Owls And Bruins Set To Square Off In First Four
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Written by: Dan Wilson
Photo by: Irish Haines
DAYTON — Just over 48 hours after finding out their fate, Temple men’s basketball will be playing to keep its’ season alive. The Owls will take on the Belmont University Bruins in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament for the right to take on Maryland as the #11 seed in the East Region.
Belmont runs a very modern day offense, relying heavily on perimeter shooting and pushing the tempo. The Bruins are top 15 in the country in both possessions and three pointers made per game.
“They like to shoot the three pointer,” Owls senior guard Shizz Alston Jr. told reporters on Monday. “They get out in transition and they have a kid averaging about 21 and 10, who is going to be a big problem for us. We have to contain the shooters.”
By night’s end, it’s unlikely that Alston will forget Dylan Windler’s name. The 6”8 senior is averaging 21.4 points on 54.8 percent from the field (43 percent from three) and 10.7 rebounds per game to be exact, good enough to put himself in the top 30 and top 10 in the country respectively.
However, Belmont is far from a one man team. The Bruins average 19.9 assists per game, more than any other team in Division I.
Although Fran Dunphy has never coached against Belmont, nor has Temple ever player them before in their 20-year Division I history, their playing style reminds Dunphy of a team the Owls beat earlier in the season.
“Somebody asked me who you would compare Belmont’s approach to and they said it would be a team like Davidson, which seemed to be a real good example to me,” Dunphy said. “They shot the ball extremely well and I don’t think our defense was as good as it needed to be [in that game], we’re probably going to face much of the same.”
For what it’s worth, the Owls edged the Wildcats 77-75 in overtime at Boardwalk Hall on December 15th. Temple overcame a 13-27 three point shooting performance and a 7-0 Davidson run to start overtime to win that game.
Plain and simple, Temple is going to need the likes of Alston, their undisputed leader, to continue the monster stretch he’s in the midst of. The senior guard hasn’t scored less than 20 in each of the Owls last eight games. Another 19 rebounds from Ernest Aflakpui wouldn’t hurt either.
Perhaps Alston’s worst performance of recent note was in the second half against Wichita State in the quarterfinals of the AAC Tournament, where he scored just a pair of free throws and 0-5 shooting after dropping 18 in the first twenty minutes.
The Owls shot selection in this game will also be critical, as an offense as high-powered as Belmont’s will surely make you pay for unwarranted mistakes.
NCAA Tournament. Fran Dunphy’s final run. Temple in the dance for the first time in three years. Should be a fun one.
