Tall order for Temple to beat Central Florida
A few times this year, Temple's basketball team appeared to win a game that would propel the Owls to greater heights only to become a false alarm.
A few times this year, Temple's basketball team appeared to win a game that would propel the Owls to greater heights only to become a false alarm.
Among the wins were victories over teams that were ranked at the time: Cincinnati, Connecticut and previously unbeaten SMU. Temple lost after beating Cincinnati and SMU and won a single game after beating UConn before losing again.
The Owls are coming off another big win, Thursday's 83-79 overtime victory over visiting Tulsa. Temple appeared buried, trailing by 12 points on three different occasions in the second half and down by five with under 26 seconds left in regulation.
There isn't much time to celebrate since the Owls (13-8 overall, 7-3 American Athletic Conference) visit Central Florida (11-9, 5-4) in Saturday's noon matchup in Orlando.
Thursday's comeback, which included Devin Coleman's three-pointer with three seconds left in regulation that sent the game into overtime, was impressive.
But when coach Fran Dunphy was asked if that could be a springboard win, he suggested that it was anybody's guess.
"We thought the SMU game was something that could propel us the rest of the season, and we fell down the next game," he said, referring to a 64-61 loss at East Carolina.
Can the Owls build on Thursday's win? "To be determined," Dunphy said.
The key will be having a short memory after such an emotional comeback win.
"As much as we enjoyed it, we now have another team to get ready for, and we have to forget about it," said forward Obi Enechionyia, who had 17 points, his third straight game in double figures.
Dunphy, who has 516 wins at Penn and Temple and is tied with former Temple coach John Chaney for the most victories in Big Five history, is worried about Central Florida's size. UCF has the seventh-biggest roster in NCAA Division I men's basketball, with an average height of 6-feet-6.78. The tallest member is 7-6 freshman Tacko Fall, who is averaging 6.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.
So it will be a tall order to beat a vastly improved Knights team that went 12-18 a year ago.
@sjnard