Temple Looks For 7th Straight Saturday Against East Carolina

By Matt Leon

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ---  The Temple Owls will look to extend their winning streak to seven games on Saturday afternoon as they welcome East Carolina to the Liacouras Center.

The Owls improved to 18-7 (9-3 in the American Athletic Conference) with an impressive 75-59 win over Cincinnati on Tuesday night. This was a bit of revenge for the Owls, after they lost their first meeting with Cincinnati out in Ohio back on January 17th, 84-53. Temple played without Will Cummings in that first match-up because of a leg injury. He was healthy on Tuesday and boy did it make a difference. Cummings was brilliant in the win, scoring 21 points, dishing out 5 assists and adding 4 steals.

"I thought we were ready to go right from the start," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy tells KYW Newsradio. "I thought Will led us and did a great job of it. So we were a different team that night."

 Listen to the entire interview with Temple's Fran Dunphy:

Jaylen Bond also had a big night in the win over Cincinnati. The junior forward scored 16 points and pulled down five rebounds and continued to do a great job on defense.

"He just adds so much versatility to what we do," Dunphy says. "He can guard a perimeter guy and he can also guard the post guys and then of course his rebounding has been outstanding as well."

Bond is now averaging 7.9 rebounds a game which leads not only the Owls, but also the American Athletic Conference.

East Carolina is 11-13 this season (4-7 in the AAC), but they have won 3 of their last 4, including victories over Cincinnati and Memphis.

"They've got some really good young guys who have stepped in and done a terrific job," Dunphy says. "They've got good balance in the backcourt and they've got good upside and good strength in the front court.

"I think they are really coming on," Dunphy adds. "They play a lot of zone defense. So you've got to move the basketball. You've got to find those gaps that are available and when you do get an open look, you've got to knock it down."

Temple and East Carolina will tip-off at 2:00pm on Saturday.

You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.