No. 1 Temple set to face No. 5 UConn in AAC Semis

WRITTEN BY TOM HANSLIN @tomhanslin

Top-seeded Temple was forced to wait out four improbable overtime periods in order to learn of their semifinal opponent on Friday afternoon, as an instant March classic finished with No. 5 Connecticut defeating No. 4 Cincinnati, 104-97.

With the victory, Temple will square off against the Huskies at 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon in Orlando to determine who punches a ticket to the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday.

Connecticut’s star performer was sophomore guard Daniel Hamilton, who finished with 32 points, 12 rebounds, and two rebounds shy of a triple-double. But the hero was freshman Jalen Adams, who kept the Huskies’ postseason dreams alive with a game-tying buzzer-beater from 80 feet deep to send the game into quadruple overtime.

Saturday will mark the third meeting between Connecticut and Temple this season, with the Owls as winners of the first two games. Huskies’ forward Shonn Miller was the team’s leading scorer in both matchups, while Owls’ guards Quenton DeCosey and Josh Brown shared the spotlight with double-digit performances.

Coincidentally, Temple showed their own flair for the dramatic exactly one month ago in Philadelphia, erasing a late 12-point deficit to Connecticut that resulted in a dramatic 63-58 Owls’ victory.

Despite the ‘third time’s a charm’ mentality, three-game sweeps in the regular season are attainable, as Southern Methodist did so against Temple in the tournament semifinals last year.

THE RUNDOWN
AAC TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
#1 TEMPLE vs. #5 CONNECTICUT, MARCH 12, 2016
AMWAY CENTER, ORLANDO, FL
TV: 3 P.M. ON ESPN2
RADIO: WHIP TEMPLE RADIO (COVERAGE BEGINS AT 2:30)