Mixing and Matching with La Salle's Young Frontcourt

Sometimes, all a player needs is to see the ball go in. 

For La Salle redshirt sophomore Ryan Zan, a Christmas week matchup against Division 3 Rosemont College was a turning point in his young collegiate career. In just seventeen minutes off the bench, Zan went off, scoring 19 points (9-for-10 shooting), grabbing 7 rebounds and snatching 3 steals. 

“He’s a kid that works at it. He’s been ready for his moment to step up,” says La Salle assistant head coach Mark Hueber.

Entering Atlantic-10 conference play, Ryan Zan earned his first career start against George Mason, playing the de facto center role in a small ball starting lineup that featured 6’5 Deshon Shepherd at the 4, a position he was featured more in last season. In that game, Zan scored 10 points and hit both his three point attempts. 

A main factor that resulted in Zan’s starting opportunity arose from Jocius' foul issues early in the season, when he fouled out twice in the first seven games. His recent move to the bench has helped Jocius to stay on the floor and remain aggressive late in games while limiting concern of his foul trouble. 

Zan isn’t the only young forward who has stepped up in recent play. With Anwar Gil out Saturday against Fordham, Zan’s second start paired him in the frontcourt with freshman forward Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi, who made his first start of the season. The pair, alongside sophomore big Rokas Jocius, each scored double-digits apiece.

In that game, Zan and Jokius were essential in La Salle’s ability to navigate Fordham’s pressure defense that prioritizes shutting down the opponents’ best guards, opening up the floor for forwards to bring the ball up. 

Thanks to the growth of the underclassman frontcourt trio, La Salle can mix and match lineups with ease. 

“Coach Dunphy always talks about when we’re recruiting, guys will ask ‘what position do you see me playing’ and a lot of times we just talk about that we see you as a basketball player,” says Hueber, “We’re going to put the best five guys out there as much as we can. We can go small, we can go big, we try to change it up and go based on matchup.”

Despite their unique sizes and skillsets, the trio’s shooting ability as allowed La Salle to showcase more five-out offensive sets that all back cut scoring opportunities and more space for star guards Jhamir Brickus and Khalil Brantley to breakdown defenders and create in space.

“We worked pretty hard this summer on a five-out offense,” says Hueber, “Rokas can make a three. We want him to get more consistent with it. Even though he’s 6’10, we want him to get better with his ball-handling and playmaking abilities.”

La Salle sophomore forward Rokas Jocius battles inside on defense against Fordham

Speaking on Fasasi and Zan, Hueber adds: “We want them both to rebound way better than they do. If those two can dominate the glass, it will help us more in league play. On offense, the more that those guys can space, the more it helps our guards go downhill and make plays.”

That being said, the bread and butter of La Salle’s strength is the impressive guard play of Brickus and Brantley, but the continued growth and development of Rokas Jocius, Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi and Ryan Zan bring an incipient upside and a development to monitor as A-10 play continues.