Temple University Athletics
Temple To Battle Fifth-Ranked Duke Tuesday On ESPN2
12.31.06 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2006
DURHAM, NC - Temple travels to arguably the toughest place in the nation, Cameron Indoor Stadium, to open the New Year against the fifth-ranked Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night (7:00 p.m./espn2). The Owls, coming off an 83-65 setback at Big 5 rival Villanova Saturday, will be looking to end a six-game losing streak to Duke, and also snap the Blue Devils' nation-best streak of 50 straight home non-conference wins.
Sophomore Dionte Christmas, the Atlantic 10 Conference's leading scorer (20.8 ppg.), posted his ninth 20-point game of the season with a 22-point effort at Villanova. Christmas was joined in double figures by fellow Owl guards Mark Tyndale (14.4 ppg.) and Dustin Salisbery (17.2 ppg.), who tallied 16 and 14 points, respectively.
Temple led Villanova, 30-29, at intermission, but a 13-3 Wildcat run to start the second half turned the contest in the host's favor. Senior forward Dion Dacons, the Owls' leading rebounder (7.3 rpg.), re-sprained his right foot midway through the second half. Dacons, who grabbed a team-high 10 boards in the contest, is day-to-day in terms of his status for the Duke game.
Temple head coach Fran Dunphy will be making his second coaching appearance at Cameron. Dunphy took his Penn Quakers to the historic venue last year, falling 72-59 on December 7.
Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, who owns an 8-1 record against Temple, has his Blue Devils off their usual strong start. Junior guard DeMarcus Nelson leads a balanced attack with a 14.5 scoring average. Sophomore center Josh McRoberts (11.9 ppg.) leads the team in rebounding (7.0 rpg.), assists (55) and blocks (33) while freshman guard Jon Scheyer (10.8 ppg.) leads in three-pointers made (23).
Duke leads the all-time series, 15-9. Temple's last win against Duke came on January 25, 1996, a 59-58 decision at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.
