ORLANDO, Fla. — In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t much matter.
Jaylen Bond made a clever pass to Devin Coleman that resulted in a layup that put Temple up 16 points over a team with only seven scholarship players and four minutes left in its season.
It wasn’t anything anyone would make a big deal about — other than Temple head coach Fran Dunphy.
He’s the one who brought it up unprompted less than a minute into his news conference after top-seeded Temple (21-10, 15-4) rolled to a 79-62 victory (see Instant Replay) over USF (8-25, 4-15) to advance to the semifinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament, where it will meet No. 4 UConn on Saturday.
“I thought Jaylen’s pass to Devin Coleman underneath the basket to get us back to [16] … was a critical play.” Dunphy said. “I think Jaylen made a lot of really good plays. … If he can add that piece (passing) to it, and get assists and no turnovers, that will be a great opportunity for us to get even better.”
Bond finished with a team-high 17 points on 8 for 12 shooting. He added eight rebounds, a career-high four steals, and three assists. In his last three games, he’s averaging a 12-and-11 double-double.
The senior out of Plymouth-Whitemarsh High School has played in one NCAA Tournament game in his five-year career, but he’s never scored. His Texas Longhorns lost as an 11-seed to No. 6 Cincinnati in 2012. The then-freshman played nine minutes, taking four shots and missing them all.
Two years later, he was back in Philadelphia, sitting on the bench as a transfer while Temple suffered through its worst season in program history, unable to help.
Last year, in his first season on the floor for Temple, he spent the majority of the semifinals of the AAC tournament back on the bench, injured and saddled with fouls. He played only 11 minutes. Temple, of course, lost that game to SMU and was left out of the NCAA Tournament.
This is Bond’s last chance to get back to the dance. And he knows it.
“Our main goal is to win this tournament to solidify us being in the NCAA Tournament,” Bond said. “That’s our main goal right now.”
If they do that, they won’t have to worry about getting snubbed again.
The American this season is potentially a one-bid league without the best team in the conference; SMU has been banned from postseason play. The conference tournament’s winner will obviously earn the league’s automatic bid, but it’s unclear if any other team will make the field of 68.
“I think that having that feeling from last year, we all remember it, we all remember how it felt, not making the tournament,” said sophomore forward Obi Enechionyia, who added 13 points in just 17 minutes after missing most of the first half with foul trouble.
“That’s something we all want to experience — getting to the tournament and getting to play late in the season. Having that feeling in our minds and just remembering that, I think it’s motivated all of us.”
At the very least, Temple (RPI 59, SOS 63) needs a win Saturday. The Owls have already beaten UConn twice this year in close games, knocking off the No. 23 Huskies in Hartford on Jan. 5 and stunning Kevin Ollie’s team at the Liacouras Center with a 21-4 closing run on Feb. 11.
The Huskies advanced to the semis after beating Cincinnati, 104-97, in quadruple-overtime on the strength of a three-quarter-court buzzer beater at the end of the third extra session.
“Well, they’re really good basketball teams,” Dunphy said, not knowing which team Temple would play, “and we need to play our best basketball game. Our guys know that. All four of those games were very, very close, and a shot at one end and a miss at the other is what those games came down to. I’m very impressed with both of those teams and we better be ready to go.”
Beating any quality opponent a third time in the same season tends to be a big ask, and Temple likely need a big performance from Bond, the solo captain on a team of four seniors and the only solo captain in Dunphy’s 10 years on North Broad.
“His teams have won a lot of games over the last couple years, and I think his leadership is showing through,” Dunphy added.
Two more wins and Temple is back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013, when the Owls nearly advanced Dunphy to the second weekend for the first time in his coaching career.
No matter what happens this weekend, the coach isn’t going anywhere. But for Bond, this is it.
“I definitely know my time here is winding down,” he said. “I’m trying to give a 100-percent effort to finish out my season strong for me and my teammates.”