City of Basketball Love

David Gough (@DG0UGH)
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Consistency has been hard to come by for the Temple Owls this season.

They haven’t been able to put together back-to-back wins since before Christmas. They are 13-1 when they score 70 or more points, but eight of those wins came before American Athletic Conference play started; they’re 1-14 when they don’t reach that mark.

For comparison, last year’s team was 9-10 in games where they didn’t score 70.

Head coach Fran Dunphy has tried to remedy that with changes in the starting lineup.

It hasn't quite worked out yet.

Freshman Damion Moore and Quinton Rose have been implemented into the starting lineup in the last three games for Temple and despite winning in Memphis last Sunday, the new lineup hasn’t gone to plan as the Owls have lost their last two games, scoring 64 and 63 points in losses to East Carolina and Connecticut.

Dunphy isn’t discouraged by what has transpired on the court, despite the lack of success in the win column.

“I like some of the things I see,” the Big 5’s all-time wins leader said.

Rose didn’t put up great numbers on Sunday in Temple’s 64-63 loss to UConn, shooting just 2-of-8 on his way to six points, but the spark that Temple (14-14, 5-10) saw from him coming off the bench for the majority of the season was seen in his first two starts.

The 6-foot-5 guard out of Bishop Kearney (N.Y.) scored 18 in the win over Memphis and 14 in Temple’s loss to East Carolina on Wednesday.

Even with just six points on Sunday, Rose still provided a timely triple with two and a half minutes left to put the Owls back on top.

“I have to put some pressure on him to get even better, but he’s a terrific basketball player,” Dunphy said.

Moore, on the other hand, had the best game of his young career on Sunday. The 6-foot-11, 225-pound center made all five of his shots for a career-high total of 11 points.

His last nine were Temple’s first nine points in the second half, including a dunk and free throw on the first offensive possession of the period.

That three-point play gave Temple a nine-point lead, its largest lead at the time.

Connecticut (14-12, 9-5) managed to stay within striking distance to the Owls, but Moore’s play in the first six minutes of the half kept them on top for the time being.

“I thought Damion at the start of the second half was tremendous,” Dunphy said. “There were a couple of shots that Damion took that he was absolutely in rhythm and you’re saying ‘what are you doing, Damion’ and he’s knocking it down so, keep doing it.”

Dunphy didn’t play the Jackson, Mississippi, native in 13 different games, but now Moore has been starting in place of sophomore Ernest Aflakpui in an effort to change things up.

In the games Moore has played leading up to Sunday, he averaged just 3.2 points per game in 10.4 minutes. He did set a career high in his last game with eight points against East Carolina on Wednesday.

He only had two rebounds in his 20 minutes against Connecticut, but he has been able to get up to eight -- like he did on Wednesday -- in fewer minutes on the court.

“I just wish we could win more games with me being in the starting lineup. I’m not really worried about defensive or offensive performance, I’m just worried about winning,” Moore said.

Another freshman, Alani Moore had started in 23 games this season before Dunphy brought him off the bench for the last three games.  Sunday was his best effort of the three yet as he scored 11 points.

The Owls were rolling with a 49-41 lead with 12:44 to go in the game, but Connecticut still found a way to win in the final minutes of the game.

Down three, sophomore Husky Jalen Adams hit two free throws and then eventually the game-winning layup with three seconds left.

The inconsistencies remain for the Owls as they have now won just five of their 15 American Conference games and are still stuck in seventh place in the 11-team league.

The wins haven’t come as a result of the lineup change, but Dunphy is pleased enough with what he’s seeing from the starting five that he ‘probably’ will keep Rose and Moore in the lineup when Temple hosts Central Florida on Wednesday.

That means Alani Moore will be coming off the bench for a fourth straight game after a solid effort off the bench on Sunday. The freshmen trio combined for 28 points against Connecticut.

“All three freshman, I think, stepped up and did some really good things for us today,” Dunphy said.