Temple University Athletics
Owls Fall At Kansas, 71-59
12.20.08 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 20, 2008
LAWRENCE, KS - Kansas extended its home-court winning streak at Allen Fieldhouse to 30 games with a 71-59 victory over visiting Temple on Saturday. The Owls drew within two points midway through the second half, but the Jayhawks opened the game up with a 15-2 run. Dionte Christmas led all scorers with 21 points.
Temple (5-4), which opened arrived in the wee hours of the morning due to flight delays, started sluggishly. The Owls fell behind 13-2 in the opening four-plus minutes as the defending National Champion Jayhawks (8-2) came out on a mission after losing to Massachusetts in their last outing.
Temple head coach Fran Dunphy then inserted Lavoy Allen into the lineup as the sophomore forward was benched to start the game due to a violation of team rules. Allen, who contributed 10 points, seven rebounds and five assists over 35 minutes, helped jump start the Owls' offense.
An 11-4 run capped by a Luis Guzman trey closed Temple to within four, 17-13. The Owls stay close the remainder of the half despite a KU defense that suffocated All-America candidate Dionte Christmas. The reigning National Player of the Week was limited to just four shots over the first 20 minutes, and did not score until his three-pointer with just under two minutes to go until intermission cut the deficit to 31-30.
KU then ran off seven unanswered points to take a 38-30 lead at the half.
Like he did against then #8/8 Tennessee, Christmas went off in the second half, scoring 18 of his game-high total, but this time his was a solo act. Three times he drained a three-pointer that closed the margin to under three points, and each time the Jayhawks has an answer. The final time, following a Christmas trey that made the score 48-46, KU went on its decisive 15-2 run to take a commanding 63-48 advantage with 6:19 remaining.
The Owls were unable to cut the deficit under double figures the remainder of the contest.
"Defensively there were a couple of lapses and on offense we need to get
the ball inside," said Dunphy. "That needs to be our bread and butter. We counted too much on perimeter jump shooting. Dionte (Christmas) had a nice little stretch there, but then Kansas tightened that up. They're not going to let him get too many good looks. We had a couple of opportunities for
other guys to make shots, but we just didn't make them."
Sherron Collins led a balanced Jayhawk attack that featured four double-digit scorers with 19 points. Cole Aldrich, who was a force inside, posted a double-double (13 points, 11 rebounds) while Tyshawn Taylor added 11 points, eight assists and four steals.
Kansas, which blistered the nets in the first half (64%), shot 52.7 percent for the game and out-rebounded the Owls, 34-26.
The Owls now board a plane to California to take on Long Beach State Monday night (9:00 p.m. ET/1210 AM WPHT).
