No D for X

The tweet from OwlScoop following yesterday's nationally televised game best recapped the preceding two hours:  "Good shooting, awful transition D, mental lapses, and Allen is still MIA."
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If you were unaware of the outcome of yesterday's Temple-Xavier matchup, and were told that the Owls  recorded 20 assists against 9 turnovers, and made 11 three-point shots (a season high), surely you would have expected a Temple victory. Yet the Owls lost by 11.  In the last 15 minutes of the game, Lavoy Allen, Juan Fernandez, and Ramone Moore did NOT score a basket. And Xavier was the first opponent this season to make more than half of its shots. 'Nuff said.  Scootie Randall had a breakout game (career high 28 points) and Khalif Wyatt posted another solid  performance.
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Not sure what this says, but Temple has lost 80% of the time this season (1-4) when recording 10 or less free throws made.  This stat is courtesy of  templefight.com , a web site worth visiting if you appreciate rich detail about all things Owl basketball.
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I had a good feeling going into yesterday's game. Earlier in the day, Villanova was impressive in a win over #3 ranked Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, and my beloved Liverpool Football Club won its first game under its new coach. The trifecta wasn't meant to be, I guess. And congratulations to Penn, who broke their four-year winless streak against Big Five opponents.
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Onto Wednesday night, when the Owls return home to face Charlotte, in search of their 17th consecutive home victory.

Dunphy's 1st Win at Temple Against Top 20 Team (Xavier)

January 16, 2008

Maybe, just maybe, last night we saw the start of a program turnaround. I do know that we saw a spectacular performance last night against a top 20 team that Temple made look ordinary.As if to underscore my comments last week after the Duke game, the Owls last night had TWICE as many assists to turnovers, 21-11. That, coupled with strong defense with which  even coach Chaney would have been pleased, accounted for the strong performance and resounding victory.

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Too bad there were only 4000 fans to witness it (we did our part, we gathered a larger than usual contingent  for the evening that included a pre-game meal and adult beverages at McCrossan Tavern in Fairmount) but to be totally fair about the size of the crowd  the Temple students are still on holiday break.

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The Owls also had balanced scoring, four players scoring in double figures. While Sergio did not score double figures, he had TEN rebounds and FOUR blocked shots in his most impressive performance of his Temple career. I don't know what he did differently last night (he stayed out of foul trouble as well)  but I hope that Dunphy does, and coaches him to many repeat performances.

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The Owls next home game is a Big Five matchup next Wednesday against Penn. In between, the Owls travel to the Gateway to the West to meet the St. Louis University Billikens(should be a win, but the Owls don't play well on the road).   By the way, who knows what a Billiken is?   Hint, it's not  a dog, it is one of the truly unique mascots in college athletics, and it's  a symbol of good luck.