Temple University Athletics
Temple University
Rhode Island
Temple Travels to Rhode Island for ESPN2 Showdown Saturday
2.3.12 | Men's Basketball
KINGSTON, RI - The Temple men's basketball team, in the midst of a season-best five-game win streak, travels to Kingston, R.I., Saturday to take on the Rhode Island Rams. The 2:00 p.m. game will be nationally-televised by ESPN2 and available via videostream on espn3.com.
Temple (16-5, 5-2 A10 play), which trails La Salle (17-6, 6-2) by a half-game in the conference standings, sports the conference's top two scorers in senior guard Ramone Moore (17.8 ppg.) and junior guard Khalif Wyatt (16.4 ppg.). Both have led the Owls in scoring nine times on the season, and the duo has scored 20 or more points in the same game twice in the last two weeks.
The third member of Temple's three-guard attack is senior Juan Fernandez (11.6 ppg.). The Argentine sharpshooter tops the Cherry and White in assists (84), three-pointers (46) and three-point percentage (.422). The three guards have combined for 122 treys with each connecting above 40 percent from long-range.
Junior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson (9.1 ppg., 6.5 rpg,) ranks fourth in the league in field goal percentage (.602) while redshirt freshman Anthony Lee (5.9 ppg., 6.6 rpg.) tops TU in blocks (32). The Owls are a perfect 4-0 since the return of graduate center Micheal Eric (7.6 ppg., 7.4 rpg.) to the court. Eric, who is averaging 13.8 minutes per game, has nine blocks over the four-game period, including a career-high tying five Wednesday in the win over Fordham.
Sophomore Aaron Brown (7.5 ppg.) has provided an offensive spark off the bench all season, connecting on 28-71 three-pointers (.394). Redshirt junior T.J. DiLeo (2.7 ppg.) is the team's top perimeter defender while freshman Will Cummings (1.8 ppg.) also sees time in the team's nine-man rotation.
Rhode Island (5-18, 2-6), under the direction of head coach Jim Baron, is playing its best ball of the season, posting wins at Dayton (86-81) and home against UMass (81-78 OT) in its last two games. Sophomore guard Bill Baron (13.7 ppg.) leads a balanced Ram attack that has four players scoring in double-figures. Senior forward Orion Outerbridge (12.0 ppg.), coming off a career-high 29 points in the UMass win, ranks fourth in the A10 in blocks (2.0 bpg.) and is tied for fifth in rebounding (7.1 rpg.). Freshman Jonathan Holton (10.5 ppg.) is second in the A10 in rebounding (8.0 rpg.) while junior Nikola Malesevic (12.3 ppg.) rounds out URI's double-digit scorers.
Temple leads the series, 55-15, and has won the last five meetings.
