Temple standout performances in wins over top ten teams from 2008-12

Coming off a dramatic 83-79 victory over Syracuse at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, December 22^nd, Temple will look for its tenth win and the programs 1800^th win on New Years Eve vs. Bowling Green (5-7).

Temple has not played since that dramatic thriller against Syracuse because Friday’s game vs. Detroit was cancelled due to the Titans not being able to travel safely into Philadelphia.

Temple’s win over then No. 3 ranked Syracuse marked the fifth straight year in which the Owls defeated a top ten team.

 All of Temple’s victories over top ten foes have come while the Owls were unranked, and the cherry and white currently sit at No. 28 in latest Associated Press poll.

In every one of Temple’s upsets, a player has stepped up on the national stage to make headlines, resulting in a career game, so lets turn back the clock to 2008 where the streak of W’s over top ten teams began

 December 13^th, 2008: Temple 88, No. 8 Tennessee 72

Tennessee head coach, Bruce Pearl’s No. 8 Tennessee Volunteers came into the Liacouras Center at the time with a 6-1 record. Sitting at 4-3, the Owls were off to a sluggish start and Temple was in search for a big time victory. With Christmas approaching, it was only fitting that All-American Candidate; Dionte Christmas provided the packed house with a gift.

Christmas torched the Volunteers for a season high 35 points, 30 of which came in the second half alone on 12-22 shooting, including 7 three pointers on ESPN to hand Tennessee a 88-72 loss.

 December 13^th, 2009: Temple 75, No. 3 Villanova 65

Temple and Villanova’s city rivalry is well documented and with the Wildcats being ranked No. 3 in the nation, the game between the two Big 5 enemies was that much more hyped up.

Juan Fernandez erupted for a career high 33 points to stun Villanova, 75-65. Fernandez was red hot from minute 1 to 40, missing just four shots on 11-15 shooting from the floor and went 7-9 from downtown to pace the Owls scoring attack and open the flood gates for Temple fans rushing the floor.

The ten-point victory was Temple’s first win over a top five team dating back to February 20, 2000 when the Owls took down No. 1 Cincinnati 77-69.

December 9^th, 2010- Temple 68, No. 9 Georgetown 65

With final exams on the horizon for student athletes, the Owls delivered an even tougher test to No. 9 Georgetown.

After losing to the Hoyas 47-46 in 2009, Temple returned to favor and shocked Georgetown, 68-65 behind Ramone Moore’s game-high 30 points.  Moore shot 12-18 from the hardwood and went 2-2 from three point range to help secure coach Fran Dunphy’s 400^th careen win in dramatic fashion.

January 4^th, 2012- Temple 78, No. 3 Duke 73

In front of the third largest crowd to ever witness a college basketball at the Wells Fargo Center, Temple stunned No. 3 ranked Duke, 78-73.

Instead of taking a bus down to the Sports Complex, the Owls took the straight shoot down Broad Street and traveled by subway-A unique route that could not have worked out any better.

Duke had ruled the all-time matchup and the Owls hadn’t defeated the Blue Devils since January 25^th, 1996, further ending a nine game losing streak to coach Mike Krzyzewski squad.

 Khalif Wyatt scored a game high 22 points, shooting 8-12 and hit three key tre balls to help lift Temple over the Blue Devils.

December 22^nd 2012- Temple 83, No. 3 Syracuse 79

In the most recent of Temple’s upset wins over top ten powerhouses; it was Wyatt again who stepped up for the Owls.

This time, though, it came at the mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden.

Wyatt scored a career high 33 points, 20 of which came in the first half on 8-17 shooting to upend No. 3 Syracuse at the Orange’s “home away from home.”

It was Wyatt’s first ever game at MSG and the senior guard, as he often seems to do hit clutch shot after clutch shot and went a perfect 15-15 from the free throw line to carry Temple.

Jason Babin continues to take shots at the Eagles

Prior to the 2011-12 season, Jason Babin had considered somewhat of a journeymen in the National Football League.

After being drafted 27th overall in the first round of the 2004 NFL draft by the Houston Texans, Babin bounced around with the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Philadelphia Eagles, Tennessee Titans, then wound back up with the Eagles.

In 2010, after pairing up with defensive line coach, Jim Washburn, whose name also irks Eagles fans, Babin finally broke out with a 12.5 sack campaign. Washburn is known around the league for his admiration for the "Wide Nine" technique, which allows defensive lineman to spread out and rush the quarterback. Although the wide nine allows defensive ends to get up field and go after the quarterback, it leaves gaping holes for delayed runs and puts stress on the secondary.

Babin thrived in this system, and when Eagles coach Andy Reid brought defensive line coach Jim Washburn aboard in 2011, Babin followed in his footsteps and signed a 5 year contract worth approximately $28 million dollars.

Photo credit: USA Today

The wide nine technique was partially successful in 2011 and the Eagles finished among the leagues leaders in sacks, thanks in part to Babin's 18 sacks.

Coming into 2012, the defensive line projected to be the Eagles strength, but the wide nine began to be exposed by opposing offenses and the whole experiment became a disaster.


Defensive coordinator, Juan Castillo was fired after six weeks, Babin was released by the Eagles after recording just 5.5 sacks on November 27th and Washburn was fired shortly after.

Babin went on waivers and almost every team in the league passed up on Babin's services, until the Jacksonville Jaguars claimed the defensive end.

Shortly after being signed by the Jags, Babin took shots at the Eagles saying that things were "stagnant" and took a few jabs at the Philadelphia media saying that beat writers were not professional, wore shorts and had stinky breath.

You would think that Babin would lay low and shut up as he continues to have an off year with one of the worst teams in football, right? Wrong.

Since Babin can't make any headlines on the football field, he is making headlines off it and continues to take shots at the Philadelphia Eagles, claiming the Birds have a socialistic system and don't have amicable splits with players.

See what Babin had to say here.

Babin will always be seen as a player who did not understand what it took to play football in the city of brotherly love, and a one-trick-pony with a toolish personality, who one signed a hefty contract and showed up for one season while sporting ridiculous tribal tattoos.

It is clear that Jason Babin does not like Philadelphia or the Eagles organization. Well, it is fair to say that the feelings are mutual.

Behind Wyatt's career high 33 points, Temple takes down No. 3 Orange

Chase Senior-Philahoops

For Temple to have any shot at beating the Syracuse, the Owls had to step up by committee under the brightest of lights at the world’s most famous arena in the marquee matchup of the Gotham Classic.

That came to fruition for the Owls (9-2) as Khalif Wyatt and Anthony Lee had career days to hand No. 3 Syracuse (10-1) their first lost of the season by a score of 83-79.

With this victory, Temple has now defeated a top ten team for the fifth year in a row.

“I think our guys understand how big the moment is coming into New York city and in Madison Square Garden,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said after the game.

After multiple games of inconsistent play, everything finally came together for Temple and the Owls got a gutsy performance from Wyatt, who scored a career high 33 points, including 20 in the first half.

Down the stretch Wyatt was able to hit big time free throws. The senior guard went a perfect 15-15 from the line and 8-17 from the floor overall.

“(Khalif) was spectacular,” Dunphy said. “In the first half he made so many great plays, in the second half obviously he made every foul shot he took but he made some very good plays when we were struggling to score and that was the only way we were going to stay in the game with Khalif making plays.”

Early on, Syracuse proved to be the more superior team and the Orange jumped out to a 24-14 lead midway through the first half behind senior guard Brandon Triche, who started 4-4 from the field.

Syracuse had the obvious size advantage in the post and utilized that with second chance baskets, but Wyatt put Temple on his back and kept Temple close in the first frame. He shot 7-12 from the field in the first half alone, to help silence the Syracuse heavy crowd and ignite cheers for the cherry and white.

“(Khalif) is so good, he’s so talented. His IQ is off the charts on the court. Off the charts and so he knows where to go with the ball. He has great poise and sense of the game and again that fearlessness,” Dunphy said.

Coming off a season high 14 points vs. Canisius on Wednesday, Jake O’Brien provided the Owls with a boost to help Temple climb back in the game. From the 9:13 to the 7:36 mark of the first half, O’Brien notched 8 points to pull the Owls within two points, which seemingly got the Owls into a solid rhythm.

The rest was all Wyatt, who always seems to play his best on the biggest of stages. Wyatt hit a clutch three with 30 seconds left in the first half to reduce the Syracuse lead to 40-38.

Madison Square Garden is known to be Syracuse’s “home away from home”, and the orange shirts were out in full force but the Temple faithful exceeded all expectations, making the atmosphere inside the arena that much more intriguing.

“They call it the mecca of basketball,” Wyatt said in the locker room after the game. “I’ve never played here before. I always wanted to. I always watched it on (television). I know Michael Jordan had great games here and it was a lot of great games that have been played here and I just wanted to be apart of the chance to play at the garden and it was a good experience.”

Syracuse and Temple chants were exchanged back and forth and although the arena was not sold out, two of the winningest programs in the history of college basketball clashed to form a fantastic ballgame at the garden.

Temple stormed out of the gates after halftime behind sophomore forward Lee, who also had the best game of his young career. Lee poured in a career high 21 points and 10 rebounds.

With the Owls climbing back in the game and taking a lead 9 point lead, Syracuse began to put on the pressure and caused fits for the Owls with a full court press that got the Orange back in the game.

Temple hadn’t faced a full court press for long stretches this season and looked out of sorts, but stayed composed, which led to fast break points.

“(Syracuse) made a big run. I think we was up nine at one point, they started pressing, spread the game up a little bit,” Wyatt said. We composed ourselves, got together, made some big shots , made some free throws down the stretch and came out with a big win.

Behind C.J. Fair’s 25 points, and Triche’s 17, the Orange stayed in it until the end, but missed free throws cost Syracuse down the stretch. The Orange went 19-34 from the line, whereas Temple went 29-36 at the foul line.

Foul shots turned out to be the difference in this game.

“You don’t like to say it comes down to that (free-throws), but when you miss 15 free-throwss it is going to be tough to win any game. Bottom line is they made 29 and we made 19,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “That is not a way to win tough games if you are not going to shoot the ball better from the free throw line.”

Temple will now have off until Friday, December 28^th when Detroit comes to town for the fourth and final game of the Gotham Classic.

Khalif Wyatt tops 1,000 career points and a Syracuse vs. Temple preview

What: Temple vs. Syracuse

When: Noon Saturday

Where: Madison Square Garden

TV/Radio: ESPN2/1210-AM

–

Temple’s Khalif Wyatt recently topped 1,000 career points. (Philahoops file)

Heading into Monday evening’s game vs. Alcorn State, senior guardKhalif Wyatt needed just 13 points to reach the 1,000-career point milestone.

With the way Wyatt’s previous three games had went, it was unsure exactly when the Norristown, Pa., native would get there, but it was apparent that it would be done very shortly.

In those three games leading up to Monday night’s contest, Wyatt shot a combined 10-42 from the floor – an ice cold 24-percent for you math junkies out there.

In Wednesday’s loss vs. Canisius, Wyatt got in a groove early, hitting three straight floaters in the midst of the first half and it looked like Temple was assured a ninth win, but Canisius made it rain from downtown and stormed back to defeat the Owls. Wyatt still managed to score 17 points on 6-16 shooting and it was another step forward in getting out of his recent shooting woes.

The senior will look to continue his improved shooting on Saturday when the Owls travel to Madison Square Garden for a noon showdown against Syracuse.

Wyatt’s ability to score the basketball has never been questioned, and to see the 6-4, 210-pound guard struggle so greatly like he has was very surprising to those who have seen Wyatt grow over the last four years.

Coming into Temple as a freshman in 2009, Wyatt was known as cold-blooded scoring threat during his days at Norristown High School. As a junior in high school, Wyatt averaged 18 points per game; leading his squad to a 33-2 record and an appearance in the state championship game, earning second-team all-state honors.

During his senior campaign, Wyatt dropped 20 points per contest and was the lead man in Norristown’s Class AAAA District title and earned second-team all-state honors again.

As a freshman on North Broad Street, Wyatt was virtually nowhere to be found, averaging just under two minutes of playing time per game and seemingly was found on the end of the bench all too often. Not surprising, however, for a Fran Dunphy-coached ball club.

During his sophomore year, Wyatt began to blossom and showed glimpses of becoming that go-to option that had attracted college coaches during the recruiting process. Wyatt became a solid contributor on a team that was seconds away from an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, averaging 10.1 ppg in just 20.7 minutes of action and was named the Atlantic 10 sixth man of the year.

Last season, Wyatt, alongside fellow guards Juan Fernandez and Ramone Moore, led Temple to a regular season A-10 championship and finished fourth in the conference in points per game with 17.1 average. Wyatt was a second-team all-conference selection, which provided lofty expectations as his senior year inched closer and closer.

Wyatt was dubbed as the preseason player of the year by numerous outlets like Philahoops and was a preseason all-conference first team selection prior to Temple’s final year in the conference. And although Wyatt’s scoring numbers are down from a season ago, he has taken on the role of more of a facilitator and leads the team in assists per game with 4.2. His efforts to become a better well-rounded player could be beneficial down the road.

Recent struggles have plagued the senior guard, but as a shooter, all you can do is continue to toss shots up, and attack the slump head on.

Wyatt is still feared as a deadly shooter that thrives on the big stage and has garnered high praise from opposing coaches including Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, who called Wyatt a “crafty” and “outstanding player.”

Wyatt seemingly returned to form in Monday night’s win over Alcorn State by cashing in with 20 points, making him the 49^th player in Temple history to surpass 1,000 career points.

“It’s been a long process,” Wyatt said. “I just wanna thank all of my teammates that I had til I got here and all my coaches. And I’m grateful for all of them and the accomplishment means a lot to me. I just wanna thank everybody who helped me get there.”

By becoming a part of such a distinguished club, Wyatt can now be linked in conversation with some of the great Temple guards we have seen over the years like Mark Macon, Aaron McKie, Guy Rodgers and Eddie Jones.

“(Khalif) is a very good scorer and he didn’t get a chance to play very much as a freshman so that’s probably the reason why it has lasted until his senior, relatively early in his senior year of course, but he’s a terrific scorer and hes a really good basketball player,” Dunphysaid when asked about Wyatt’s milestone. “In terms of it happening (Monday) tonight I had certainly expected him to get it because he is such a terrific scorer.”

–

-Scouting Temple: The Owls are coming off a bad loss at home to Canisius on Wednesday night, a team that Temple should of very well beaten. The way Temple had been playing was not pleasing by any means and it seemed as though the Cherry and White were due for another loss sometime in the near future. … It does not get nay easier for the Owls as they are set to face an undefeated Syracuse team on the national stage. The last time Temple took the court on a neutral site vs. an undefeated team came on December 8th vs. Duke at the IZOD Center, which resulted in a 90-67 loss. … Basically every player must step up for Temple to have a shot at knocking off Syracuse, but as the winter season has approached, senior Scootie Randall has gone with the flow and has been ice cold from the floor in recent weeks. Randall went 3-16 from the floor vs. Canisius and Randall has to find a way to score the basketball and put his teammates in good position on Saturday for Temple to have any type of chance. Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson and Anthony Lee must also bring their “A” games to compete with the Orange, who are always known to be a physical squad. Syracuse is known for playing a ton of zone defense, so the Owls must hit outside shots when open looks are available. If Temple shoots 4-27 from three range like they did vs. Canisius, the Owls could get blown out. … Forward Jake O’Brien was one of Temple’s only bright spots on Wednesday night and scored a season-high 14 points in the loss. O’Brien is known to shoot 3-pointers, so expect to see him receive steady minutes. … Sophomore point guard Will Cummings has been progressing nicely in the last few games, so keep an eye on how he fairs against elite competition.

–

-Scouting Syracuse: At 10-0, Syracuse’s record speaks for itself. Year in and year out, Jim Boeheim’s team is considered one of the top programs in the country and this season is no different. … Besides taking down then No. 20 San Diego State, the Orange’s schedule has not been difficult, but Syracuse ranks in the top ten nationally in points per game (83.4), rebounds per game (44.5), and assists per game (18.6) and has an astounding scoring margin of 25.6. … Syracuse is a unique team in the sense that the Orange do not have a single player averaging more than 16 ppg. 6-8 senior forward James Southerland leads the Orange with 15.9 ppg. Temple has had problems all season long defending the post, so Southerland will surely get his touches. … Senior guard Brandon Triche is a very talented guard and is averaging 14.5 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game. At 6-4, 210, Triche has great size. … Sophomore guard Michael Carter-Williams is one of Syracuse’s most talented player and comes into Saturday’s matchup averaging a double-double. Carter-Willaims is averaging 12.3 points and 10.7 assists per game and also has great size at 6-6. After averaging just over 10 minutes per game as a freshman, Carter-Williams is averaging 32 mpg this season and has a very bright future. … Keep an eye on Rakeem Christmas, who hails from Philadelphia. Christmas is crazy athletic for a 6-9, 242-pound forward and is averaging 7.6 and 5 rebounds per game.

–

-Sound Off: Who is your standout star for Saturday’s game at MSG?

Does Temple have any shot vs the Orange?

Will YOU be in attendance on Saturday?

Barrage of threes bury Owls

Sophomore forward Anthony Lee returned to Temple’s (8-2) starting lineup after missing Monday’s game due to illness, but it was Canisius’ night, as the Golden Griffins (8-2) hit 10 3-pointers to put a dagger in the Owls and hand Temple its second loss of the season by a score of 72-62.

“Can’t say it’s overly surprising the way we’ve been playing,” Temple coach Fran Dunphy said after the game. “We’ve been escaping with some wins, but we haven’t been playing well. I thought we played a decent first half to be honest with you.”

While Canisius was able to knock down clutch three after clutch three, shooting a combined 10-21 as a team from beyond the arc, Temple went ice cold from deep and hit just 4-27 from deep

“We’ll look at it obviously on the film and we’ll see some shots that we rushed and threes that we had opportunities and we didn’t take advantage of,” Dunphy said. “We got out of character a little bit and it cost us.”

Billy Baron, Isaac Sosa, Reggie Groves, Harold Washington and Alshwan Hymes combined for 10 3-pointers on the night, 7 of which came after halftime, making all of the difference in this basketball game

Lee missed Monday night’s game vs. Alcorn State with an illness and scored 10 points and 7 rebounds on the night, but his presence in the lineup was not enough to stop the Golden Griffins’ perimeter attack.

The Owls looked much more energized and fresh in the first half compared to Monday’s contest and Temple looked to find a solid rhythm, something that has been difficult for the Owls to establish for much of the season.

Senior guard Khalif Wyatt found open lanes in Canisius’ defense and settled for high percentage shots in the paint to help build a 28-16 first-half lead. But the Golden Griffins stormed back, encompassing on a 9-2 run to climb back in the game behind guards Baron and Washington.

Baron, who transferred from Rhode Island, entered Wednesday night’s game averaging 15.9 points per game, but dropped a game-high 19 points and did a masterful job of setting up the offense for the Golden Griffins.

“I thought Baron was tremendous today controlling the pace of the game, the tempo of the game,” Dunphy said. “He knew what his team needed to get him a victory.”

Wyatt converted on a layup at the end of the first half to give the Owls a 36-28 advantage at half time, but Canisius stormed back in the second half thanks to the previously mentioned deadly attack from downtown.

Graduate student Jake O’Brien played a key role for the second straight game, scoring nine first-half points, including the Owls only two 3-pointers of the first half. O’Brien finished with a season-high 14 points, but was nowhere to be found during Canisius’ second-half run.

As a team, Temple shot 14-31 from the floor in the first half, but only a combined 8-32 in the second half, settling for far too many contested 3-point shots throughout the game

“I think we have some good jump shooters who got a lot of confidence and I mean everybody loves the (3-point shot) if it’s going in and everybody hates it if it’s not going in,” Wyatt said. “We just gotta do what we do well and shots will start falling and we’ll be fine.”

You could sense that the game started to fall in the favor of the Golden Griffins almost halfway through the second half. At the 11:16 mark, Groves stole the ball from Will Cummingsand dished it to Hymes, who hit his only trifecta of the game to give Canisius a 48-47 lead.

“We got a good lead early, they didn’t quit, they kept playing,” Wyatt told the media following Temple’s second loss of the season. ”We had a good lead in the second half, but they put together a nice little run, started making shots. (Canisius) just made shots in the second half and we didn’t. That’s what it came down to”

The Golden Griffins squandered a lead with 5:59 seconds left following a Lee dunk off a nice pass from Quenton DeCosey, but Canisius didn’t relinquish the advantage after that.

“I think they pretty much did a better job than us on defense as far as making us take threes, as far as not letting us get inside and stuff like that,” Cummings, who scored a career-high 10 points on the night, said. “I think that’s what it pretty much came down to as them playing harder on the defensive end getting stops.”

Canisius went 16-18 from the charity strike, but the Owls could not capitalize when given the free shot, shooting just 14-21 from the stripe.

Temple senior Scootie Randall’s production has dipped as of late and that continued tonight vs. the Golden Griffins as he was 3-16 from the field, including a staggering 1-12 from deep for just 7 points.

“There were a couple of those that he absolutely rushed,” Dunphy said. “But if you’re not making shots, then find other ways to help your team and that’s what (Scootie) needs to do.”

Temple will now have Thursday and Friday off before facing No. 4 ranked Syracuse on Saturday for a noon tipoff at Madison Square Garden.

Wyatt shut down any possibility of Temple overlooking Canisius and instead looking to the Orange on Saturday.

“We’re not where we need to be right now,” he said. “We’ll just keep practicing and keep going at it game by game and just try and get better as a team as the season goes along.

“I just think that Canisius came in here ready to play. I think we had some good stretches throughout the game but towards the end they just made more shots than us, got more stops that us.”

__

-Sound off: Are you concerned about the status of Temple moving forward?

Will the Owls ever click and get into a rhythm?

Wednesday Preview: Before 'Cuse, Temple faces Canisius

What: Canisius (7-2) vs. Temple Owls (8-1)

 When: 7 p.m. Wednesday

 Where: Liacouras Center

 TV/Radio: None/610 WIP

———————————————–

Despite Temple’s 8-1 record to start the season, their best start since the 1987-88 season, the Owls have struggled to find a model of consistency all season long.

Temple has played a plethora of below average teams, yet their winning margin is just 8.4 points.

Coming into the season, it looked as if the Owls were going to be a team that could shoot the three ball with ease, but after nine games, Temple is shooting 32-percent from deep and 42-percent from the floor.

“I think were taking some shots that we shouldn’t and other times were passing up opportunities that were trying to be very teammate friendly,” coach Fran Dunphy said. “We have to recognize what’s a good play and what’s something that we shouldn’t do.”

Senior’s Scootie Randall and Khalif Wyatt’s shooting numbers are not what we projected them to be. Graduate student Jake O’Brien is not stroking the three ball like he can and junior guard Dalton Pepper has struggled to earn steady minutes and is shooting just 21-percent from the field.

Five of Temple’s eight games have come on their home turf and their defense down low has been close to a disaster, but at the same time, the teams schedule has been extremely inconsistent, which could be the leading factor in the Owls shaky play.

Still, there has certainly been numerous bright spots as some of the younger players have shown glimpses of hope and an 8-1 record is nothing to sneeze at, but with better programs approaching and the tough Atlantic Ten schedule in the near future, Temple must improve if they want to earn an invitation to its sixth straight NCAA tournament.

As a basketball club, things happen,” senior swingman Scootie Randall said.

“I think it’s a big part of our leadership. As us leaders we got to to set the tone earlier before the game start we got to make sure everybody’s focused and everybody’s ready to go but I just want to keep all that slack that were doing, it’s our fault as leaders. It happens to the best of them, so as a result were still winning so we really got a lot more work to do.”

Temple’s approach must improve with their schedule set to heat up and top-notch opponents ready to clash head on with the Owls down a one way street.

__

Scouting Temple: Wyatt finally broke out of shooting slump on Monday night after pouring in 20 points on 5-11 shooting, but the senior guard still is not where he needs to be in order to lead Temple. Monday nights performance is a step in the right direction. With sophomore forward Anthony Lee’s status unknown for Wednesday night due to injury, O’Brien and freshman center Devontae Watson could play a big role vs. Canisius. Watson’s performance was pleasing in just five minutes of action. Production from the point guard would be advantageous for the Owls on the offensive end. Sophomore Will Cummings play has been inconsistent as he acclimates himself to the college game and graduate student T.J. DiLeo is not built to be a full time player. Senior forward Rahlir Hollis-Jefferson’s game has evolved immensely, so look for him to continue to improve and provide the Owls with an energetic boost on both ends.

__

Scouting Canisius: Sitting at 7-2 on the season, the Golden Griffins have had a great start as well. Canisius is arguably the best team in the MAAC Conference and fans could see them in the NCAA tournament in March. Coach Jim Baron’s team is 51^st in the nation in total points per game, averaging 76.4 points a night. Baron knows the Owls well, having coached at Rhode Island and in the Atlantic Ten for nearly a decade. The Golden Griffins are led by senior guardHarold Washington and junior guard Billy Baron. Both come into Wednesday’s game averaging 15.9 ppg. Billy Baron is the son of coach of Jim, and is a University of Rhode Island transfer. In the post, 6-10 junior forward, Jordan Heath, leads Canisius. Heath is averaging 9 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.

__

Sound off: This could very well be another close game in Philadelphia. What are your predictions?