Ford's team improved to 17-9 and 8-5 in the Atlantic 10 with Saturday afternoon's defeat of La Salle.
SLU's student section filled in early, per usual. Its members carried lights for pre-game hype, cardboard cutouts of their favorite players' heads, a massive cellphone with a missed call alert that tormented the officials, and even a dry erase board for on-the-fly messaging. They danced. They chanted. They rattled La Salle leading scorer Pookie Powell, a sign they had done their homework. They cheered and booed and partied, impacting yet another game, perhaps more than they even realize.
You can find college basketball coaches who believe a rocking home crowd might make the difference between a win and a loss in two to three games per season.