Temple University Athletics
TEMPLE FALLS APART IN 73-42 LOSS AT AUBURN
12.18.05 | Men's Basketball
AUBURN, AL -- It is rare that a John Chaney-coached team does not compete, but that is exactly what happened Sunday afternoon in a 73-42 loss to host Auburn at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum. The Tigers (5-2) drained 11 three-pointers and outscored the Owls (5-3) 24-7 over the final eight minutes of the first half to take a 45-23 halftime lead. Auburn increased that to a high of 35 points twice before handing the Owls a 31-point setback. It marked just the fourth time in Chaney's 24 years at the helm that one of his teams lost by 30 or more points, and it was the worst defeat since falling at #11 Xavier, 96-65, on March 8, 2003.
"They just blitzed us," said Chaney. "Our players feed off of scoring and that is the tragedy of our team. When they are not making baskets, they are not playing basketball."
Temple definitely was not making baskets in this contest. The Owls struggled all day against second-year head coach Jeff Lebo's defensive schemes. The Tigers started in a 1-3-1 trapping zone and switched to a 2-3 at times while also employing some man-to-man. All were effective as the Cherry and White connected on just 15-of-57 field goal attempts (26.3%) and hit just seven of 28 three-pointers (25%). Even when the Owls were not guarded, they struggled as evidenced by their dismal five-of-15 free throw shooting.
Senior guard Mardy Collins led Temple with nine points, all coming in the second half as Tiger defenders limited the Owl All-America candidate to just three first half shots. The trio of Antywane Robinson (3-11), Dustin Salisbery (2-10) and Mark Tyndale (3-11) combined on eight-of-32 (25%) shooting.
The Owls, who entered the game with a NCAA-leading 6.1 turnover average, coughed the ball over nine times in the first 20 minutes. Six of those turnovers came in the final eight minutes of the half in the Tigers' decisive run.
Trailing 19-16 after the opening 12 minutes, the Owls went on one of their customary scoring droughts. The Tigers took advantage, scoring 14 unanswered points with Ronny Lemelle (12 points) capping the run with consecutive three-pointers.
Robinson stopped the bleeding with a baseline jumper and sophomore guard Chris Clark, playing in place of Collins (two fouls), draining a three-pointer from the top of the key. That made the score 33-21 with 3:08 on the clock.
The Tigers then went on a 12-2 run to close out the half, and the contest. Frank Tolbert scored six of his game-high 14 points in that run.
The Owls only turned the ball over twice in the second stanza, but came out even colder, hitting just five-of-28 shots (18%) from the field. TU was unable to get closer than 18 points the remainder of the contest.
Walk-on freshmen Brian Shanahan and Nelson Broderick saw extended playing time as Chaney pulled his starters with just under six minutes to play and the scor3, 68-35.
Auburn made 24-of-56 from the field (43%), including 11of-24 (46%) from behind the arc. The Tigers also controlled the boards to the tune of 51-30.
The Owls must now regroup to host South Carolina Thursday night (8:00 p.m.) in the second half of a doubleheader with the women's team. Dawn Staley's Owls will host Big 5 rival Villanova in the first game (5:30 p.m.).
