City of Basketball Love

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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Five of the City 6 will be in action on Saturday (Penn has the weekend off), with some meaningful conference clashes taking place in Philadelphia and beyond. Here are five questions we have, one about each game, on a full Saturday afternoon of hoops:

1. Can Temple rebound from a letdown at Memphis?

The Owls were seconds away from forcing overtime against the Tigers on Wednesday night, but a late foul cost them in a road loss. It snapped a two-game winning streak for a team that has not been able to win three in a row or sustain any momentum all season. Temple (8-7) has also lost two games in a row just once this season (in the Puerto Rico Tipoff Tournament), and the team will have to be sharp at home to avoid falling to Cincinnati.

The Owls knocked off then-No. 23 Bearcats last month in the American Athletic Conference opener, and they’re hoping for the season sweep. Temple got double-digit scoring efforts from four players in the win against Cincinnati the first time, including 19 from Quenton DeCosey.

2. Can Villanova leave the Verizon Center victorious?

Facing Georgetown in the nation’s capital hasn’t gone too well for Villanova lately. The Wildcats have one just once in their last five road games against the Hoyas – dating back to the 2007-08 season. This includes a 20-point blowout defeat last season when Villanova entered ranked No. 6 in the country.

The Wildcats go into Saturday’s 1 p.m. contest with a flawless Big East record and as the sixth-ranked team in the latest AP poll. The Hoyas enter with a lot to play for as a win would tie them for the top spot in the conference with Villanova. Georgetown has four early conference wins (Marquette, St. John’s and two against DePaul), but none against a team with a winning Big East record.

3. Will St. Joseph’s take care of business against Fordham?

For the middle of January, the Hawks schedule is very favorable for the next two weeks. Though two of their next four games are not at home, they don’t leave Philadelphia again until a Jan. 30 date at Rhode Island. St. Joe’s should be favored in all of its next four games (vs. Fordham, at Penn, at La Salle, vs. UMass) and if the team can get through the stretch without a slipup, NCAA Tournament talks will heat up.

Of course, if you asked Phil Martelli or any St. Joe’s player, their focus right now is on Fordham, who is having some success under first-year coach Jeff Neubauer. The Rams are 10-5, but just 1-3 in the Atlantic 10 and have four of their last five games.

4. Can La Salle’s pace get Rhode Island out of sync?

The Explorers surprised the league by knocking off then-No. 25 Dayton last week at home. And they did so by controlling how fast, or in this case, slow the game was played. La Salle slowed things down and Dayton never established a rhythm offensively, scoring just 57 points.

La Salle was unable to hold Richmond to the same, as the Spiders scored 83 points in a 22-point victory against the Explorers on Wednesday. But don’t be surprised if La Salle uses the tactic against Saturday. The team has also got more scoring help to boost Jordan Price lately. Johnnie Shuler and Cleon Roberts have scored 26 and 25 points, respectively, in the last two games.

5. Can Drexel get back to the foul line against Towson?

Drexel shot 35 free throws in its win against Charleston last week. The Dragons shot six in their most recent loss, a 69-61 defeat against Hofstra on Wednesday. Getting the ball in deep to Rodney Williams was an efficient strategy in the victory last week – the team’s only one in its last six games. Williams had 19 points and five of those came from the charity stripe. The Dragons got 28 of their 61 points (45.9 percent) there against Charleston.

That number was just 9.8 percent in the loss to Hofstra. To grab more wins in a competitive CAA, the Dragons – who don’t particularly shoot the ball well (38.9 percent from the field; 31.7 percent on threes) -- will need to rely on defense and the foul line.