Temple University Athletics
Dunphy Returns To The Palestra As Owls Battle Quakers Wednesday
1.23.07 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2007
PHILADELPHIA - Temple head coach Fran Dunphy should feel right at home Wednesday night (8:00 p.m./CN8/1210 WPHT) when his Temple Owls take The Palestra floor against his former team, the Penn Quakers. He should be as the first-year Temple coach patrolled the sidelines of the hallowed arena for 17 years before moving over to North Broad Street last April.
"It means a lot," said Dunphy on coaching against his former team. "It is a place where I was head coach for 17 years. So we would certainly like to go in there and play well."
Dunphy, the first person to serve as head coach at two different Big 5 schools, will be looking for his first city-series win at Temple and to get the Owls (7-10) back on the winning track. The Cherry and White are 0-2 in Big 5 play so far with losses to Villanova and Saint Joseph's, and have dropped six of their last seven games.
Sophomore guard Dionte Christmas, the reigning A-10 co-Player of the Week, leads the Owls and the conference in scoring with a 20.1 average. The 6-5 guard scored a career-high 31 points in Saturday's loss to A-10 leader Rhode Island and contributed 22 points and a career-best eight rebounds in the Owls win over Saint Louis (1/17). Senior guard Dustin Salisbery is second on the team and sixth in the conference in scoring (17.2 ppg.) while junior guard Mark Tyndale averages 14.9 points per game. Senior forward Dion Dacons (7.1 ppg.) is ninth in the A-10 in rebounding with sophomore guard Semaj Inge (5.1 ppg.) rounding out Temple's undersized starting five.
Penn (10-6, 1-1 Big 5) enters play with a four-game win streak which includes a 93-92 thriller at La Salle on January 18. Dunphy left new Penn head coach Glen Miller a veteran team led by 2006 Ivy League Player of the Year Ibrahim Jaaber. The senior guard leads the Quakers in assists (86), steals (47) and field goal percentage (.566) while ranking second on the team in scoring (16.2 ppg.). Senior forward Mark Zoller tops Penn in scoring (19.1 ppg.) and rebounding (8.1 rpg.) and is tied with Jaaber for three-pointers made with 23. Junior guard Brian Grandieri (12.8 ppg.) and senior forward Steve Danley (10.4 ppg.) also score in double figures.
Temple leads the series, 39-21 and has won the last three meetings and 22 of the previous 25.
