Temple University Athletics
Men's Basketball Travels To Saint Louis For Sunday Showdown
1.18.08 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 18, 2008
ST. LOUIS, MO - Coming off its first win over a ranked opponent in two years, the Temple Owls (7-8, 1-1 A-10) will travel to Saint Louis (10-7, 1-2) to take on a Billiken squad Sunday (2:00 p.m. ET/CSN/1210 AM WPHT) that posted its own upset this week. The Owls topped #20 Xavier, 78-59, on Wednesday while the Billikens defeated #23 Rhode Island, 68-61, on Thursday.
Temple, under the direction of second-year coach Fran Dunphy, continues to be led by its one-two punch of junior Dionte Christmas and senior Mark Tyndale. Christmas, the 2007 A-10 scoring leader, again tops the league with a 20.7 scoring average. The 6-5 guard, who became the 44th Temple player to reach the 1000-point plateau against Xavier, also leads the Owls in rebounding (6.7 rpg.) and three-pointers (49). Also a 6-5 guard, Tyndale ranks second on the team in scoring (15.8 ppg.) and rebounding (6.1 rpg.) while topping the squad in assists (47) and steals (25). Ryan Brooks (8.7 ppg.) adds offense off the bench while Luis Guzman, coming off a career-high 13 points versus Xavier, runs the Owl attack.
Saint Louis, under the direction of first-year coach Rick Majerus, sports a balanced attack led by the backcourt play of junior guards Kevin Lisch and Tommie Liddell III. Lisch tops the team in scoring (12.9 ppg.), assists (50), three-pointers (27) and steals (18). Liddell III ranks second in scoring (12.1 ppg.), assists (33) and three-pointers (18). Senior forward Luke Meyer (9.0 ppg.) leads SLU with a 5.2 rebound average.
The Billikens have had an interesting A-10 season to date. The Billikens opened their conference slate by scoring 20 points, a NCAA record low for the shot-clock era, in a 49-20 loss at George Washington. They then took nationally-ranked Dayton to overtime before falling 68-57 before besting URI.
This is just the third meeting between the schools with each winning on its own home court. SLU is 8-2 at home this season.
