Temple University Athletics
Men's Basketball Travels To UMass For Nationally-Televised Saturday Tilt
1.16.09 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2009
AMHERST, MA - One of the Atlantic 10 Conference's biggest rivalries, Temple-UMass, will be on display for a national television (ESPN2) audience Saturday night when the Owls travel to the Mullins Center for a 7:00 p.m. tip-off. The Cherry and White (9-6, 1-0) is riding a season-high four-game winning streak after a 78-53 victory over Penn Wednesday night at The Palestra. UMass (6-9, 1-1) has dropped three of its last four, most recently a 69-64 defeat at Saint Louis Wednesday.
Third-year head coach Fran Dunphy's new starting lineup is paying dividends. The Owls have won all four games since seldom-used reserve Craig Williams replaced senior Sergio Olmos as a starter. Williams, who had just eight career points prior to the move, posted his second double-figure scoring game, tallying a career-high 17 points in the Penn win. All-America candidate Dionte Christmas continues in his quest to become the only player to lead the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring for three straight seasons. The 6-5 senior guard tops the league at 21.3 points per games, while also ranking first with 3.86 three-pointers made per game.
Junior guard Ricky Harris ranks second to Christmas in the A-10 in scoring (19.4 ppg.) to lead first-year head coach Derek Kellogg's Minutemen. UMass is also strong in the paint with one of the Conference's premier big men in Tony Gaffney. The 6-8 senior forward, who averages 11.0 ppg., is tied for the league-lead in rebounding (11.1 rpg.) while ranking second nationally in blocks per game (4.93 bpg.). Senior Chris Lowe (11.7 ppg.), a preseason first team all-A-10 selection, runs the UMass attack, ranking second in the league in assists (5.93 apg.) while sophomore guard Anthony Gurley (11.5 ppg.) also averages double figures.
Temple leads the series 40-19, and has won the last two meetings. The Minutemen, however, have defeated the Owls in four of six A-10 Championship games, the last encounter a 76-65 Temple win in the 2001 title game held at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.
