City of Basketball Love

Aron Minkoff (@AronMinkoff)
--

Note: Due to impending inclement weather, the game has been postponed from 8 p.m. on January 23, to 12 p.m. on January 24.

Larry Brown will make yet another return to Philadelphia when the 18-0 Southern Methodist Mustangs take the floor of the Liacouras Center against Temple on Sunday afternoon.

Temple, fresh off a win over La Salle Wednesday night at the Palestra, will be looking for its third win over a ranked team in what will serve as the Owls’ sixth attempt.

Previously Temple defeated both Cincinnati and UConn on the road. Both squads were ranked 23rd at the time.

Defeating eighth-ranked SMU is easier said than done. Temple lost in all three of the team’s meetings last season, and 18 other teams have tried to slay goliath to no avail this season. Regardless of how the season ends for the Mustangs, they face a postseason ban, meaning no conference nor NCAA tournament.

Three keys for an Owls upset:

Come in seeking revenge

The Owls were the first team left out of last season’s NCAA tournament and it is widely believed that had they won just one of their three matchups with SMU they would have been in the Big Dance.

They lost the three games by an average score of nine points, including a five-point loss at home.

“If we got one of those wins, that would probably get us in the tournament,” senior Quenton DeCosey said. “Definitely feel like we owe them one and it’s going to be a great game.”

Temple has to play with an edge on Sunday. They need to play with an attitude that is about more than just defending their home court, but about ruining the Mustangs’ chase for a perfect season.

Many teams have gone undefeated, only to lose in the NCAA tournament. Only one team in NCAA history, the 1973 North Carolina State Wolfpack, went undefeated in the regular season while sitting out the tournament with a postseason ban.

To say that every regular season game has an extra bit of meaning for SMU would be an understatement.

Limit Nic Moore and Markus Kennedy

The reigning AAC player of the year, Nic Moore, has been simply sensational this season. The 5-foot-9 senior averages 15.6 ppg along with 4.9 apg. This goes along with only two turnovers per game. His partner in crime, big man Markus Kennedy, has had a history of flat-out dominating Temple.

The Philadelphia native and former Villanova product always seems to relish the opportunity to play in Philadelphia averaging 15.6 ppg along with 7.2 rpg in his five games against the Owls, including 19.5 ppg, 5 rpg in two games at the Liacouras Center.

Temple will have to stop Kennedy if they want to win, but more importantly, stop Moore, who along with the rest of SMU, does not make too many mistakes.

“They’re great,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said. ‘He [SMU coach Larry Brown] coaches them like crazy and they make very few mistakes  on either end of the court. It’s a tremendous challenge for us, looking forward to the opportunity.”    

Keep freshmen engaged and focused

Coming into the season Dunphy said repeatedly that his three freshmen, Levan Alston Jr., Trey Lowe and Ernest Aflakpui would see playing time, but it is hard to imagine that too many people expected the immediate impact that all three would have.

The three freshmen have combined to start in seven games, and have all provided a valuable spark plug at various points throughout any game.

This is, undoubtedly, the biggest test for the Owls and their young core, to see just how far along the road they are.

“This game’s going to mean a lot to us,” Lowe said “We’re going to come out, be real prepared in practice this weekend, go all out. This game on Saturday [now Sunday], we’re going to give them their first loss.”

Temple will need Lowe to play with that level of energy and confidence if they hope to pull off a monumental upset.