Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Posted: 8:52 p.m.Updated: 10:12 p.m.
By Matt Haughton
CSNPhilly.com
BOX SCORE
DURHAM, N.C.Temple said it was up for the challenge. Too bad for the Owls, non-conference opponents pose no real challenge in this building.
No. 24 Temple was uncharacteristically sloppy on offense and had their eight-game winning streak snapped with Wednesday nights 78-61 loss to top-ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The rhythm of the game is part of the management of the game as well, so we were a little bit out of sorts, Temple head coach Fran Dunphy said. I think you have to give most of that credit to Duke because they are so strong defensively and theyre strong-minded overall. They have a purpose.
This program is no joke. This is as good as it gets.
News
Kyle Singler proved just how good he can be when his game is clicking, awaking from his recent shooting slumber to score 28 points as the Blue Devils (26-2, 12-1 ACC) extended their overall win streak at home to 35 games and their mark against non-conference opponents to a staggering 86 straightboth current NCAA bests.
Lavoy Allen notched another double-double for the Owls (21-6, 11-2 A-10) with 17 points and 13 rebounds while Rahlir Jefferson added 11 points.
Temple stayed the course early, finding the extra man on each possession to keep stride with Duke. Even with foul trouble forcing starting guards Juan Fernandez and Ramone Moore to the bench for most of the half, which resulted in eight turnovers in the period, the Owls were able to stay within striking distance and faced a manageable 31-24 deficit at halftime.
Going into halftime we were only down seven with myself and Juan not playing too much in the first half with foul trouble, so I thought we were in good position to come out and try to decrease that lead, Moore said.
The Blue Devils, back atop the rankings for a second time this season, were not buying into Moores plan.
A Singler layup was followed by a Seth Curry three-pointer that stretched Dukes lead to double digits. Nolan Smith then gained control of a loose ball and went streaking in for an acrobatic layup to give the Blue Devils a 7-2 run to start the second half and a 38-26 advantage on the scoreboard.
Things didnt get better after Dunphy called a timeout to rally the Owls. The teams traded baskets several times before Mason Plumlee threw down a pair of dunks, the second coming on an alley-oop pass from Curry at the 12:40 mark to push their lead to 16 while making the Cameron Crazies blow the lid off the building as their team was well on its way to handling its latest non-conference foe.
They got a lot of run-outs and things like that. When they run out the ball they get open three-pointers, Allen said. A couple of times we stopped their runs, but our run wasnt as big as theirs. The lead just continued to grow.
When we did have bad shot selection they ran it down our throat a couple of times on some easy run-outs, Dunphy said. Then, Singler we obviously did not do a great job on Singler. He was terrific tonight. He had a couple really hard drives to the rim. He was not to be denied.
While Singler proved to be unstoppable on offense it might have been his defense that swayed the matchup in Dukes favor.
Kyle played a sensational game. It was obvious on offense what he was doing, but defensively he was on Moore, said Dukes Mike Krzyzewski. Moores been averaging 22 points a game and is their biggest threat offensively, but Kyle held him to eight points.
The struggles of Moore and Fernandez (eight points on 2-of-10 shooting) definitely hindered the Owls. Still, it gave other players a chance to show what they can do in a big matchup, something the team will need with Scootie Randall and Micheal Eric both out with injuries.
I think Aaron Brown is going to be a good basketball player, Dunphy said of the freshman guard. He had a great stick-back in the first half and obviously he got into a little bit of foul trouble right away in the second half. T.J. DiLeo gave us good minutes. Khalif Wyatt probably didnt shoot as well as he can, but I think hell learn a lot from this game and work a little bit harder to get better looks at the basket. And even at the end of the game he was better than he was at the start of the game, so I think there are a lot of those kinds of pluses that well take out of the game.
All of those positives, though, were not enough to come out with a victory.
Theyre a great team, Moore said. Theyre the No. 1 team for a reason.
E-mail Matt Haughton at mhaughton@comcastportsnet.com
Related: Temple's trip to hostile Cameron Indoor could pay off