Temple University Athletics
MEN'S BASKETBALL LOOKS TO AVOID FIRST 0-4 START IN PROGRAM HISTORY WEDNESDAY EVENING AT CHARLOTTE
12.3.02 | Men's Basketball
TU's 0-3 beginning matches the 1988-89 and 1913-1914 teams' records for the worst starts in school history. Owl basketball, now in its 107th season, has never begun a season with four straight losses.
For the first time on North Broad Street, Head Coach John Chaney has three true freshmen in the starting lineup in forward Antwayne Robinson, guard Maurice Collins and center Keith Butler. Only once before under Chaney has Temple started three first-year players, which happened during the 1996-97 season when freshmen Pepe Sanchez and Lamont Barnes started along side first-year sophomore Rasheed Brokenborough to help lead TU to a 20-11 record and an NCAA Tournament berth.
The Owls are coming off a 66-47 loss at South Carolina in the Grand Opening game of the Carolina Center. Once again, rebounding and points in the paint were contributing factors in Temple's defeat. The Owls were out-rebounded, 39-27, and USC scored 28 points in the paint to TU's 18. Temple's two big men, Glenn Elliott and Keith Butler, combined for two points and attempted only one shot. As a whole, the Owls didn't fare well from the field, shooting 33.3 percent (18-54) as South Carolina (4-0) converted 48.1 percent (25-52) of its attempts.
Charlotte is 1-2 after a 64-60 overtime loss at Richmond last Saturday, the 49ers second straight OT defeat after a 103-100 setback at Appalachian St. Charlotte opened the season with a 78-61 home win over Long Beach St. Junior guard Demon Brown leads the team with a 19.3 ppg. scoring average.
