<em>College Basketball: </em> Quakers, Owls Ready For Big 5 Tussle
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It should be an interesting Big 5 matchup on Wednesday night at the Liacouras Center, as Temple hosts Penn.
This will be the second of three straight City Series games for the Quakers, who lost in overtime to La Salle last Wednesday, 89-83. They will host St. Joe's on Saturday.
To beat the Owls, Quakers' head coach Jerome Allen says his team will need to play with discipline on offense.
"We have to get ball and body movement, and space the floor, and not have turnovers, and get good shots," he told KYW Newsradio, "because they are going to be consistent in how they are going defend us. I think if we are patient and believe in our system, I think we will be fine."
Hear the entire Jerome Allen interview in this CBS Philly SportsPod...
The Owls are coming off a surprising 12-point loss at Duquesne on Saturday, and Temple head coach Fran Dunphy says they know the recipe to get back on track.
"For us it's always the same: our defense has to be solid. And it wasn't very solid against Duquesne," Dunphy recalls. "And then on offense we have to take care of the ball and get good shots and make really good decisions that don't lead to easy run-outs by the opposition."
Of course this is a special matchup for the two coaches: Allen was a standout player for Dunphy when he coached at Penn.
Dunphy says it's not easy coaching against someone you have a close relationship with.
"I'm hopeful that when the ball goes up I'll just be coaching my guys and Jerome will be down there coaching his, and I won't think too much about it," Dunphy told KYW Newsradio. "But after the game is over, we will exchange pleasantries about what went on and how we can both do better."
Hear the entire Fran Dunphy interview in this CBS Philly SportsPod...
Allen also downplayed any effect the close relationship of the two coaches will have on this contest:
"Obviously it's been documented the type of relationship we had and that we still have, but I'm quite sure that this game is the most important game on his schedule, just like it is the most important game on our schedule -- because it's just the next game."
Temple brings a 12-4 record into this game; Penn is 5-7.
Reported by Matt Leon, KYW Newsradio 1060.
