Obi Enechionyia (above) and Temple are the defending AAC regular-season champions. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
Graham Foley (@graham_foley3)
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(Ed. Note: This article is part of our 2016-17 season coverage, which will run for the six weeks preceding the first official games of the year on Nov. 11. To access all of our high school and college preview content for this season, click here.)
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As Iowa’s Adam Woodbury dropped in a put-back shot with just more than one second left in overtime of its first-round March Madness matchup, Temple found itself suddenly out of time in the game and the 2015-16 season.
Just seven seconds before, the Owls were shooting a foul shot that could have given them the lead. But they could only watch helplessly in shock as the Hawkeyes celebrated on the Barclay’s Center floor.
More than six months later, at the American Athletic Conference’s annual media day, the cruel ending was still fresh in the minds of the Temple players. It was made clear that as they begin their 2016-17 campaign they are determined to end the season differently.
“The way we lost -- we don’t want to experience that again individually and collectively,” senior forward Mark Williams said. “So we just keep that in the back of our minds and work hard.”
Other Temple players expressed their disappointment in last year’s conclusion, but also spoke of using the game as a driving force for improvement this season.
“It was heartbreaking, it was tough,” junior forward Obi Enechionyia said “But I just try to use it as motivation to get back to the tournament and win some games. As much as it hurt, I think it can help.”
Getting to the NCAA tournament again is something the Owls most definitely have their sights upon as they prepare for the start of the 2016-17 season. However, the team has faced major setbacks that will make the road much tougher.
Still recovering from the effects of a a car accident in late February that ended his freshman season, Trey Lowe will redshirt the upcoming year. Lowe, a 6-6 wing from Ewing (N.J.), put up solid freshman year numbers, averaging 4.8 points per game but showing his potential with a team-high 21 points off the bench against No. 1 Villanova.
Senior point guard Josh Brown (above) is working his way back from an Achillies injury. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
Even more crucially, senior guard Josh Brown, who was expected to be a driving force for Temple this year, suffered an Achilles injury in May during a workout and is still unsure of a return.
“I saw the doctor three weeks ago,” Brown said. “He said I’m fully healed. Everything is just judged off of how I feel...I’m hoping and praying every day and I know my teammates want me out there and I want to be out there for them. I’m trying as hard as I can but it’s out of my hands right now.”
According to Brown and Dunphy, Brown is training “partially” with the team. Brown told reporters he is doing individual workouts and practicing individual basketball drills with the coaching staff as he eases his way back to playing at full speed. He also said he has been jumping into a few drills with the team before practices.
Brown averaged 8.3 ppg last year and, as a senior with 101 games under his belt, was expected to be the Owls’ leader this season on and off the court. While his injury may keep him off the court for the time being, Brown doesn’t think his leadership ability has been greatly diminished.
“It definitely affected it in the sense that I’m not on the court being as vocal, but I try my best,” he said. “The young guys definitely respect me. They come over and ask me questions because I‘ve been in the games and even the older guys will ask me for my opinion on things. I think my leadership role definitely took a little hit, but it’s not a huge hit.”
Head coach Fran Dunphy agreed that Brown, who was 10th in Division I in assist-to-turnover ratio last year (3.5:1), has been able to continue leading effectively despite his setback.
“I think he still has that leadership quality about him,” the 11th-year head coach said. “He’s at practice every day, he’s doing everything he can to support his teammates...so his leadership has been terrific, but we do miss him for sure.”
Without Lowe and Brown, the Owls will need to rely on Enechionyia, the team’s leading returning scorer (11.0 ppg), to provide offense and leadership; the 6-8 forward really stepped his game up in conference play, averaging 15.5 ppg and 4.8 rpg over the final 12 games of the regular season, shooting 43 percent from 3-point range during that span. Seniors Daniel Dingle (4.4 ppg), Williams (3.6 ppg) and sophomores Levan Alston, Jr. (2.0 ppg) and Ernest Aflakpui (1.8 ppg) will also see significant minute increases.
Freshman Alani Moore is expected to fill in as the starting point guard for the Owls as the season starts and Dunphy, who knows what a monumental task this is, spoke highly of the young player.
“I’ve probably had more conversations with him about what my expectations are for him in terms of not only are you a freshman thrust into this situation because of injury, but you’re also the smallest guy we’ve got,” Dunphy said. “So you must be the toughest, smartest, most determined guy that we have and I’m going to put a lot of expectations on him and I think he’s able to handle it.”
Temple starts the season ranked sixth in the American Athletic Conference’s preseason coaches poll despite winning the regular season title last season. This is the third year in a row that the Owls have been ranked sixth in The American’s preseason poll. Dunphy, however, does not put any stock into the rankings.
“It’s not something you think too much about. To be honest with you, when I turned around here, that’s the first time I saw where we were,” said Dunphy, pointing to the rankings board behind him. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s preseason prognostications. We need to figure out where we’re going to be in a few weeks.”
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