Temple University Athletics
Dunphy Era Officially Gets Underway Tuesday Night As Owls Open At Kent State
11.21.06 | Men's Basketball
Live Stats
Nov. 20, 2006
KENT, OHIO - The Fran Dunphy Era of Temple men's basketball officially tips off Tuesday night (7:00 p.m./WPHT 1210 AM) when the Owls travel to Kent State for their 2006-07 season opener. The game also is the first against a Mid-American Conference team as Temple will play each MAC team home and away over the next five years.
Temple returns 10 letterwinners from last year's 17-15 squad that advanced to the NIT to extend the program's streak of postseason appearances to 23 consecutive seasons. The Owls, however, will have only one returning starter, 6-5 Dustin Salisbery, available for the opener. Salisbery, who averaged 9.7 points per game, is expected to be joined in the starting lineup by 6-6 senior forward Dion Dacons (1.3 ppg.) and sophomores Dionte Christmas (3.5 ppg.) , a 6-5 guard, Semaj Inge (0.3), a 6-4 guard, and Sergio Olmos (0.8 ppg.), a 7-0 center.
Dunphy takes over the reins from his good friend, Hall of Fame coach John Chaney. The former Penn mentor brings a stellar resume to Owl Nation, compiling 310 wins and guiding his team to nine NCAA Tournaments in his 17 seasons at the helm of the Quakers. He also becomes the first person to serve as head coach of two different Philadelphia Big 5 programs.
Kent State, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Jim Christian, returns two starters and six letterwinners from last year's squad that compiled a 25-9 record en route to the MAC title and an NCAA Tournament bid. The Golden Flashes are off to a 3-1 start with their lone loss coming against #7 Ohio State. Mike Scott, a 6-7 junior forward, leads a balanced KSU attack with an 11.5 scoring average. Junior forward Haminn Quaintance averages 10.3 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game while senior guard Aaron Gates also tops double figures in scoring (10.2 ppg.).
This will be just the second meeting between the two programs with Temple posting a 61-54 win in the first round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament.
