Temple University Athletics
Against All Odds, Temple Prevails in a Game for the Ages
1.4.12 | Men's Basketball
PHILADELPHIA - Statistically speaking, the unranked Temple Owls had a slim shot at knocking off #3/5-ranked Duke program behind storied head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
In a side-by-side statistical comparison, Duke had the edge in nearly every category, particularly points per game (82.8 to Temple's 74.8), field goal percentage (50.3% to Temple's 44.6%), three-point percentage (42.9% to Temple's 38.5%) and blocks per game (4.8 to Temple's 3.7) to name a few.
But in front of the Wells Fargo Center's third-largest audience for a collegiate basketball game, the Temple Owls managed to defy any mathematical logic and shocked the nation by upsetting Duke's Blue Devils 78-73.
For many of those in attendance, tonight's game conjured up memories of an '08 Temple squad that knocked off #8/8 Tennessee, or an '09 team that buried #3/3 Villanova, or for those with short-term memories, perhaps it was the '10 team that sneaked by #9/10 Georgetown; regardless, this win was distinctly different for Coach Dunphy and his players.
Krzyzewski touched briefly on the long-seeded reverence between himself and Dunphy, a relationship that began when the two played alongside each other in their United States Army touring days.
Now at opposite ends of the court, much of the praise Coach K offered for Dunphy's leadership was an acknowledgment of the program that Dunphy has sustained over the course of the past six years.
“It's not a team we played tonight. It's a program. [Playing Temple] is not playing a singular team,” Krzyzewski said. “Fran [Dunphy] is one of the best coaches in the U.S. He has good, tough kids. They know how to play.”
The Owls, led by the trio of guards in Ramone Moore, Khalif Wyatt and Juan Fernandez, seemed to do all the right things. They controlled the pace of tonight's game and forced Duke to take tough shots from the perimeter. They neutralized Duke's Plumlee brothers. They sunk a season-high 31 field goals.
Still, much like last Friday's win against Delaware, it was the intangibles that ultimately decided the score in Temple's favor.
Unselfish team play was a huge factor in tonight's win that Dunphy emphasized.
“In order for us to win, everybody's got to do a great job. When you can win a game like this, everybody has to play well and you have to be a little bit lucky,” he said.
The extraordinary play of Wyatt, who went 8-12 from the field and posted five steals, manufactured much of Temple's luck on both ends of the court. As he launched and sunk key bucket after bucket, it became very clear that tonight was Wyatt's night.
Dunphy praised Wyatt's electrifying performance, citing his courage and fearlessness.
“He has no fear. I think that's what you need in a game like this. He made those two huge threes and gave us a little bit of space, and he can do that. At the end of the game, you want him on the foul line because he's got that kind of guts.”
But was it Wyatt himself, or was it his teammates awareness that was the catalyst for the Owls?
Wyatt argued the latter.
“My teammates trusted me so I just tried to come through for them tonight,” he said. “I just kept coming through for them.”
The team's 56.4% field goal percentage from the floor, a season-best, also factored into tonight's win -- the team's first win against Duke since January 26th, 1996 when the two programs clashed at the CoreStates Center.
Despite the odds, the percentages, the statistics, it was heart that led the Owls to victory. The team, backed by a buzzing sea of cherry and white, truly believed they had the potential to win.
Whatever skepticism littered the crowd prior to the second half was stamped out by the Owls enthusiasm as they emerged from the tunnel to start the second half. It was squashed by the moment that TJ DiLeo stripped the ball from a Duke player and served it up to Aaron Brown for a monster dunk. It was quelled by Moore's behind-the-back dribble that deked the Duke defense and gave him an easy lane for a layup.
And finally, it was over when the frenzied Temple students -- some drenched in red paint, some still clutching signs emblazoned with clever puns, all with goosebumps -- hurdled the barriers and rushed the court. Players embraced each other amid swarms of fellow students as stunned Duke fans gathered their belongings in daze and headed toward the exits.
“What you want is those students to rush the floor,” Dunphy said. “That's when you've arrived as a basketball team.”
When the dust settled and the commotion on the court was dispersed by security, the team remained embraced in a huddle at center court.
That was their moment.
Dear Philadelphia, the Temple Owls have arrived.
By Kami Mattioli, Owlsports.com Columnist
