State will play 10. The Shockers have interchangeable parts. And they guard hard.

"If you tell me a given team is going to be one of the top-10 rebounding teams in the country and they're going to hold people in the 30s with their defensive field-goal percentage, I would have to say that team's going to be hard to beat, that they're going to win a lot of games, without ever seeing them on tape," Giannini said. "Defense and rebounding wins, and they hang their hat on that."

And they have a real talent in junior college transfer Cleanthony Early who, according to Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall, is "is doing things that I've never had a forward do, scoring in so many ways, with tremendous athleticism and upside. I think he's got a chance to play at a really high level someday."

Ramon Galloway was not sure what tournament he would be playing in when the Explorers left Brooklyn and the Atlantic 10 Tournament after a quarterfinal loss to Butler. He did not play well that afternoon, and neither did his team. When they take the court against Wichita State, only 14 teams will be alive for the national championship. And they will be one of them.

"I know we can play with anybody in the country," Galloway said. "I felt like once we got our shot, we could prove ourselves. We got our shot, and we've proven ourselves . . . I'm happy that I got a second chance."

It took until Galloway lit up Boise State 5 days later for him to get over the Butler game. Once he did get over it, he took off, just like his team.

"We got back to playing like ourselves," Galloway said.

That would be free and easy, dribble, pass, shoot, just play the game. And their defense has been good enough at the right moments.

"Since we got in the tournament, we had to get key stops," Galloway said.

And they did.

"We preach will," Galloway said.

La Salle won its first two games with terrific point guard Tyreek Duren not playing to his typical level. He was quite good against Mississippi.

"When Tyreek is playing well, our chances of winning skyrocket, quite frankly," Giannini said. "He gets people involved. He scores. He's a complete point guard. He's a difference maker."

Everybody at the news conference wanted the term "Philly guard" explained. And there was nobody better than Tyrone Garland, of Southwest Philly Floater fame, to explain it.

"Be all tough, and fearless," he said. "Anywhere we go, we have that Philly swag with us, and we're just ready to play against anybody."

The West Regional has none of the marquee names in college basketball, but it does have La Salle-Wichita State. And one of them still will be playing Saturday.

"I think the reason that the NCAA Tournament is so popular is that it's not predictable, and you do get to see people that you don't always get to see," Giannini said.

And nobody at La Salle seems particularly concerned that Florida Gulf Coast, which took over the Wells Fargo Center last weekend, has become the story of the tournament.

"I think we have enough shine in the city of Philadelphia," Duren said. "I've been getting phone calls like everybody is telling me, 'The whole city is behind you.' 'Everybody's looking forward to your wins.' That's enough for me. I don't care about the national spotlight."

Keep winning and the spotlight will find them.

Next up is Wichita State. Win and play Saturday for a chance to keep playing next weekend in Atlanta.