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Temple's defense has slipped during slide, Dunphy says

Temple continued a recent trend in Wednesday's 81-74 loss at No. 20 Cincinnati in an American Athletic Conference basketball game at Third Fifth Arena.

Temple continued a recent trend in Wednesday's 81-74 loss at No. 20 Cincinnati in an American Athletic Conference basketball game at Fifth Third Arena.

The Owls were again competitive against another quality AAC team but couldn't sustain the effort for 40 minutes. Temple owned a 28-26 halftime lead but saw the Bearcats shoot 73.9 percent from the field after intermission.

The Owls are 10-10 overall and 1-6 in the AAC. At this point, the only way to a return trip to the NCAA tournament would seem realistic is if Temple won the conference tournament championship, March 9-12 in Hartford, Conn.

The Owls have played a difficult AAC schedule to this point, but then again, there are few easy games in their conference.

Entering Thursday, Temple's six losses were to teams that were a combined 22-6 in the AAC. That includes two losses to Cincinnati (16-2, 6-0) by a total of 13 points.

The Owls have shown that they can play with virtually any team in the conference. Beating them is a different story.

Now Temple has a week off before resuming action at home Wednesday against another dangerous AAC team, Memphis, which took a 13-5 record into Thursday's game at Houston.

"It's OK to get some time off because we are a little nicked up," Temple coach Fran Dunphy said by telephone after the game.

Dunphy feels that the Owls aren't far away, but the defense, long a staple of the program, has slipped. "We have to improve our defense, especially in the second half of games," he said.

One positive has been the recent play of sophomore guard Shizz Alston. After scoring a career-high 25 points in Saturday's 70-68 home loss to Tulsa, Alston matched that total Wednesday against Cincinnati.

He has shot 19 for 35 from the field in those two games. Alston is the one Temple player who is been much better in conference games. In seven AAC games, Alston is averaging 16.1 points and is making 87.5 percent of his free throws. For the season, he is averaging 13.9 points and shooting 81.8 percent from the foul line.

"Shizz has done a great job and I am very proud of him and the rhythm he is in," Dunphy said.

That said, the Owls won't improve unless their other top scorers, Obi Enechionyia and Daniel Dingle, find some consistency.

In conference play, Dingle is shooting 33 percent from the field and Enechionyia is shooting 35.9 percent. Freshman starting guard Alani Moore, who got off to such a quick start, is shooting 29.3 percent from the field in the seven conference games.

Dunphy says the team remains confident, but right now if the Owls don't reverse their recent losing trend, even the NIT will be out of reach.

Now Temple will have nearly a week to think about all these scenarios, with 11 conference games remaining to attempt to turn things around.

mnarducci@phillynews.com

@sjnard