Temple faces tall order against Central Florida
Temple will face a tall order in attempting to stop a two-game losing streak when the Owls host Central Florida on Wednesday at the Liacouras Center.
Temple will face a tall order in attempting to stop a two-game losing streak when the Owls host Central Florida on Wednesday at the Liacouras Center.
Any team facing UCF (17-10, 8-7 American Athletic Conference) must be aware of the towering presence of sophomore center Tacko Fall.
At 7-foot-6, Fall is the tallest player in Division I and one of the 40 tallest humans in the world, according to UCF sports information. His hand length is 10.5 inches. Fall has a wingspan of 8 feet, 4 inches and he wears a size 22 shoe.
"He is a big dude and he is humongous," Temple's Daniel Dingle said.
Temple (14-14, 5-10) lost by 77-53 on New Year's Eve at Central Florida. In that game, Fall had 17 points, seven rebounds, and two blocked shots in 23 minutes.
Fall has had especially good shooting success against Philadelphia teams this season. In games against Villanova, Penn, and Temple, he has shot 24 for 25 from the field. (He was 10 for 10 in a loss to Villanova, 8 for 8 in a loss to Penn, and 6 for 7 in the win over Temple).
"He does a great job protecting the rim and we have to do a better job on ball screens," Dingle said. "Last time, we didn't play to the best of our ability and we were down 20-25 points early."
The Owls trailed by 38-11 at the half, shooting 4 for 29 from the field (13.8 percent).
Under first-year coach Johnny Dawkins, UCF is vastly improved after winning just 12 games last year. One reason is the improvement of Fall. He is averaging 11.8 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 2.4 blocked shots in 26.1 minutes per game.
Fall, from Dakar, Senegal, has found his stamina is much better than last season, when he averaged 7.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocked shots in 17.6 minutes.
He is shooting 73.9 percent from the field (136 of 184). The Division I record is 74.6 percent set by Oregon State's Steve Johnson (235 of 315) in 1980-81.
"UCF is a good team," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. "We have the challenge of Tacko Fall, a big guy who changes a lot of shots, blocks shots, and is getting better on the offensive end."
Central Florida, coming off a 61-58 win Saturday at East Carolina, is much more than Fall. Guards B.J. Taylor and Matt Williams are averaging 16.6 and 15.5 points, respectively.
Temple is coming off a 64-63 home loss to Connecticut on Sunday. The Owls haven't been below .500 this season since a 70-67 loss at UMass on Nov. 17 left them at 1-2.
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