Hoops: After Loss to Dayton, Owls Look to Rebound in St. Louis
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- It was a week of emotional ups and downs for the Temple Owls (10-4).
First the up: that thrilling upset win over then-#5 Duke on Wednesday night at the Wells Fargo Center (see game story). Then, the down: a conference loss to a tough Dayton team on Saturday (see game story).
The defeat ended the Owls' 25-game home winning streak at the Liacouras Center, but head coach Fran Dunphy says it is just another example of how good the Atlantic 10 Conference is this season:
"I made a statement after the game on Saturday, and I will stick to it: if you go 11-5, or even 10-6 in the Atlantic 10 this year, you've had a very good season."
So, Temple will look to get back on track on Wednesday as they continue with conference play, paying the St. Louis Billikens a visit.
St. Louis is 13-3 on the season, and Dunphy says they are playing good basketball.
"Their younger guys have gotten to be more seasoned," Dunphy tells KYW Newsradio. "They have (redshirt junior) Kwamain Mitchell back, and he is a terrific point guard and a guy who really leads their team. And I think they have really a solid game plan, they don't turn it over, they run good sets, and they are really, really solid on the defensive end."
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Temple's Khalif Wyatt (photo) will look to continue his strong play in this one. The junior guard is averaging 25 points over his last two games. That has helped raise his average for the season up to 15.8 points per game, which is second on the team behind senior guard Ramone Moore (16.9 ppg).
Wyatt's performances also earned him Atlantic 10 and Big 5 "Player of the Week" honors.
Tipoff is set for 9:00pm Wednesday night in St. Louis.
