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The thing Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said stuck with him the most about last season’s NCAA Tournament snub was the sheer look of dejection on senior point guard Will Cummings’ face knowing he wouldn’t get the chance to close out his college career on the sport’s biggest stage.
This year’s seniors, most notably guard Quenton DeCosey and forward Jaylen Bond, won’t have to swallow that bitter pill. They’ll get their shot starting this Friday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn (3:10 p.m., TruTV).
Seeing as how Temple hasn’t made the Big Dance since 2013, the Owls don’t have much NCAA Tournament experience. In fact, just four Owls on the roster — DeCosey, Bond, guard Daniel Dingle and seldom-used center Devontae Watson — have been on a team that has played in the tournament.
But Dunphy isn’t buying into his No. 10 seed Owls’ lack of experience being a factor against No. 7 seed Iowa, a team that has reached the tournament each of the last two years.
“That’s all out the window,” Dunphy said following practice Monday afternoon. “If (senior guard) Devin Coleman rises up for a wide-open jumper at 22 feet, does he say, ‘I don’t have any experience, I don’t know if this will go in?’ None of that is happening.
“We’re playing basketball and that’s what we’re going to do.”
As much as Dunphy will tune out the inexperience talk, it will still be present this week just because of how wide the gap is between the teams.
Iowa has seven players on its roster who have played in an NCAA Tournament game. Temple has just one in Bond, who played nine minutes and grabbed four rebounds without recording a point in a loss to No. 6 seed Cincinnati when he was with No. 11 seed Texas as a freshman in 2012.
So Temple doesn’t have a player who’s ever recorded a point in the NCAA Tournament. DeCosey, Dingle and Watson, all freshmen at the time, didn’t see the floor in Dayton, Ohio when No. 9 seed Temple beat No. 8 seed NC State in the first round and lost to No. 1 seed Indiana in heartbreaking fashion in the second round in 2013.
“It’s the same thing at the other end of the floor,” Dunphy said. “We don’t have experience making a steal in the NCAA Tournament? We can see that ball laying out there. Let’s go get it and go down the other end.
“As soon as we’re in the gym and the ball goes up, we’ve just become experienced guys.”
That said, Dunphy has readily admitted that the hype and atmosphere surrounding the Big Dance can be a different animal. And that’s where he’ll rely on Bond and DeCosey especially this week as the youthful Owls prepare for the Hawkeyes.
The message of those seniors who’ve been through the adventure that comes with being in the NCAA Tournament?
“Just stay focused,” said Bond, the Owls’ leading rebounder with 8.3 boards per game. “Just know our goal every game, starting with Iowa. That’s our first task. … You never know when you’re going to get here again. Play every game like it’s your last. Enjoy this time you have with your teammates.”
“Just enjoy it,” said DeCosey, the team’s leading scorer with 15.6 points per game. “Every kid who plays basketball dreams of getting to the NCAA Tournament and being in it and being a part of it. So just enjoy it while it’s here.”
Temple-Iowa NCAA Tournament history
Friday will not mark the first time Temple and Iowa meet in the Big Dance. But it will mark the first time the schools play in the tournament in 60 years.
The programs met in the 1956 Final Four in Evanston, Illinois, with the Hawkeyes taking an 83-76 decision. Temple great Hal Lear scored a team-high 15 points in a losing effort. Iowa would eventually lose to Bill Russell and the University of San Francisco in the title game while Temple would go on to beat SMU in the long-defunct third-place game. Lear was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
Friday will be the third all-time meeting between the programs. Iowa topped Temple, 73-71, on Nov. 14, 1990, in Iowa City. The Mark Macon-led Owls would eventually reach the Elite Eight.