A historically fantastic rivalry will continue itself on Saturday in Philadelphia when the Owls of Temple take on LaSalle at the Palestra in a classic Big 5 matchup.
The Explorers have won four in a row and sit at 3-0 in conference play. Temple, on the flip side, has lost five consecutive games to start the A-10 slate and is looking at perhaps lost season if they can’t get it together soon.
Temple has regressed considerably on the defensive end when compared with their team a year ago. They rank 207 in defensive efficiency and have proven simply awful on the defensive glass, an area in which LaSalle ranks inside the top 100.
Temple has some offensive firepower and shoots the ball reasonably well from deep. The Explorers are a decent defensive group which hangs its hat on a trio of quick guards in Tyrone Garland, Tyreek Duran and Sam Mills. Steve Jack and Jerrell Wright create a solid front court that has been good enough through 16 games this season.
It’s a bit surprising to see a spread of 5.5/6 attached to this game given that it is a longstanding rivalry and will be played on a neutral floor, but Temple has serious issues. Frank Dunphy has had teams struggle early on in prior years, but he doesn’t have a crop of players capable of bailing him out this time.
Temple did fare well asa big dog on the road against a tough Cincy group on Tuesday night. They hung around until late as the Bearcats finished the game on a 24-19 run in the final 8 minutes.
Owl fans have to hope that this group can build off that performance. LaSalle is nothing special, and this big rivalry spot should likely bring the best out of whatever it is Temple has to offer.
LaSalle has no real small forward presence on its roster, and Temple has two guys in Dalton Pepper and Quenton DeCosey who should both be able to taker advantage of that. Their presence should be a major help for the Temple faithful.
Keep an eye on the pace here. LaSalle plays much slower than does Temple, and neither team turns it over much. Should Temple be able to lure the Explorers into a more up tempo style, it will greatly benefit them. That being said, monitor the status of Will Cummings for this game. The junior guard was injured on a hard screen in the first half of their loss to USF and did not play in the loss to the Bearcats.
Cummings is an important player for this team and averages 16.5 PPG to go along with 4 APG. The Owls were able to maintain without him against an ugly Cincy offense, but beating LaSalle with an up tempo style will be more difficult if Cummings is forced to sit yet again.
