By Paul Gotham
Setting: 1776 N. Broad Street is the site for a Top 20 tangle as Bill Self’s No. 1 Kansas Jayhawks (12-0) visit the Liacouras Center in downtown Philadelphia for a tilt with Fran Dunphy’s No. 18 Temple Owls (11-2).
Plot: Temple finished an undefeated month of December with a victory over Northern Illinois, 70-60. Kansas throttled Belmont, 81-51 to close out 2009. Temple opens A10 play on Wednesday. Kansas does not start conference play until January 13th.
Sub-plots: Temple leads its Atlantic 10 rivals as the conference has ascended to a number four ranking in the RPI. Kansas and No. 2 Texas lead a Big 12 conference ranked number two.
Flashback: Dionte Christmas scored 18 of his game-high 21, but the Jayhawks won last December, 71-59. Kansas holds a 6-3 advantage all-time against Temple. In 1995, the Owls trimmed then No. 1 Kansas in overtime, 74-66.
The two schools rank in the top ten of total victories for Division One schools. Kansas sits at third with 1,982 wins. Temple is is sixth with 1,722. Kentucky leads the way with 2,002 triumphs. North Carolina follows with 1,997.
Foreshadowing: 52 former Jayhawks have played in the NBA. Currently, nine Jayhawks roam the NBA hard courts: Darrell Arthur, Mario Chalmers, Nick Collison, Drew Gooden, Kirk Hinrich, Darnell Jackson, Paul Pierce, Brandon Rush, and Julian Wright.
33 former Owls have played in the NBA. Mardy Collins is the lone Temple alum in the league.
Conflict: Temple averages 64 points per game while Kansas fills it up to the tune of 87 per game. The Owls hold opponents to 54; Self’s Jayhawks limit adversaries to 58.
Who will dictate the tempo of this game?
Kansas wants to run the floor. Temple wants to run half court.
Temple’s Juan Fernandez is capable of carrying the Owls. The sophomore guard has scored 20 or more in three of Temple’s last four games. Fernandez knocked down 11 trifectas as Temple downed then No. 3, Villanova, 75-65. The 6′4″ Argentine leads the Owls hitting 32 of 69 (.464) from long range.
When will the Owls decide to air it out? Conventional wisdom suggests the home team should get out of the gate quickly. Fran Dunphy knows these Jayhawks have too much firepower for an early game deluge.
Freshman Xavier Henry with 16 points per game, leads four Jayhawks in double figures. Sherron Collins follows with 13 points and 51 total assists. Marcus Morris and Cole Aldrich chip in 11 a piece.
Kansas is 13th in the nation with a rebounding margin of 8.3. Alrich leads the way with 10. Morris and Henry combine for nine.
The Jayhawks are number three in the land with a field goal percentage defense of .346 including .278 from behind the arc.
Ryan Brooks leads the Cherry and White with 15.8 per game. Lavoy Allen averages a double-double with 10.6 rebounds and points per game.
Fernandez and Luiz Guzman combine for six and a half assists per game.
The Owls have turned the ball over just 137 times thus far while opponents have fumbled the ball 159 times. For the Owls to be successful, this trend will need to continue.
Allen gives up two inches and twenty pounds to Aldrich. Temple will be hard pressed to find an advantage on the boards today. Instead, the Owls will need to value possession of the ball. Poor shots will result in lay ups at the other end. Fernandez and Guzman will need to control the flow.
Resolution: Kansas is too athletic to knock out in the first half. The Jayhwaks are undefeated, but they have not played a team that is as disciplined on the offensive end and tenacious on the defensive end as are the Owls. When the Temple band strikes up ‘Living On A Prayer,’ the Cherry and White will still have the Jayhawks in the sites. Fernandez will struggle early from the field, but he will find his mark and lead the Owls to the upset.
Got any comments about the game? Post them here.
Ahhh – I love the optimism, Casey. As Len Elmore said when Kansas busted it open for 20 in the 2nd half, this was a “basketball clinic.” Kansas ran its sets to a T (no pun). They set solid screens away from the ball and their guards do a fantastic job setting up the defender for it. Temple never adjusted on ball screens and Aldrich made them pay with easy slips. First time I’ve really paid attention to Xavier Henry. What a fundamental player and nice running mate with Collins.
I like what Dunphy is doing with the man-to-man defense. But at the college level it becomes vulnerable. He allowed Allen and Eric to full front the post, but then Kansas just took away its backside post and forced guard rotation. The guard were way to slow in reacting to the lob pass into Aldrich and #0 (Thomas? Great looking Freshman).
Hopefully this causes the Owls to make the proper adjustments. Give the Owls credit: they ALWAYS play a tough non-conference schedule.
This is something often overlooked but a major indicator of contenders and pretenders: ball pressure. Kansas could defend Temple tightly 30 feet from basket and force errant passes. They had plenty of time to adjust if Temple had the opportunity to reverse the ball because the Owls had to extend away from the arc just to make a pass. Temple did not want to handle it so they opted for putting the ball on the floor more times than not. That led to off balanced shots and really poor interior passing.
Kansas on the other hand made easy entry passes to its posts, allowed cutters plenty of time to come through and had space to shoot all night. Temple’s guards were simply not quick enough to defende outside of the arc.
Rey
Thanks for stopping by and the comments.
With 15:00 remaining in the game Kansas led by 20. I thought if Temple could make it a 10 point game by the 10:00 mark, they had a chance. As soon as I said it, the Owls scored twice and were down 15 with 13:00 to go. Then, I blinked, and Kansas was up 25. The Jayhawks just come in waves. The Morris twins took advantage of Temple’s need to focus on Aldrich, Collins, and Henry.
I like Henry more than I do John Wall. Henry has more basketball skill.
Temple settled for too many jumpers. The Owls had some solid possessions in the first half. They used precise interior passing and caused the Jayhawks to defend. Not all of these possessions created points. Then they got impatient and started putting up shots and hoping for the best. 5-29 from behind the arc is not going to get it done. Kansas was 7-13 from behind the arc. What a stat – Kansas had half as many attempts, yet they made more. The Jayhawk perimeter defense is for real.