On the Road Again, Temple Upsets #23 UConn 55-53.

In Temple’s third game of conference play, the Owls take down the Huskies 55-53.

Against Houston, not one Owl was able to score in the double figures. That was not the case in Hartford Connecticut, as four Owls were in the double figures. Jaylen Bond picked up his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Devin Coleman also picked up 14 points, and DeCosey led the team with 15 points. Quenton DeCosey may have led the team, but Josh Brown sealed the deal with the game winning shot; finishing the night with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals.

The game started off a little different than usual. Dunphy switched up the starting lineup a bit, and instead of starting Enechionyia and Devin Coleman, Dan Dingle and Levan Alston Jr. made their starting debuts for this season. It definitely fired up Devin Coleman, he finished the night with 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist.

In a game with several lead changes, Temple’s unity was evident on the court, “We played with a lot of energy…just a collective effort.” As Brown would describe the team chemistry. In such a low scoring game, Temple’s “…defense was really talkative, really communicative, and that’s the way we need to play.” says head coach, Fran Dunphy. While Temple had 4 players that were able to hit double figures, UConn only had 2 players scoring in the double digits. Not only was Temple able to outscore the Huskies, they outrebounded them 40-34.

This game all came down to the final play of the game. After a foul made by Dan Dingle, putting UConn on the line, Daniel Hamilton hit both free throws for the Huskies to tie the game all up at 53-53. With six-tenths of a second separating game time from the shot clock, Temple was able to hold the ball for the last shot. Josh Brown dribbles it down the court, with minimal pressure and just dribbled the ball around the perimeter until the 14 second mark. Timeout. Since UConn was heavily pressuring DeCosey, Brown takes the game into his own hands. Coming off a time out, it would seem that a play was created to free up DeCosey, but it was Brown who would take it all the way with a cross over spin move and then lay it in left handed. Dunphy graciously admits, “…would love to tell you I drew it up…but it was all Josh Brown.”

Josh Brown may have a big game tonight, but it was really Fran Dunphy’s game; his 200^th win at Temple to be exact. In his ten seasons for the Owls the beautiful, on the road, conference win, against their 5^th ranked opponent of the season, gives Fran Dunphy his 200^th win for the Cherry and White. Dunphy. The Owls advance to 2-1 in the AAC and 7-6 overall.