Men's Basketball Travels to #23/24 UConn on Tuesday

PHILADELPHIA - For a fifth time already this season, Temple men's basketball will face a nationally ranked team as the Owls head to #23/24 UConn for an 8 p.m. contest (CBS Sports Network/1210 AM WPHT) on Tuesday, Jan. 5. The Huskies (10-3, 1-0) have won five straight while the Owls (6-6, 1-1) got a big road win at #22/23 Cincinnati last week before falling to Houston at home.

Headlines
• Temple is looking to rebound after a 77-50 home loss to Houston on Saturday, one of only three 20-point losses at the Liacouras Center in head coach Fran Dunphy's 10 years with the Owls.
• Earlier last week, the Owls won 77-70 at #22/23 Cincinnati in their American Athletic Conference opener, a win which marked the program's ninth season in a row with a victory over a Top 25 team.
• 10th-year head coach Fran Dunphy has won 199 games at Temple (509 overall), needing just one more to reach the 200-win plateau. Dunphy will then become one of just five Division I coaches with 200 or more wins at two different schools, while also taking each school to six or more NCAA Tournaments.
• Four players reached double figures in scoring in the Cincinnati win, led by senior Quenton DeCosey with 19 points.
• DeCosey hit double digits in free throws for a second-straight game at Cincinnati, making 10-of-11 at the stripe against the Bearcats. He currently ranks fifth in the conference with a free-throw percentage of .862.
• As a team, Temple leads The American in free-throw percentage at .746, ranking 28th in the nation.
• Temple hit a season-high 30 free throws (30-of-38, 78.9 percent) in its win against Delaware State on Dec. 19, with DeCosey making 12-of-15 and junior Josh Brown hitting a perfect 8-of-8. DeCosey recorded his third career double-double in the victory, adding a career-high 12 rebounds to a team-best 20 points.
• Sophomore forward Obi Enechionyia and Brown both recorded their first career double-doubles against Saint Joseph's on Dec. 13. Enechionyia added a career-high 13 rebounds to a career-high 25 points, while Brown grabbed a career-high 12 boards and scored a season-high 13 points.
• As a team, the Owls are ranked second in the nation in fewest turnovers per game at 8.8. They have recorded single digit turnovers in eight of 12 games, tallying as few as five (vs. Delaware on 11/29).
• Temple's first three losses this season were to teams ranked in the Top 25. This season marked the first time in program history the Owls had faced three ranked teams in their first four games.
• DeCosey is Temple's leading scorer this season with 14.9 points per game, ranking seventh in the American Athletic Conference, and has scored in double figures in 10 of 12 contests.
• For a second year in a row, Temple has been picked to finish sixth of 11 teams in the American Athletic Conference Preseason Poll. Last year, the Owls finished three spots higher in a tie for third.
• Dunphy earned his 500th career win when Temple defeated Memphis in The American Tournament quarterfinals last season, and is now one of just 25 active NCAA Division I coaches with 500 victories.
• #23/24 UConn has won five straight, including a 75-67 victory at Tulane in the Huskies' conference opener on Saturday. Two of UConn's three losses have come against teams ranked in the Top 25.
• Four players average in double figures in scoring for UConn, led by redshirt junior guard Rodney Purvis at 15.6 ppg. Sophomore guard/forward Daniel Hamilton averages 13.5 ppg along with 8.5 rpg and a conference-best 5.4 apg.

Temple vs. UConn
• Temple and UConn are meeting for the 12th time, with the Huskies holding a narrow, 6-5 advantage in the series.
• UConn had won four straight dating back to 1964 until the Owls won both of last season's meetings. Temple won 57-53 in overtime at the XL Center on Dec. 31 before earning a 75-63 home win on March 7.
• The Huskies won both meetings in 2013-14 (90-66 at UConn on Jan. 21; 68-55 at Temple on Feb. 20 while ranked 21st).
• Prior to the formation of the American Athletic Conference in 2013-14, the most recent game between the teams had been on Jan. 27, 1965 at UConn, a game the Huskies won 71-60.
• In a 65-59 win over UConn in the 1956 NCAA Tournament, the Owls' Fred Cohen set a still-standing record for rebounds in a game with 34.

Loaded Schedule
Temple faced Top 25 teams in three of its first four games for the first time in program history. Twice before, in 1990-91 and 1993-94, the Owls faced ranked teams in three of their first five games. Temple was unable to defeat any of those three ranked teams at the start of the season (#1/1 North Carolina, #22/20 Butler and #16/16 Utah), but the Owls got another chance at #22/23 Cincinnati on Dec. 29 and made it count with a 77-70 road win. This season now marks the ninth in a row in which Temple has a win over a Top 25 team. Last year the Owls earned a 77-52 win against #10 Kansas, giving head coach Fran Dunphy a sixth win over a Top 10 team.

Tuesday's game at UConn will mark the Owls' fifth game this season against a nationally ranked team. If the current rankings hold, Temple will face #17 SMU (Jan. 23) and #11 Villanova (Feb. 17) while also facing UConn for a second time on Feb. 11.

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Men's Basketball Travels to #23/24 UConn on Tuesday

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Players Mentioned

Josh Brown

Quenton DeCosey

Obi Enechionyia

Temple University Athletics