Men's Basketball to Face Drexel at the Palestra on Saturday

PHILADELPHIA - The famed Palestra will be the site of Temple men's basketball's next game, a 1 p.m. contest against city rival Drexel (6-6) on Saturday, Dec. 22 (1210 AM WPHT). The Owls (9-2) will look to give 13th-year head coach Fran Dunphy one final win in the "Cathedral of College Basketball," a place he's won more games than any other head coach.

Scouting Temple
> Temple is an impressive 9-2 to start the season, which is the Owls' best start since the 2012-13 team went 10-2 before dropping its third game.
> Saturday's contest will be the last at the Palestra for Temple head coach Fran Dunphy who is the winningest all-time coach at the historic arena. His record is 175-56 (.758) which includes a 15-4 mark since arriving at Temple in 2006.
> Senior guard Shizz Alston, Jr. is the co-AAC Player of the Week for a second time, and the Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week, after two huge performances in the Owls' 2-0 week. He scored a career-high 31 points in Temple's come-from-behind, 65-63 win over UMass, hitting 11-of-12 at the free throw line, and followed it with his third career double-double of 24 points and a career-high 11 assists in the Owls' come from behind overtime win vs. Davidson.
> Alston and junior guard Quinton Rose are averaging 18.8 and 16.5 points per game, respectively, to lead the team and rank first and eighth in the American Athletic Conference.
> On Nov. 13, Alston scored 25 points vs. Georgia and became the 53rd player in program history to score 1,000 career points. He now has 1,153 points to rank 42nd all-time.
> Rose has 997 career points, needing just three more to become the 54th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point milestone.
> Rose and sophomore Nate Pierre-Louis are averaging 2.5 and 2.2 steals per game, respectively, to lead the team and third and fourth in the conference. As a team, Temple ranks 14th in the nation with 9.3 steals per game.
> The 2018-19 season is the 13th and final year at the helm for Dunphy. Taking the reins in 2019-20 will be current associate head coach Aaron McKie. Dunphy has an overall record of 566-317 in his 29+ year career, and has a 256-154 record in his 12+ seasons with the Owls.

Scouting Drexel
> The Dragons are 6-6 overall and coming off a 97-65 loss at UConn on Dec. 18.
> With 80.8 points per game, the Dragons lead all teams in the Colonial Athletic Association.
> Five players average in double figures in scoring for Drexel, with a total of six players averaging between 9.6 points per game and 14.6 points per game. Leading the group is junior forward Alihan Demir, who also averages 7.0 rebounds per game.
> Graduate guard Trevor John (12.8 ppg) leads all players in the CAA with 3.7 three-point field goals made per game, while freshman guard Camren Wynter (11.0 ppg) ranks second in the CAA with 5.4 assists per game.

Series History vs. Drexel
> Temple leads Drexel 29-9 all-time, but prior to last season the teams had not met in 10 years.
> Last year, the Owls edged the Dragons 63-60 at the Liacouras Center on Dec. 16, 2017.
> The Owls and the Dragons met once in each of Temple head coach Fran Dunphy's first two seasons. Drexel won 69-54 at Temple on Dec. 22, 2006, and the Owls won 64-51 at the Palestra on Dec. 15, 2007.
> Six of Drexel's nine wins in the series were over 100 years ago, as the Dragons went 6-2 in games against Temple from 1901 to 1908.

Men's Basketball to Face Drexel at the Palestra on Saturday

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Players Mentioned

Shizz Alston, Jr.

Nate Pierre-Louis

Quinton Rose

Temple University Athletics