NCAA BASKETBALL – WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2009
#16 Temple Owls (15-3) vs Xavier Musketeers (12-5)
The No.16 Temple Owls will host Xavier Musketeers the on Wednesday night in an Atlantic 10 tilt at Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, PA.
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The teams split a pair of games last season with Xavier winning 83-74 at home in the regular season and the Owls edging out the Musketeers 55-53 the last time the two met in the semifinal of the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament on Mar 13, 2009. Temple is one of only a few Atlantic 10 teams that have been able to hang with Xavier in recent years and have won four of their last six meetings with the Musketeers.
The Owls’ Ryan Brooks hit seven 3-pointers on his way to recording a career-high 29 points and 1,000 lifetime in a 76-64 victory over Massachusetts on Saturday. Temple made 14 of 25 3-pointers to lead by as many as 22 points in their 11th win in the last 12 games and are 3-0 in conference play behind first place Xavier who is 4-0. The Owls have played well and have great guards in Brooks (16.1 ppg), Juan Fernandez (13.4 ppg) and 6-9 junior Lavoy Allen (10.9 ppg, 10.3 rpg). A big part of this season’s success is Temples defense. They are holding opponents to just 56 points per game.
Meanwhile Xavier Dante Jackson scored a career-high 19 points as the Musketeers hung on for a 78-74 victory over Dayton on Saturday, extending their A10 conference win streak to four. Xavier was nearly flawless at the foul line against Dayton, going 24 of 30. Center Kenny Frease has been struggling offensively and he is averaging a mere 3.8 points in four conference games with just two points in the victory over Dayton. Xavier sophomore Jordan Crawford leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 19.1 ppg. and has reached double figures in scoring in 16 of XU’s 17 games.
The odds makers have the Musketeers as +3-point underdogs in this one.
The Owls’ pressure defense will be put to the test once again by a deep and talented Xavier squad.
Look for the Owls to pile up a ton of points in the second half pulling away for a double-digit win.
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