A Look Back to When Lavoy Allen was Taking Shots

With Charlotte coming to the Liacouras Center this Wednesday, let's take a look back to a Lavoy Allen breakout game...

February 27, 2008
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Former coach Chaney often said defense wins games, and that's it's OK to win ugly.  The Owls reverted to Chaney-ball last night, with a stifling defense, to top Charlotte 75-61.

Dionte Christmas, who we know by his scoring prowess, played his best defense of the year, holding Charlotte's leading scorer, and one of the best players in the conference, to just three points.  Christmas was also the Owls leading scorer. In un-Chaney like fashion, the Owls shot very well, 51% from the field, 53% from three-point distance, and 82% from the foul line. Just for comparison, Charlotte shot 31% from the field.

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The Owls win last night was ugly because they were sloppy - 16 turnovers.  It would better put that Tyndale was sloppy, he had almost as many turnovers (6) as points (9).  It speaks volumes of how far this team has progressed when Temple can produce a 13-point win over a solid team on a night when Tyndale doesn't reach double figures.

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Freshman Lavoy Allen (Coach Dunphy's top recruit for this season) had one of his best games of the year, 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He's been reluctant to shoot this year (Nelson says it takes most of freshman year to build confidence), but not last night, Allen took more shots (12) than anyone else (including Christmas) on the Temple squad.

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The announced  attendance was just over 4000. No beer lines, suffice it to say.  The 4000 figure must be tickets sold, most of us there last night figured there couldn't have been more than 3000 in the crowd.

Either way, rather paltry  following - I guess it's going to take at least another year for the fans who left during the down years to return.  That includes the student body, whose section last night was at best two-thirds full.  But the pep band was particularly spirited last night, as were the performances from the Diamond Gems. The Gems' appearances were improved by the disappearance (we hope for good) of those hideous tan (I think they're more like flesh-colored)  shoes that make them look like they're dancing in bare feet.

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The win last night was the 15th  for the Owls this season. I'll admit that I was wrong. In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that Temple would do well to win 10 games this season, and that 15 would be a stretch.

Never would I have expected that the Owls would be playing at this point of the season not only for a winning record but a BYE into the A10 tournament.

Last night's win means that Temple remains tied for third place in the A10.  The top four finishers earn a bye into the tournament, meaning that three wins, rather than four, in the conference tournament (to be held in Atlantic City, by the way , we should consider a  road trip) will produce a conference tournament championship, and most importantly, an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.

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In the all-important RPI ratings , Temple now sits at 81. Considering that they were hovering around 150 at the beginning of the season, I'd say there's been considerable progress. Next opponent, St. Joe's, is now at 44, and also one of the teams ahead of Temple in the A10 standings. Next stop, Palestra, Sunday night, to be part of a sellout crowd.

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None of the readers of  Chronicowls was of assistance in my request to learn the origins of Charlotte's nickname, so here you are...

The nickname, the 49ers, was chosen in recognition of the importance of the year 1949 in the history of the University. UNC Charlotte, which began as an off-cam pus center of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, would have died in 1949 had Bonnie Cone and her supporters not convinced the N.C. Legislature that Charlotte needed a permanent college. Charlotte College was established that year. Additionally, the campus is located on N.C. Highway 49, and Charlotte has a rich gold mining history -- the term "49ers" symbolizes gold mining. A bronze statue of the 49ers Gold Miner sits in front of the Reese Administration building on campus. The statue recalls the region's history as a gold mining center and symbolizes the pioneering spirit and determination that has led to UNC Charlotte's dramatic growth.

Nick, good guess about  49 having to do with the latitude.  At least you proffered a theory.