Temple wins fourth straight, rallies to stun UConn, 63-58

WRITTEN BY TOM HANSLIN @tomhanslin

Two late and costly turnovers were deemed as fatal for Connecticut on Thursday night, as Temple rallied in the closing minutes with an improbable 21-4 run to defeat the Huskies, 63-58 at the Liacouras Center.

“I’m just not sure how it all came to be,” said Owls’ head coach Fran Dunphy, who won his 518th game in Philadelphia’s Big Five.

Owls’ guard Daniel Dingle scored a career-high 15 points, six of which came on two implausible three-pointers in the closing minutes that generated Temple’s late pandemonium.

“I was going to shoot regardless,” said Dingle, who made four of five baskets from behind the arc. “I was trying to help get us back into the game. My confidence was high. I put in the work and got lucky tonight.”

Temple’s Quenton DeCosey also put in the work, scoring 23 total points and the Owls’ final nine points to help secure the team’s seventh victory in the last eight games.

“We stayed together as a team, we fought together, and it paid off down the stretch,” said DeCosey. “We’re on a roll right now.”

Temple played only seven guys for the entire forty minutes, with guard Josh Brown earning five rebounds and four assists in 39 total minutes. Devin Coleman also excelled from three-point range, tallying 11 points on three made jumpers.

The first half concluded with a jump shot made by DeCosey to put the Owls ahead 31-29, eliminating a five point lead that Connecticut held in the final two minutes. Despite the momentum shift, Temple returned lethargic in the second half, scoring only 11 points with ten minutes remaining in regulation.

The Owls’ lack of energy propelled another Huskies’ offensive run, as Connecticut led 53-42 with 5:51 remaining, seemingly closing the doors on any hopes of a rally from Temple. But three consecutive three-pointers by Dingle and Coleman trimmed the score differential to two points, and an inside teardrop from DeCosey knotted the game at 58 apiece with 1:10 left on the clock.

From there, Connecticut’s offense vanished, and after a double-dribble violation from Daniel Hamilton and a misdirected inbound pass from Rodney Purvis, the game was all but won for Temple, stunning Huskies’ head coach Kevin Ollie.

“We had six turnovers in the last six minutes,” said Ollie. “It just came down to toughness. We just didn’t make the shots.”

Huskies’ forward Shonn Miller tallied 15 points with four rebounds and two steals, while Purvis contributed 12 points and four rebounds. Connecticut won in points in the paint, 24-22, but Temple won the rebound battle, 36-35, and with more shooting opportunities, the Owls also outscored the Huskies 17-7 in second chance points.

The victory improved Temple’s overall record to 15-8, increasing the team’s American Athletic Conference record to 9-3, handing them sole possession of first place atop the standings. With the loss, Connecticut dipped to 17-7, and now trail the Owls by two games in the win column with a conference record of 7-4.

Climatic finishes have become second nature to Temple this season, as 16 of their total 23 games have been decided by single digits.

“We compete,” said Dunphy. “And I’m hoping that can carry us as we go through these last seven games because we got plenty of difficult games on our schedule.”

Temple will look for five wins in a row on Sunday afternoon against South Florida in the second game of a brief three game home stand, before welcoming in No. 1 ranked Villanova on Wednesday night.