Owls can't be distracted for Sunday's game

There will be plenty of emotion at the Liacouras Center when Temple resumes action Sunday with an American Athletic Conference game against South Florida.

The Owls fans will naturally be giddy over Thursday's wild 63-58 comeback win over visiting Connecticut, when Temple erased a 12-point lead with less than six minutes remaining.

There also will be a celebration of the past when the 1991 Temple team is honored for reaching the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament a quarter of a century ago. Among those returning will be the star of that team, Temple's all-time leading scorer, Mark Macon.

And further into the future, on Wednesday there is a sold-out game at the Liacouras Center with No. 1 Villanova.

That's all great for the fans, but Sunday could be a trap game for the players. Temple (15-8 overall, 9-3 AAC) must put behind its emotional win, the team's reunion and its next game to concentrate on the task at hand.

Temple is strengthening its NCAA resumé, having gone 5-0 against three of the AAC's top teams, UConn, Cincinnati and SMU (which is ineligible for the conference and NCAA tournaments).

Of course, a so-called bad loss will slow the momentum, which is why Temple can't overlook a USF team it beat, 70-63, on Jan. 31 to begin its season-best four-game winning streak. "I thought they played well the day we played them," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said of USF. "The size of [Jaleel] Cousins and [Ruben] Guerrero, they are big and long, and I thought Guerrero hurt us."

Cousins, the brother of Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, is a 6-foot-11 senior. Guerrero is a 6-11 sophomore.

Guerrero is averaging 4.9 points and 5.5 rebounds, but against Temple he had 14 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocked shots.

Temple's Josh Brown did a good job defensively on USF's leading scorer, freshman guard Jahmal McMurray, who scored 14 points, one below his average, but shot 5 of 17 from the field.

Immediately after Thursday's win, the subject of looking past USF was broached and quickly shot down by the Owls.

"We're taking no teams lightly and will have the same mind-set we have for every game," said guard Quenton DeCosey, who had a team-high 23 points against UConn and has scored in double figures in 21 of the 23 games.

Dunphy says he won't even mention the Villanova game until the USF one is completed. He is focused solely on USF and expects his team to be as well. Despite the big win on Thursday, Dunphy will keep his team grounded by showing a tape of the earlier USF win, one in which the Bulls shot 45.8 percent from the field.

"We didn't play great against South Florida down there," Dunphy said. "This game will be a great challenge for us, and we need to be prepared and have our guys in the right frame of mind."

mnarducci@phillynews.com

@sjnard