By Sean Kennedy
Yesterday’s Action
In their first home game of the season, Temple got into a back-and-forth battle with the Golden Flashes, ultimately falling 81-77. The Owls held a narrow lead throughout the majority of the game, until Kent State went ahead 70-69 with just under 5 minutes left, a lead they would not relinquish. With both teams undergoing a bit of a rebuild this season, the contest was about as evenly played as any you’ll come across. Ultimately, although the Owls were scoring at a good clip, they could never quite pull away due to 11-22 shooting from behind the arc by the Golden Flashes. With Temple just 5-19 from three themselves, you could say that was where the game was decided.
All five starters for Temple finished in double figures, paced by Will Cummings with 17 points and a game-high 7 assists. Anthony Lee recorded his second straight double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Coach Fran Dunphy made a couple changes to the starting lineup from the game against the Quakers, inserting Dalton Pepper and Quentin DeCosey into the starting lineup. Both players acquitted themselves well, each shooting 50% or better from the field with DeCosey going 3-5 from downtown to lead the Owls in that area.
This loss is the type that could really hold Temple back from any tournament consideration later in the year. Although it’s unlikely this is a NCAA tournament-bound team this season, it never hurts to start thinking about building that resume as strong as possible. The Owls will travel to Towson to take on the Tigers Thursday night.
Today’s Action
9:00 AM: La Salle (0-1, 0-0 A-10) vs. Quinnipiac (1-0, 0-0 MAAC) – ESPN2
No, that isn’t a typo. La Salle’s second game of the season will take place at 9 o’clock in the morning as part of the College Basketball Tip- Off Marathon, featuring 24 straight hours of, you guessed it, college basketball. Coming off a disappointing double overtime defeat in their opener, the Explorers will have to do a much better job team rebounding today than they did against Manhattan. As we’ll discuss, the Bobcats can also rebound the basketball; forward Jerrell Wright will have a large task in front of him and Tyreek Duren will need a more efficient scoring outing this time around.
Quinnipiac won their first contest of the year at home, 82-77, against the Hartford Hawks of the American East conference. Senior forward Ike Azotam led the way for the Bobcats, tallying an impressive 20 points and 13 rebounds in 37 minutes of action. Azotam was Quinnipiac’s leading scorer and rebounder last season as well, and should certainly be the focal point for the La Salle defense. The other main threat is 6’4″ guard Zaid Hearst, who dropped 17 points in the opener after averaging 10.8 ppg a year ago. The Bobcats really work the paint offensively, only attempting 11 three-pointers in the opener and historically being judicious with their outside shot selection.
Hopefully for fans near West Olney Ave, the opening loss to Manhattan was a wake-up call for the Explorers and they’ll put forth a more disciplined effort this morning against Quinnipiac. La Salle is simply too talented a team to fall to the Bobcats if they take care of doing the little things. Although the weird start team could throw a team a curveball, look for La Salle to bounce back and even up their record at 1-1.
7:00 PM: Pennsylvania (0-1, 0-0 Ivy) @ Monmouth (1-0, 0-0 MAAC)
As the Quakers enter their second contest of the season, I’m most curious to see what Tony Hicks does for an encore performance after his 28-point effort against Temple over the weekend. Is this now the sophomore’s team or was it simply a case of Penn riding the hot hand? Either way, with he and fellow sophomore Darien Nelson-Henry running alongside experienced seniors in Miles Cartwright and Fran Dougherty, the Quakers certainly have their deepest squad in quite a few years. Still, that roster will eventually have to translate to some results in winnable contests, starting on the road Tuesday night in New Jersey.
Monmouth came away with an 88-84 road over Hostra in their season opener, a surprising result given that the Hawks were picked to finish last within the MAAC by the league’s coaches. As that high score indicates, the Hawks play at one of the fastest paces in all of college basketball, which was also the case for them last season. 6’6″ junior guard Deon Jones, in his first season with the Hawks after transferring from Towson, led the team with 22 points and 9 rebounds. He and fellow junior guard Andrew Nicholas (the team’s leading scorer last season) combined to shoot 7-12 from behind the arc. Monmouth starts freshman 5’8″ waterbug Justin Robinson at point guard, but it was another freshman guard, Josh James, who really shined in the opener, recording 19 points and 6 assists off the bench. 5’8″ waterbug Justin Robinson.
It should be interesting to see if the arrival of Jones and the incoming freshman class have elevated Monmouth above the modest projections coming into this season. Still, on paper, Penn has the talent to compete here and given their strong performance against Temple in the opener, I’d look for the Quakers to come away with their first victory of the 2013-14 season.
8:00 PM: Drexel (0-1, 0-0 CAA) @ Illinois State (0-1, 0-0 MVC) – ESPN3
After facing a tough UCLA squad on the road, the Dragons will continue their 2013-14 season away from the friendly confines of the DAC against the Illinois State Redbirds. Drexel almost completed a late comeback againts the west coast powerhouse late Friday night, despite off shooting nights from both Chris Fouch and Damion Lee. Coach Bruiser Flint will look to get the two upperclassmen back on track Tuesday night, in addition to keeping things rolling for Frantz Massenat, who led the team with 20 points in the opener.
The Redbirds were smoked by powerhouse VCU, 96-58, in their opener, as they shot just 31.7% from the field and 4-23 from behind the arc. Illinois State is full of fresh faces with five incoming freshman and five JUCO transfers in the program. Two of those junior college transfers, Zach Lofton and Daishon Knight, will be looked upon to carry much of the scoring load for Illinois State this season. Knight also recently pleaded guilty to punching a woman, so if you really want someone to root against in this game, there you go. It’s been a busy few months for Redbirds coach Dan Muller from a disciplinary statement as in addition to the Knight situation, one of last year’s starters, Bryant Allen, was kicked off the team this past offseason for an undisclosed violation of team rules.
There isn’t a lot to like from an Illinois State persepective, as there’s clearly some degree of dysfunction in the locker room, a whole host of new players learning to play with each other, and a team coming off an ice-cold shooting performance. Given the spirited effort by Drexel in their close loss on UCLA’s home floor, I expect the Dragons to rebound and take this contest.
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