Temple faces big challenge with Cincinnati's defense
In his postgame news conference following Wednesday's 60-55 loss to visiting SMU, Temple basketball coach Fran Dunphy was asked about Saturday's opponent, Cincinnati. Dunphy, whose team visits the Bearcats in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff, immediately stated that Temple would find it challenging to produce consistently on offense.
In his postgame news conference following Wednesday's 60-55 loss to visiting SMU, Temple basketball coach Fran Dunphy was asked about Saturday's opponent, Cincinnati. Dunphy, whose team visits the Bearcats in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff, immediately stated that Temple would find it challenging to produce consistently on offense.
"Cincinnati will be like trying to get blood from the stone, trying to score against those guys," Dunphy said.
After looking at more film, Dunphy was even more complimentary.
"Their overall toughness is what jumps out at you always," Dunphy said in a phone interview. "They are well-coached, and a very hard-playing defensively dominated group."
Temple is 12-6, and 3-2 in the competitive American Athletic Conference, where the Owls and Cincinnati (11-5, 2-2) are among seven teams with legitimate NCAA Tournament aspirations.
Not all will likely make it, so this game, just like Temple's previous two losses to Tulsa and SMU, are like mini-tournament games.
Coming off a 63-50 loss on Thursday at Memphis, Cincinnati is being guided the rest of the season by associate coach Larry Davis while head coach Mick Cronin deals with arterial dissection. The Bearcats are 4-3 in games with Davis running the team.
Cincinnati leads the AAC in scoring defense, allowing 55.2 points per game. The Bearcats' 6-foot-10 junior Octavius Ellis is third in the AAC in blocked shots, averaging 2.6 per game.
Temple point guard Will Cummings, who didn't start last game due to a strained muscle in his lower left leg but played 27 minutes, is expected to be a game-time decision.
So much of Temple's success relies on the three-point shot. In their last two losses, the Owls are 13 for 53 from three-point range (24.5 percent). Cincinnati is allowing teams to shoot 31.8 percent from behind the arc.
"We need to shoot better and need to be a better inside-out team," Dunphy said.
A key will be getting guard Jesse Morgan back on track from beyond the arc. He was 0 for 13 against Tulsa and then 3 for 10 against SMU.
"For me, I have to do a better job with shot selection," Morgan said.
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