Temple beat the nation’s No. 1 men’s basketball team on Sunday for the first time in 23 years.
Damian Dunn scored 16 points and a visiting owl upset Houston at 56-55. Sophomore guard Dunn sank one of his two free throws with 1 minute and 6 seconds left in his game, giving the Owls (12-9, 6-2 American he athletics his conference) fully led. Kur Jongkuch blocked Houston’s go-ahead attempt in the final seconds to seal the win.
Forward Zach Hicks added 12 points for Temple. Jamal Shedd beat Houston (18-2, 6-1) with 13 points. The Owls recorded his sixth straight loss against the Cougars.
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Temple coach Aaron McKee said: “They’re really good and I think they’re going to go deep into the postseason.”
After Dunn’s foul shot put Temple first, Schhed missed a three-pointer and Nick Jourdain grabbed the Owls rebound. Dunn missed a layup with eight seconds left, Jon Cucci drew the rebound, but Temple whistled for a shot-clock violation.
With 1.3 seconds remaining, Jongkuch blocked an out-of-bounds shot by Shead. Tramon Mark’s attempt to tip in failed at the buzzer, giving the Owls the win.
Temple improved to 3-18 against the #1 ranked team. The Owls defeated his No. 1 team for the first time since the late John Chaney’s Temple team beat Cincinnati 77–69 on February 20, 2000.
The game featured 9 draws and 12 lead changes. Houston threw 21 free throws and made only 11, while Temple was 20 of 22 at the line. However, Temple only made 31% of his shots from the field.
what we saw
The Owls and Cougars went into halftime tied at 30 despite Temple out rebounding and allowing eight second-chance points. Owl counted on his 10 points on Dunn to continue the fight.
The two teams both ranked among the top six in the conference in terms of their opponents’ field goal percentage and points allowed. McKee built a team built around defense, much like his former coach Chaney did years ago.
“This is a big physical meeting,” McKee said. “It’s a hard game every night. … Hopefully, one day, we’ll be the bullies in our meetings.”
statistical leader
Dunn made 7 of 8 free throws en route to the game’s leading scorer. Houston center Jareth Walker had a game-high 12 rebounds, while Temple guard Jalil White had 10.
Jourdain had a game-high three blocked shots, including one with one second left to defend Temple’s lead.
Marcus Susser added 12 points to Houston to extend their ninth straight win.
change in momentum
Temple’s defense held the Cougars pointless for three minutes of the second half as the Owls took a three-point lead. Sophomore Hicks scored his 3-pointer with 7:20 left to give Temple his 53-47 lead.
The Owls’ lead reached 7 points on Jourdain’s free throw, and Temple held off Houston’s surge in the end.
Temple scored no field goals in the final 7:18 and were 5/21 from the field in the second half. The Owls have scored 11 assists in his goals out of 14 fields.
next
Temple will return to the Liacouras Center at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday for a rematch (9-11, 2-5) with South Florida. The Owls defeated USF on January 4, where he defeated him 68-64.
This article contains information from the Associated Press.
