Matthews named All-American honorable mention

Brandon Matthews was named an honorable mention Division I PING All-American by the Golf Coaches Association of America on Thursday.

“It’s a great feeling to know that you are among the country’s best,” Matthews said. “Getting this means more than you can imagine.  It’s always nice to see your hard work, time and effort pay off in these kind of ways.”

Matthews is coming off of a junior season where he placed in the top-10 in 11 of his 12 tournaments.  His 70.9 stroke average for a season was a new school record and his three-consecutive wins during the year was a new program record.  He also tied Temple’s record for career wins with eight.

Matthews is in the middle of a summer of individual amateur tournaments before returning to Temple in the fall for his senior season.

Cummings signs with Houston Rockets

Per a university athletic spokesperson, Will Cummings has agreed to terms on a free agent contract with the Houston Rockets.

The Jacksonville, Florida native, who was not selected during the NBA Draft on Thursday cannot sign with the Rockets until July 1, which is the official beginning on NBA free agency.

The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 14.8 points per game and 4.2 assists last season while leading the Owls to a 26-11 record.

After missing the 2015 NCAA Basketball Tournament, Cummings and the Owls were selected as the No. 1 overall seed for the National Invitational Tournament, where they were eliminated by the University of Miami 60-57 in the semifinals.

Cummings, who was a first-team all American Athletic Conference selection last season, became the 50th member of Temple’s 1,000-point club — the eighth player to reach the milestone under coach Fran Dunphy — in a win over South Florida in February.

Temple Alum Harvey Pollack Died on Tuesday

This past Tuesday, Naismith Hall of Fame basketball statistician and Temple alum Harvey Pollack died at the age of 93.

Pollack, who received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple in 1943, had been hospitalized since he suffered injuries in a car accident on New Year’s Day.

During his time as a student at Temple, Pollack worked as a manager for several Temple athletic teams including basketball. After graduation Pollack worked as Temple’s official football scorer until 2010. He was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

Pollack is the only statistician inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. His most impactful contribution to the sport may be the introduction of statistics such as minutes played, rebounds, steals, turnovers and blocked shots.

Field Hockey’s Challenging Schedule Released for Upcoming Season

Temple’s 2015 season schedule will be headlined by six nationally-ranked teams, pitting them against some of the top talent the nation has to offer.

Trying to improve on a 14-7 season that saw them lose to eventual national champion the University of Connecticut in the Big East title game, the Owls will start the season on Aug. 28 in the annual Conference Cup tournament against the University of Maryland, the No. 2 team in last season’s final National Field Hockey Coaches Association poll.

Temple’s September schedule will see the team travel to Penn State University to play the Nittany Lions, who were No. 6 in last season’s final NFHCA poll, and on Sept. 20, the Owls will host Northwestern — No. 7 in last season’s final NFHCA poll.

The Owls will also face nationally-ranked Old Dominion University on Oct. 2 to kick off conference play and a rematch of last season’s Big East title game with UConn will take place seven days later on Oct. 9.

Temple’s regular season will end with a conference game at Villanova University on Halloween, one week before the four-team Big East tournament on Friday, Nov. 6 and Sunday, Nov. 8 at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Virginia.

Volleyball announces fall schedule

Temple’s 2015 schedule is collection of tough conference and non-conference games, giving the Owls a chance to compete with some of the top programs in the country.

Coach Bakeer Ganesharatnam said the Owls will be playing the most competitive schedule since his arrival four years ago, in an attempt to raise their Rating Percentage Index.

“We wanted an even stronger non-conference schedule than we did last year,” Ganesharatnam said. “Hopefully it will prepare ourselves for conference play.”

The Owls open up their season with the Temple Invitational on Aug. 28 and 29. Temple will host the University of Oregon, the United States Naval Academy and St. John’s University.

Oregon finished 12th in NCAA RPI in the 2014 season, while advancing to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.

A week later, Temple travels to New Jersey to take on Seton Hall University, Hofstra University and the University of Notre Dame. Hofstra and Seton Hall both earned bids in the NCAA tournament last season.

Temple will host the Cherry and White Challenge on Sept. 11 and 12, where they will play Duquesne University, the University of Montana and Binghamton University. The following week, Temple competes in the Big 5 Tournament with LaSalle University, the University of Pennsylvania and Villanova University.

Ganesharatnam said the Owls’ non-conference play will help them prepare to compete in the American Athletic Conference, which Ganesharatnam said is one of the top conferences in the country.

“The conference itself will be much tougher this year than this last year because many of the top teams got stronger this year,” Ganesharatnam said. “RPI wise, the conference is the sixth strongest conference in the country.”

Although The American was competitive in 2014, only Central Florida advanced to the NCAA tournament, losing in the first round.

Temple will host 10 of 20 conference matches. After missing an NCAA tournament bid by a slim margin, Ganesharatnam said the Owls need to make the most of their conference play,

“A lot of programs and a lot of teams are going to be after us,” Ganesharatnam said. “It is a new situation for us, so that is something.”