Burton was the purchase: 42.5 percent on 76 threes at Stephen F. Austin. He led La Salle with 15 points and four threes in the Houston opener. Volume is not a clinic. Homecoming against LIU is where the bet has to look real at home.
La Salle spent last season near the bottom of Division I from deep. Per Big5Hoops, the Explorers made 5.3 threes a game at 29.8 percent in 2025-26: 352nd and 353rd of 365. They finished 9-23 and 5-13 in the Atlantic 10, down to eight healthy scholarship players by the end. Year two under Darris Nichols is a portal shooting bet. That is the receipt.
Kam Burton is the named piece of it.
His La Salle bio has the purchase order: senior guard, 6-3, 200, Houston, Texas. Previous stops at Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin. Prep at Legacy, The School for Sport Sciences, where he left as the program's all-time three-point leader.
At Southeastern Louisiana he was already a volume three-point guy: 52 makes as a sophomore (team-high) at 35.6 percent, then 40.5 percent as a freshman. At SFA in 2025-26 he started all 34 games, averaged 7.9 points in 18.5 minutes, and led the Lumberjacks at 42.5 percent from three on 76 makes. He hit at least three threes in 12 different games. High-water nights on the bio: 19 on 5-of-6 from three at Rice, 19 with five threes against East Texas A&M, 15 on 5-of-9 from deep against Nicholls. The Lumberjacks went 28-6 and made the NIT.
That is why he is here. Not as a 20-point alpha. As the guy who can put 76 threes on the board at a real percentage while a program that ranked 353rd from deep tries to stop being that program.
The June portal piece on Big5Hoops is still the clearest window into the construction. Nichols told Aaron Bracy he was building around shooting and toughness. On toughness: "You make a call and say, 'Is so and so tough?' [If they say] he's not soft, but ... we're done." On Burton specifically: "He's physical, he's tough, he's big. He's used to winning." Bracy also notes Nichols likes that Burton is the son of a coach.
That is a real answer. It is also not a promise that 42.5 percent travels to the A-10. It is a coach saying he bought a physical shooter from a winning room. Fair. Now grade the purchase with games.
The rest of the portal class is the supporting cast for the same thesis. Per the same Big5Hoops piece and SE-9 packet: Vice Zanki (38.5 percent, 42 threes at Niagara), Jamison Lynam (42.3 percent at Division III Arcadia; say Division III when you stack him), Trey Moss (41.3 percent at William & Mary in 2023-24, sat out 2025-26 with turf toe), Anthony Finkley (39.6 percent two years ago at Saint Joseph's, then 28.8 percent last year). Seven portal adds, 11 newcomers, seven returners. Rob Dockery is the leading returner at 12.5 points and 6.1 rebounds on 49.1 percent shooting. Burton is the clearest pure three-point purchase in that group.
Against No. 10 Houston at Fertitta Center, Burton led La Salle. Per the school recap and ESPN's box: 15 points in 29 minutes, 4 of 12 from the field, all four makes from three, 3 of 4 at the line, two rebounds, one steal. Team-high scorer. Houston native, home opener on the other side of the floor. Four threes from the guy Nichols bought to shoot threes.
So far, so neat.
Yeah, but 4 of 12 is volume, not a clinic. He got the shots up. He did not turn Houston into a soft night. The Cougars won 94-55, shot 54.4 percent, won the glass 47-32, and scored 44 points in the paint. La Salle went 15 of 60 from the field and 8 of 39 from three as a team. One road opener against a top-10 Houston team is not a season verdict on the portal class, and it is not permission to declare the shooting problem fixed.
Also: this is not a Dockery piece. Keep the night on Burton. Philly's Devin Booker had a career-high 12 off the bench on 4 of 12 in the same box. Fine. Secondary. The SE-9 question is whether the 42.5 percent purchase repeats.
Before Houston, La Salle beat Division III Neumann 107-61 in an Oct. 27 exhibition at Glaser, per the school recap. The Explorers made 12 threes at 27.3 percent. Burton finished with six points and four assists. The box strip on that page has him 2 of 9 from three.
An exhibition against Neumann is not a failure and not a fix. Standards flag it that way for a reason. The point for this piece is narrower: even the easy night did not hand Burton a clean efficiency line. Volume first, sorting later. That is the same shape as 4 of 12 against Houston. Two data points. Same caution.
Next is LIU at Glaser Arena on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 3:30 p.m. ET, Homecoming, per La Salle's schedule. Soft-ish home read. First chance for Burton to put up three-plus made threes on cleaner efficiency in a win fans can actually feel.
The Negadelphia argument is not "Burton failed." He led the team. He hit four threes. The argument is that La Salle spent a portal cycle buying shooting after finishing 353rd from deep, and the named purchase still has to prove the percentage travels when the opponent is not Houston and the building is Glaser. Prove the purchase. Or admit game one was just noise with good optics.
For more on the same 20th Street program arguing with its own preseason ceiling, see Negadelphia's La Salle women's 10th-pick receipts.
Richmond 79, Temple 53. The Spiders scored the first 14 points in a building Temple hadn't played in for four years, on the night it turned 100. One week after a 17-0 start, the Owls had as many turnovers as made field goals.
Halftime was 54-31. Final was 97-93. Penn State set a program free-throw record at 43 of 49 and still watched Anigbata's three cut it to one possession with under a second left. Credit the free throws. Do not hide the second half. Pitt is next.
Last year Temple beat George Mason in overtime. This year Turner goes for 21 with five threes on the road and the Owls lose by 20. Credit her night. Do not hide the boards or the score. Navy at home is the next read.
Seventeen points, 10 rebounds, five assists, all career bests, in 39 minutes. The Lady Lions still dropped the home opener by one. Both things count.
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