Category Archives: Men’s Basketball

Cummings returns, Owls lose seventh straight

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Will Cummings showed the Owls what they were missing when he sat out last week due to concussion-like symptoms, as he scored a team-high 20 points at Connecticut on Tuesday night.

But it wasn’t enough to beat the Huskies.

And for the first time during this now seven-game losing streak, Temple (5-12, 0-6 American Athletic Conference) failed to keep the score close throughout the contest – UConn (15-4, 3-3 American Athletic Conference)  won 90-66.

A Cummings three-pointer and layup gave Temple a 5-2 lead during the early minutes of the first half. A few plays later, however, the Huskies went on a 14-0 run to give themselves a 32-16 lead. UConn shot 59.4 percent in the first half, while the Owls shot 44.4 percent from the field. At halftime, Temple trailed 48-34.

“We needed to manage the game a little better than we did,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “They had a lot of firepower. We got a little bit of firepower back when Cummings was ready to play, but we needed to manage the game better.

The Owls never got close to the Huskies in the second half. UConn scored its 10th three of the game early in the second half, part of a 10-run that gave the team a 25-point. Conference rebound leader Anthony Lee failed to grab a rebound Tuesday, but the junior forward did score 14 points. The Huskies outrebounded the Owls 45-24.

Temple will next host nationally-ranked Cincinnati at home on Sunday at 4 p.m.

Dingle to undergo knee surgery

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The men’s basketball team announced today that sophomore guard/forward Daniel Dingle suffered an injury during practice on Dec. 29, and will have arthroscopic surgery next week to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee.

Dingle is expected to miss the remainder of the 2013-14 season. Dingle’s average of 6.7 points per game rank fifth on the team, while averaging 20.3 minutes, 2.3 rebounds and was tied for a team-high 11 blocks.

The news comes as the Owls prepare for a road game at Rutgers tonight.

Owls return home to face Hawks

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Temple (3-3) will face St. Joe’s (4-2) on Wednesday night in the Liacouras Center at 8 p.m.

This season marks the first time in 67 years that the Hawks and Owls are competing in difference conferences. In the most recent meeting between the two teams back in February, St. Joe’s beat Temple 70-69. The Owls are 46-18 all time in home games against the Hawks.

Temple is coming off a pair of consecutive wins at the Charleston Classic, as senior guard Dalton Pepper set new career highs in points in both games – 22 points against Georgia and 24 points against UAB.

Owls host Kent State

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Coming off of a victory against Penn last weekend, Temple (1-0) will host Kent State (1-0) in the home opener at the Liacouras Center on Monday at 7 p.m.

In the Penn game, senior Dalton Pepper and junior Will Cummings posted career scoring highs, while junior Anthony Lee posted the sixth double-double of his career.

The Owls are 11-5 in home openers at the Liacouras Center, having won their last four.

Kent State began its season on Nov. 8 with an 84-48 victory over Ohio Northern.

Men’s basketball to open season at Penn

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The men’s basketball team will kick off the 2013-14 season with a game against Penn at the Palestra on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The Owls have won the past six match-ups against coach Fran Dunphy’s former team, but are without their leading scorer from last year in Khalif Wyatt. Juniors Will Cummings and Anthony Lee will be looked upon to replace the lost offensive production.

This will be the 68th meeting between the two teams, as Temple holds an overall record of 45-22 against Penn.

Snipes named assistant director of equipment and event management

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Temple Athletics appointed Cecilia Snipes as the assistant director of equipment and event management, it was announced Thursday.

Snipes will handle the equipment managing duties for the men’s and women’s basketball teams among other various duties.

Prior to joining Temple as part of a slew of Athletics Dept. hires this fall, Snipes worked as the equipment operations coordinator at Arizona State since 2007.

A two-year women’s basketball letter-winner at Alabama A&M, she graduated cum laude at the University in 2000 and earned her master’s degree in sports administration at Northern Colorado in 2004.

Men picked to finish fifth

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The men’s basketball team was picked to finish fifth out of 10 teams in the American Athletic Conference this season.

The results were announced at The American’s media day on Tuesday. Louisville, the defending national champion, was picked unanimously to finish first in the Cardinals’ only year in the conference.

Louisville senior guard Russ Smith was selected as the American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year. Along with Smith, the all-conference first team includes Louisville forward Chane Benahan, Cincinnati guard Sean Kilpatrick, Connecticut guard Shabazz Napier and Memphis guard Joe Jackson. Smith, Napier and Jackson were all unanimous decisions.

The second team is Central Florida guard Isaiah Sykes, UConn guard Ryan Boatright, Houston forward TaShawn Thomas, Louisville forward Montrezl Harrell, South Florida guard Anthony Collins and USF forward Victor Rudd. Southern Methodist guard Keith Frazier was named the Preseason Conference Rookie of the Year.

2013-14 Preseason Coaches’ Poll
                                                  Points
1.     Louisville (9)                       81
2.     Connecticut (1)                  69
3.     Memphis                            68
4.     Cincinnati                           58
5.     Temple                               40
6.     SMU                                   39
7.     Houston                             28
8.     USF                                   27
9.     UCF                                   24
10.   Rutgers                              16

Dunphy highest paid Temple coach

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According to public information released by Temple, men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy was the highest paid employee in the athletics department during the 2011-12 fiscal year.

With a salary of $659,600, Dunphy was the fifth highest paid employee at Temple. Former football coach Steve Addazio was the seventh highest paid employee at Temple, with gross earnings of $612,414 during the same 2011-12 fiscal year.

Before Addazio’s arrival, former football coach Al Golden was the highest paid university employee with gross earnings of $898,031 during the 2010-11 fiscal year. Addazio left Temple after the 2012 season for a coaching position at Boston College, while Golden left after the 2010 season for a coaching position at the University of Miami.

Wyatt signs with Sixers

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According to multiple reports, former Owl guard Khalif Wyatt has signed a contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.

An undrafted free agent, Wyatt played for the Sixers’ summer league team in Orlando, averaging a team-best 13.8 points per game.

Wyatt had a stellar senior year at Temple, winning Big 5 and Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year honors.

With a somewhat depleted roster after the trade of Jrue Holiday, Wyatt could have a chance to receive some playing time as the Sixers kick off their season Oct. 30 against the World Champion Miami Heat.

Men’s basketball schedule completed

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After originally being announced in June, the rest of the 2013-14 men’s basketball schedule has been revealed.

The dates and locations of most non-conference games had been announced, but no dates for conference matchups, nor had any game times been known.

Only four of 30 games (at Pennsylvania, at Towson, Texas Southern and LIU-Brooklyn) will not be nationally televised. The 26 nationally televised regular season games is a record for Temple.

The Owls will play every American Athletic Conference team twice in the regular season: once at the Liacouras Center and once at the opponent’s home arena for a total of 18 games. They begin conference play at Rutgers on New Year’s Day 2014 at 8 p.m.

Defending national champion Louisville comes to Philadelphia on Thursday, Feb. 13 for a 7 p.m. game that will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN2. Temple will also host Memphis on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 3 p.m. and Connecticut on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 9 p.m. Both the Louisville and UConn matchups will be televised on either ESPN or ESPN, and Memphis game will be on ESPN2.

The one non-conference matchup that was not given a date in the previous release was with Villanova. The Wildcats will make the short trip to North Philadelphia for a game on Saturday, Feb 1. The game time has not yet been announced.

Temple will definitely play one game on ESPN’s flagship network. The matchup against La Salle, on Saturday, Jan. 18 at noon, will be part of ESPN’s College GameDay tour.

Click here for the full, updated schedule.