December 13, 2008 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

#8/8 Tennessee Volunteers (6-1, 0-0 SEC) at Temple Owls (4-3, 0-0 A-10)
12:00PM ET, December 13, 2008
The Liacouras Center    Philadelphia, PA

ALL-TIME:

The Vols lead the series 3-2. These two teams played an infamous pre-shot clock era game that ended with Tennessee winning at home in Knoxville 11-6 over the visiting Owls way back when on Dec. 15, 1973. The Owls held the ball for 11 straight minutes in the first half and 14 straight in the second. Former Temple Coach Don Casey said this about the game: “Tennessee had a great team, we thought this was going to give us the best chance to win. So we took two guys [Rick Trudeaux and John Kneib] and put them out by the 28-foot line, had them standing about five feet part, and we had them pass the ball back and forth.” Tennessee won that game thanks to an 8-0 run that lasted 37 minutes.

LAST MEETING:

Nov. 9, 2007  Tennessee 80, Temple 63 – The visiting Owls were defeated rather handily by the Volunteers 80-63 in last year’s season opener for both schools. The game was notable due to the fact that the Owls, a team that led the A-10 in fewest turnovers the previous season, committed 15 turnovers through the first 20 minutes and ended the game with 23 total. The Vols had four scorers in double digits; this year’s offensive catalyst Tyler Smith put together an impressive stat line of nine points, three rebounds, five assists and four steals. The game marked the first collegiate game and start of Lavoy Allen’s career and he did not disappoint. He put up eight points and nine rebounds to go along with three assists. Temple played well with Allen in the lineup but foul trouble forced him to become a spectator for most of the game. Dionte Christmas ended the game with 12 points but had an terrible shooting night, going 1-for-8 from beyond the arc and 3-for-13 total.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Temple Owls:
PPG: 19.0  G Dionte Christmas
RPG: 8.3  F Lavoy Allen
APG: 4.6  G Semaj Inge

Tennessee Volunteers:
PPG: 17.4  F Tyler Smith
RPG: 8.1  C Brian Williams
APG: 4.1  G Bobby Maze

COACHES:

Temple – Fran Dunphy 37-34  3rd season at Temple (347-197 overall)

Tennessee – Bruce Pearl 83-24  4th season at Buffalo (400-109 overall)

LAST OUTING:

TEMPLE – The Owls rebounded from back-to-back defeats at the hands of MAC opponents with a 65-59 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions last Saturday in Happy Valley, PA. The contest marked the first time that the Owls’ ideal starting five (Inge-Christmas-Brooks-Allen-Olmos) began the game together … Dionte Christmas was a non-factor throughout the game, only scoring two points in a season-low 27 minutes due to a combination of poor shooting and foul trouble … Semaj Inge scored a career-high 19 points for the Owls, including nine points in the midst of a 15-5 run late in the second half. Inge also had six assists and four steals, both team highs … The Owls defense was stifling as they held the Nittany Lions, one of the country’s hottest shooting teams heading into the contest, to 34.6 percent from the field. The Nittany Lions were held to no field goals for nine minutes in the first half…

TENNESSEE – The Vols are in the middle of a long layoff as they have not played since defeating UNC Asheville 87-69 in Knoxville on Dec. 3. The game marked the first time in the 100 year history of varsity basketball at UT that a player recorded a triple-double when junior forward Tyler Smith notched 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. What was most impressive about the feat was that Smith did it in only 26 minutes … The victory was the 400th of coach Bruce Pearl’s career. He became the 6th fasted, 2nd among active coaches today, to ever reach the mark … Tennessee’s home winning streak improved to a school-record 35 games…

THE MATCHUP:

This game should prove to be entertaining. Tennessee has one of the nation’s most explosive offenses, averaging 87.1 points per game. Temple, on the other hand, averages just under 69 a contest. The 18 point disparity between the two offenses may be a little misleading, however, as the Owls look to be built for a run-and-gun style of play. They have four double-digit scorers in Christmas, Brooks, Olmos and Allen with Inge and Ramone Moore not far behind. The Owls have enough depth to go nine or 10 deep in their rotation if they have to. Because of that, the winner of this game is going to be the team that excels in the other aspects of the game.

Last season the Owls loss could be attributed to the 23 turnovers they committed. To win this game they need to make it a point take better care of the ball. Semaj Inge has emerged as the starting point guard for this team and will need to make smart decisions. His major strength is his ability to slash through the lane and create offense where it otherwise wouldn’t be. Sometimes players like him tend to try and do too much, which would be catastrophic as the Vols will make opponents pay with points off of turnovers.

The Vols are an excellent rebounding team and they hold a definite size advantage over the Owls. Four of the five Tennessee starters are 6-7 or taller while the Cherry and White only really use three players consistently that approach that size (Olmos, Allen and Michael Eric). This could be a game that Craig Williams sees some time on the floor just to get another big body in to help keep the regulars fresh. All five players on the court for the Owls will have to make rebounding a priority, especially the guards.

Another area that the Owls need to improve on is three-point percentage defense. They currently allow their opponents to shoot nearly 40 percent from behind the three point line. Tennessee, on the other hand, allows only 30 percent of long range shots to go in. Both schools average about 7 three-pointers a game but that shot is a strange beast in the sense that once a team gets rolling from beyond the arc it can really start to rain. Temple will need to keep UT to ones and twos instead of twos and threes to keep themselves in the game.

These are the little nuances that seem so obvious to the average fan that are magnified in high profile games such as these. Whoever does the little things better will come out on top.

PREDICTION:

This is really a tough one to call. The Volunteers are more talented than the Owls but Temple is built in such a way that they should be able to play to their strengths and keep the game interesting. For the Owls to win they need all of their players to play at the highest level possible. I can’t feel too good about the Owls, however, when they are going to end up depending on a player like Semaj Inge or Luis Guzman to have the game of their lives to put them over the top. If Temple wins I won’t be terribly surprised but I think Tennessee wins in a game that will be a lot closer than the average fan would expect. Tennessee 81, Temple 74

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

December 6, 2008 | AP Press

STATE COLLEGE, PA. — Semaj Inge scored 19 points, Ryan Brooks added 15 and Temple’s tight defense frustrated Penn State in a 65-59 victory on Saturday night.

The Owls (4-3) won in spite of a season-low two points from Dionte Christmas, the Atlantic 10’s leading scorer (21.8 ppg) coming into the game. He scored his only field goal with 5:15 left.

But Temple’s defense forced the Nittany Lions into numerous bad or rushed shots. Talor Battle had 19 points to lead Penn State (7-2), which shot just 35 percent from the field.

Inge provided the punch with Christmas struggling, hitting 6 of 9 from the field. Forward Lavoy Allen added 11 points for Temple, which enjoyed a 34-18 scoring advantage in the paint.

Temple snapped Penn State’s nine-game home winning streak, the longest stretch for the Nittany Lions in 12 years.

(Note: Sorry this is so short. I’ve been under the weather the last few days and have not been able to dedicate as much time as I would have liked to this.)

Penn State (7-1) and Temple (3-3) will meet up later this afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, PA. The Nittany Lions are coming off of a huge win at the hands of Georgia Tech as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Senior guard Stanley Pringle has emerged as a force this season, averaging 15.8 points a contest. He has scored in double figures in all but one contest this season, which is somewhat of a surprise considering he only averaged 6.9 points a season ago.

Penn State won on Thursday night despite missing several opportunities to seal the game. Jamelle Cornley missed two free throws with 5.4 seconds remaining that allowed Georgia Tech a shot to either win or tie. Iman Shumpert missed a running three at the buzzer and the Lions survived.

Temple’s woes have been well documented on this site. They have dropped back-to-back winnable games against Mid-American Conference opponents. The Owls lost their home opener on Thursday night 68-52 to the Miami (OH) RedHawks. Temple’s All-America candidate Dionte Christmas, the country’s ninth leading scorer heading into Thursday night’s contest, had a terrible game, scoring 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

Temple’s success will depend on how ready Lavoy Allen is. He had not practiced in the 10 days leading up to the Miami (OH) game and it showed. The Big Ten is known for it’s physical style of basketball so if Lavoy Allen still is not in game shape then it could be a long day for anyone Temple throws in on the low block. Miami (OH) made it a point tot bang bodies down low and the Owls simply could not stand their ground. They will need to toughen up if they want to win this game.

This is a tough game to try and predict. I don’t think Penn State is as good as their record indicates. I also don’t think Temple is as bad as their record. Temple has dominated the series since Penn State left the Atlantic-10 in the early Nineties. That was then and this is now, however, and I think that Penn State ends up winning this game.

For the Owls to have any chance to win they need to run their offense efficiently. That does not mean dribbling around the perimeter for half the shot clock, penetrating the lane and then kicking it back out. The Owls need to be aggressive and attack the net, hopefully putting the Lions in foul trouble and making them adjust their gameplan. Temple also needs this win to get them feeling good heading into next week’s nationally televised game against Tennessee.

December 3, 2008 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

Teams from the Mid-American Conference have proven to be difficult for the Temple Owls the past couple of seasons. The trend continued Wednesday night as the Owls lost to the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks 68-52 in Philadelphia.

Michael Bramos scored 26 points, including 6-10 from three-point distance and a thunderous breakaway dunk in the waning moments of the game, to lead the RedHawks to victory. Kenny Hayes, the leading scorer for Miami (Ohio) heading into the game, scored 17 points. Center Tyler Dierkers led the RedHawks with 8 rebounds.

The RedHawks led by as many as 12 points early in the second half. The Owls, who fell to 3-3 with the loss, were able to cut the lead down to two with 14:30 remaining but were unable to score the timely baskets to put them over the top. Freshman guard Ramone Moore was productive in the second half, scoring five of his six points in the midst of one of Temple’s mini-runs.

This was a game that really demonstrated just how important Mark Tyndale was to the team during his four-year tenure at Temple. Dunphy said as much, stating that he doesn’t have a guy like Tyndale that he can tell to take the ball and go make a play.

Senior center Sergio Olmos ended up leading the team in scoring with 12 points. The Owls leading scorer for the season Dionte Christmas scored 11 points on 3-12 shooting (3-10 from beyond the arc). He was largely a non-factor in the second half, scoring just two points. Temple coach Fran Dunphy figured that the RedHawks would focus on him.

“They obviously concentrated their efforts on [Christmas],” said Dunphy. “He needs to work a little harder, I need to get him some more opportunities.

“If they are going to double him then he has to do a good job of throwing out of that double and hopefully some other guys step up and make people pay for that.”

Christmas said that he noticed that the RedHawks were really making a point to make sure he was accounted for at all times.

“They didn’t let up on me on bit, not one time this game,” said Christmas. “Even when there was 20 seconds left in the game they did not let me get the ball.”

Christmas often found himself double-teamed and looked to make an impact in other ways. He collected four rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. He also committed three turnovers, mainly because he was trying to do too much with the basketball.

The status of Lavoy Allen was a question mark heading into the game, due to the broken thumb on his non-shooting hand. Allen, sporting a taped left hand, came off the bench for the Owls and ended up playing 16 minutes, collecting a pedestrian five points and four rebounds.

The team received word from doctors Wednesday morning that he would be okay to play. Allen said that he was ready to play mentally but not physically. He had not practiced with the team in 10 days leading up to tonight’s contest and it showed.

“We wanted to get him some run, I’m not I wanted to give him [16 minutes] but given that he did about as good as he could have,” said Dunphy on the play of Allen.

The RedHawks once again employed the very aggressive man-to-man defense that worked very well in a close loss to #14 Xavier this past weekend. Temple looked uncomfortable and unable to settle in on offense.

“We need to react to what the defense is giving to us,” said Dunphy. “We are a little bit in panic mode at this point so we need to slow down and take things as they come and work harder.”

The Owls settled with passing around the perimeter as opposed to driving to the basket. The RedHawks only committed three shooting fouls in the first half. Temple did not capitalize on the limited opportunities they were given, shooting a paltry 1-5 from the free-throw line. They ended up shooting 5-11 (45.5 percent) for the game.

Temple had some success when they committed to driving to the basket. More often than not, however, one of the Owls guards would penetrate and then kick the ball right back out to the perimeter. The RedHawks were quick with the defensive rotations, taking away many of the open looks that the Owls may have had in previous contents.

Temple, normally a very proficient three-point shooting squad, were 7-24 for the game. Ryan Brooks, the team’s second leading scorer, only hit one of his six three-point attempts. He ended the game with 9 points.

Although the Owls lost by 16, the game was still close at half time. Miami (Ohio) shot well from the floor but the Owls managed to stick around going into the half trailing 28-22. Christmas single-handedly kept Temple in the game, as he scored nine of the team’s first 11 points.

The Owls are heading into a murderous stretch, traveling to Penn State on Saturday, playing Tennessee at home and then traveling to Kansas. Dunphy summed up the state of the team and it’s upcoming trip rather bluntly.

“We’re in the soup right now. We have to figure a way to get out of it.”

John Lamb can be reached at johnlamb@a10collegehoops.com

POSTGAME AUDIO:

Fran Dunphy Press Conference

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Lavoy Allen / Dionte Christmas Press Conference

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Miami (Ohio) RedHawks (2-3, 0-0 MAC) at Temple Owls (3-2, 0-0 A10)
7:30 PM ET, December 3, 2008
The Liacouras Center Philadelphia, PA

ALL-TIME:

Temple leads the all-time series 3-1. This will be just the second time the RedHawks are playing in Philadelphia. The first two games of the series were played at neutral sites in ‘67-’68 and ‘68-’69 and their last meeting was in Ohio. The Owls won the only Philly tilt 60-47 back in the ‘99-’00 season.

LAST MEETING:

The RedHawks defeated the Owls 68-58 in Oxford, OH when the teams last met on November 30, 2000. Current Miami (Ohio) assistant coach Jason Grunkemeyer was a senior on that team. He led all scorers with 20 points, including 5-7 from three-point range. Lynn Greer led Temple with 17 points. The loss to Miami was the second of a season-long seven game losing streak which is surprising considering that the Owls came very close to reaching the Final Four that year.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Temple Owls:
PPG: 24 G Dionte Christmas
RPG: 9 F Lavoy Allen
APG: 5.4 G Luis Guzman

Miami (Ohio) RedHawks:
PPG: 16.6 G Kenny Hayes
RPG: 5.6 G-F Antonio Ballard
APG: 2.4 G Kenny Hayes

COACHES:

Temple – Fran Dunphy 36-33 3rd season at Temple (346-196 overall)

Miami (Ohio) – Charlie Coles 209-158 13th season at Miami (Ohio) (301-242 overall)

LAST OUTING:

TEMPLE: The Owls are coming off a very disappointing 83-73 loss to the Buffalo Bulls. The game was a story of two halves as the Cherry and White led by as many as 14 in the first half. The Owls played like a nationally ranked squad for twenty minutes even without sophomore sensation Lavoy Allen. The second half was a different story as the Owls suffered through three separate scoring droughts, the first of which allowed Buffalo to claw back from 12 points down to take the lead 58-56 with 10 minutes left in the game…. Senior co-captain Sergio Olmos made his first start after missing the first four games of the season with an ankle injury. Establishing him down low seemed to be a priority as he scored early and often with his baby-hook shot. Serg ended up with 12 points and had two blocks in 27 minutes but he also managed only two rebounds. The Owls need him to be more of a factor on the glass, especially if Allen can not go…. Dionte Christmas continued to put up impressive numbers, ending the game with a game-high 25 points along with six rebounds and five assists. Christmas is currently second on the team in rebounding, averaging just over eight boards a game, and third on the team with 3.6 assists…. Lavoy Allen did not play as he suffered a broken thumb on his non-shooting hand. This opened the door for Michael Eric to get some extra playing time. In 12 minutes he had two points and three rebounds. Eric still looks very raw on the floor, which is to be expected as he only picked up basketball a few years ago, but there is definitely a huge upside. Coach Dunphy was subbing Eric in for Sergio for defensive purposes at every opportunity he could in the second half. Look for that trend to continue if Lavoy misses any more time…

MIAMI (OHIO): The RedHawks lost 60-53 against Xavier this passed Saturday. The game marked the third time this young season that Miami (Ohio) played a nationally ranked opponent. Miami (Ohio) played the Musketeers tough the entire game, leading much of the first half and at times in the second…. Kenny Hayes paced the RedHawks with 19 points…. Miami (Ohio) deployed a very aggressive man-to-man defense that held Xavier’s three-point shooting in check. Due to the fact that Owls seem to live or die by the three-point try it would not be much of a surprise to see the RedHawks use the same style of defense again Wednesday…. The RedHawks have not won against a ranked opponent since defeating Boston College back in 2001….

THE MATCHUP:

This is another game that the Owls should win on paper. However, for whatever reason, the Mid-American Conference seems to be the ultimate thorn in the side of this team. This will mark the third straight year that the Owls will open up their home schedule with a MAC opponent. Last year, against the Miami Bobcats, it took a last-second Chris Clark three-pointer to win the game. The Owls lost to Buffalo the year before that. Throw out the fact that the Owls are clearly the more talented squad because history proves that talent means nothing when going up against the MAC.

The status of Lavoy Allen is a huge question mark heading into the game. Word is that he will officially be a game-time decision as he continues to heal from a broken thumb. If he can not go then Sergio Olmos and Michael Eric will play center while the Owls run with four guards. The Buffalo game proved just how important Lavoy Allen is to this team so it is hard to imagine him not suiting up and playing against the RedHawks, even if he comes off the bench.

Miami (Ohio) is really a two man show with Kenny Hayes and Michael Bramos so if Temple can stop them then they should be on the right path to pulling out a victory. Miami (Ohio) is only averaging 58 points a game so if the Owls can score the way they can, with Ryan Brooks, Ramone Moore and Semaj Inge supporting Dionte Christmas’ seemingly automatic 20-plus points, then they should be able to coast. Notice the amount of ’shoulds’ in that last paragraph.

PREDICTION:

This game will go a long way in telling the Atlantic-10 just what kind of team the Temple Owls are. They are capable of playing at a high level and, at times, have looked like they are right up there with Xavier in terms of being the best in the A10. They are also capable of losing extremely winnable games (Clemson) and having sub-zero shooting stretches (Buffalo). Something tells me that they are somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. If Lavoy Allen plays tomorrow night then the Owls win by a five or six points. If he does not, well, we may find out who this year’s version of Chris Clark will be.

November 29, 2008 | AP Press

AMHERST, N.Y. — Calvin Betts led Buffalo with 18 points as the Bulls rallied for an 83-73 win over Temple Saturday.

Betts lay-up gave the Bulls a 64-62 lead with 4:41 left to play and sparked a late game-clinching 14-4 run for Buffalo.

Betts also had seven rebounds, while Greg Gamble scored 15 points. Max Boudreau scored 9 of his 11 points in the second half comeback.

Andy Robinson — who scored 13 points and grabbed four rebounds — gave Buffalo (3-2) its first lead with a slam dunk with 9:49 left after trailing by as many as 14.

Temple’s (3-2) Dionte Christmas scored a game-high 25 points and had six rebounds and five assists.

Ryan Brooks scored another 13 points for Temple, and center Sergio Olmos, making his first start after being sidelined with an ankle injury, played 27 minutes and scored 12 points.

Temple led 39-33 at halftime. The Owls shot 29-55 for the game, but went just 8-of-22 on three-point attempts.

November 29, 2008 by John Lamb | A10CollegeHoops

Temple Owls (3-1, 0-0 A10) at Buffalo Bulls (2-2, 0-0 MAC)
4:00 PM ET, November 29, 2008
Alumni Arena     Buffalo, NY

ALL-TIME:

Temple leads the series 3-1. This game marks the first time in 30 years that the Owls have traveled north to face the Bulls. They are 2-0 when playing at Buffalo.

LAST MEETING:

The Bulls defeated the Owls 66-64 on November 27, 2006. That game is memorable for being the Liacouras Center debut of Owls coach Fran Dunphy. Dionte Christmas scored a then career-high 23 points to pace the Owls. Greg Gamble and Andy Robinson, currently the Bulls’ second and third leading scorers respectively, were instrumental in helping Buffalo hang on in the closing minutes. The game finished with Christmas scoring seven points in a 9-0 run that helped the Owls cut the lead to 2. He also set up Dustin Salisbury’s potential game-winning three-pointer with a steal.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Temple Owls
PPG: 23.8  G Dionte Christmas
RPG: 9  F Lavoy Allen
APG: 5 G Luis Guzman

Buffalo Bulls:
PPG: 18.3  G Rodney Pierce
RPG: 8.8  G-F Calvin Betts
APG: 4.8  G-F Greg Gamble

COACHES:

Temple – Fran Dunphy 36-32  3rd season at Temple (346-195 overall)

Buffalo – Reggie Witherspoon 107-160  10th season at Buffalo (151-183 overall)

LAST OUTING:

TEMPLE – The Owls traveled to Easton, PA last Friday night to take on former Fran Dunphy disciple Fran O’Hanlon and his Lafayette Leopards (2-3). The Leopards played the Owls tough for the first 18 minutes of the game but the Cherry and White used a 12-2 run to jump ahead 40-32 at intermission en route to a 71-55 victory… Dionte Christmas continued his early season heroics with 29 points and a career-high 12 rebounds. Semaj Inge (11 points) and Ryan Brooks (10 points) also scored in double digits for the Owls. Inge was starting in place of fellow senior co-captain Sergio Olmos, who is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered in preseason practice….The Owls held a 47-37 edge in the rebounding department and held the Leopards to just 33 percent shooting from the field…. The win was the Owls 25th straight against Lafayette…

BUFFALO – The Bulls dropped their home opener to the Niagra Purple Eagles (4-1) by a score of 65-61. Buffalo cut the difference to one with just under a minute remaining in the game but were unable to complete the comeback…. Rodney Pierce was the leading scorer for the Bulls with 16 points. He also added 7 rebounds. Freshman forward Mitchell Watt did well in his first career start, scoring 13 points and pulling down 6 boards in 32 minutes…. Much like the Owls did against Lafayette, Buffalo had a strong defensive effort. They limited the Purple Eagles to 33.9 percent shooting and forced 17 turnovers. The Bulls committed 23 turnovers of their own, however, which lead to 20 points for Niagra…

THE MATCHUP:

For whatever reason they seem to have trouble against Mid-American Conference opponents. The word out of North Broad Street is that Sergio Olmos will not play as coaches feel they won’t need him for this game. That is a little puzzling as a quick glance at the Bulls’ roster shows five players who are 6-8 or taller. None of their low post players are as talented as Lavoy Allen or as long and athletic as Michael Eric but, in this game, size matters. But it still wouldn’t be a bad idea to get Sergio in for a few minutes just to get him back to game speed before he is thrown into the fire at home against Miami (OH).

For the Owls to win they need to stay the course. With three players averaging double figure points (Christmas, Brooks and Allen) and two more close to that mark (Moore and Inge) they will likely be able to overwhelm the Bulls on offense. The key for the Owls is to see who steps up in the opening minutes. Christmas is a notorious slow start who gets better as the game progresses so it is necessary that someone steps up to score for the Owls. Coach Dunphy was upset with the fact that his team did not establish Allen on the inside against Lafayette so it would not be surprising to see the offense run through him at the outset of the game to send a message loud and clear to the Bulls, “We can beat you inside and we can beat you outside. Pick your poison.”

As clichéd as it sounds, the Bulls need to play tenacious defense and protect the ball if they want to win this game. Holding the Purple Eagles to 33.9 percent shooting was good, turning over the ball 23 times was not. Buffalo does have some decent talent on their squad but they just do not match up well against Temple. Look for the Bulls to try and channel the spirit of the John Chaney-era Owls and try to make this game extremely ugly.

PREDICTION:

Very few members of the team that lost to Buffalo in 2006 are still playing but you can bet that Dionte Christmas remembers that shocking loss all to well. Look for Temple to jump out to an early lead and go on cruise control from there. Buffalo will keep it close enough to make the game interesting but not close enough to actually threaten. Temple wins 69-59.

John Lamb can be reached at Johnlamb@A10collegehoops.com

November 21, 2008 | AP Press

EASTON, Pa. — Dionte Christmas had 29 points and 12 rebounds to lead Temple to a 71-55 victory over cold-shooting Lafayette on Friday night.

Semaj Inge scored 11 points and Ryan Brooks added 10 for the Owls (3-1), who built an eight-point lead by halftime and opened up a 26-point lead with eight minutes left in the second half.

The Owls eventually outscored Lafayette 31-23 in the second half.

Jeff Kari scored 16 points and Jared Mintz 12 for Lafayette (2-1), which shot 36 percent (19-for-53) from the field and 7-for-22 from 3-point range.

November 21, 2008 by John Lamb | A10collegehoops

Temple Owls (2-1, 0-0 A10) at Lafayette Leopards (2-0, 0-0 Patriot League)
8:30 PM ET, November 21, 2008
Allan P. Kirby Arena, Easton, PA

ALL-TIME:

Temple leads the series 32-7 and is in the midst of a 24 game win streak against the Leopards. The last time Lafayette defeated Temple was back on Feb. 28, 1959 when they defeated the Owls 81-75 in Easton, PA.

LAST MEETING:

The Owls won the most recent game 96-73 at the Liacouras Center on Dec. 28, 2006. Then-sophomore Dionte Christmas posted 20 points, 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals and 3 assists. The Leopards’ current leading scorer, Andrew Brown, was held in check that night scoring 7 points on 2-of-11 shooting from the field, including 1-of-6 from beyond the arc.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Temple Owls
PPG: 22  G Dionte Christmas
RPG: 10  F Lavoy Allen
APG: 5.7  G Luis Guzman

Leopards:
PPG: 23.5  G Andrew Brown
RPG: 6.5  F Ryan Willen / F Darion Benbrow
APG: 4  G Andrew Brown / G Jeff Kari

COACHES:

Temple – Fran Dunphy 35-32  3rd season at Temple (345-195 overall)

Lafayette – Fran O’Hanlon 188-188  14th season at Lafayette

LAST OUTING:

TEMPLE – The Owls’ came up short against the Clemson Tigers (4-0) in the finals of the innaugural Charleston Classic, falling 76-72 last Sunday. F Lavoy Allen, G Dionte Christmas, G Ryan Brooks and G Ramone Moore all scored double figures for the Owls. Despite his 14 point effort, Christmas was not able to find his groove and ended up shooting 25% (4-of-12 and 2-of-6 from beyond the arc) for the game… Without the 7-foot C Sergio Olmos manning the middle of the paint the Owls were thoroughly dominated in the rebound department by Clemson by a margin of 39 to 23. Tigers F-C Trevor Booker grabbed a game high 16 rebounds, including 6 on the offensive side of the glass. Luis Guzman, a 6-3 PG lead Temple in rebounds with 7… The Owls continued their early season trend of sharing the ball as evidenced by a team total of 23 assists on 27 made baskets… One glaring problem that has surfaced early on in the season is the amount of turnovers the Owls are committing. While they forced 22 Clemson turnovers and collected 15 steals as a team, the Cherry and White gave up the ball 16 times. Those types of wasted possessions are exactly what decides a big win and a close loss…

LAFAYETTE – The Leopards easily dispatched the visiting Stony Brook Seawolves (1-1) 80-71 to win the home opener. Senior G Andrew Brown led the way with 25 points. G Jeff Kari and F Ryan Willen also scored in double figures with 16 and 15 points respectively… Although the Leopards only won by 9 the outcome of the game was never really in doubt as they sprinted out to 18-3 lead to open the game and were ahead by as many as 22 late in the second half… Lafayette’s 2-0 start is their first since 98-99 when they went 22-8 overall, won the Patriot League championship and secured a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

THE MATCHUP:

The Owls can’t expect Lafayette to roll over for them. The atmosphere should be pretty wild as it is not often that a “name” college basketball team comes to the Allan P. Kirby Arena. The Leopards do have some big players on the squad (two 6-10 centers and two 6-8 forwards) which could play to their advantage as Coach Dunphy stated on a Philadelphia sports talk radio show that Sergio Olmos, the Owls 7-foot center, would most likely miss the game. Freshman F-C Michael Eric and Sophomore F Craig Williams could see some extra time to take some of the burden off of Lavoy Allen.

The Owls have to keep Andrew Brown from going off. He has scored 20+ points in the first two games of the season for the Leopards and will most likely be one of the Patriot League’s top scorers by the end of the season. Temple needs to keep a balanced scoring attack as Lafayette will likely focused it’s defensive attention on Dionte Christmas. This opens the door for the likes of Ryan Brooks and Ramone Moore to shine.

Don’t discount the Fran Dunphy/Fran O’Hanlon connection. O’Hanlon spent 6 years on Dunphy’s staff at the University of Pennsylvania from 1989-95. There is no doubt in my mind that the pupil is itching to beat his teacher. Combine that with the fact that tomorrow night’s 8:30pm start should promise for a more raucous that normal crowd for Lafayette and this game has the potential to be a trap for the Owls if they are not careful.

PREDICTION:

On paper Temple should win the game rather handily but I can see this game being close until late in the second half. I don’t think Temple will lose, however, as the Owls will be looking to bounce back from their close loss to Clemson.

Temple wins 74-66

John Lamb can be reached at Johnlamb@A10collegehoops.com

November 16, 2008 | AP Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. — Terrence Oglesby’s 16 points and a strong defensive effort helped Clemson defeat Temple 76-72 Sunday to win the Charleston Classic.

Clemson (3-0) led by as many as 14 points in the second half, but the Owls rallied to cut the lead to two with 38 seconds to play. The Tigers made just enough free throws down the stretch to hang on.

The Tigers held Temple (2-1) to 31.4 percent shooting in the second half and 45 percent for the game (27 of 60). Temples leading scorer, guard Dionte Christmas, scored 14 points against the Tigers after scoring 26 points in each of the Owls first two games in the tournament.

Ryan Brooks led Temple on Sunday with 19 points.

Clemson held a 45-39 halftime lead after shooting 64 percent from the field, including 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) from 3-point range.