Temple at La Salle
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Where: Tom Gola Arena, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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THE STORY: Temple, winners of 10 straight, hopes to celebrate its return to the national rankings with a win against old rival La Salle. The No 22 Owls had not been ranked all season, but has won 15 of 17 since its 6-3 start and returned to the top 25 for the third straight year. One of those wins was a 76-70 win over La Salle on Jan. 18 in Philadelphia, when Temple was able to use its strong inside game to its advantage. La Salle snapped a three-game losing streak by handing UMass its first home loss. Temple has won nine of the last ten meetings.
TV: 7 p.m. ET. No TV.
ABOUT TEMPLE (21-5, 9-2 A-10): The Owls are 9-0 since 6-foot-11 senior Micheal Eric returned from a right patella injury. Eric is averaging 7.3 points and 7.8 rebounds and the team is allowing only 64.3 points since his return.. The Owls feature two of the top three scorers in the A-10: Ramone Moore (18.2 points) and Khalif Wyatt (17.0 points), who are both excellent 3-point shooters. Rahir Hollis-Jefferson is shooting 58.1 percent from the floor and leads the team with 6.7 rebounds. The floor leader is Juan Fernandez, who averages 3.9 assists and was named Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week for averaging 18 points, five assists and three steals in a pair of wins.
ABOUT LA SALLE (18-9, 7-5 A-10): Earl Pettis and Ramon Galloway are tied for the team scoring lead at 14.7 points. Galloway ranks second in the conference and sixth in the nation with a 46.8 percent success rate on 3-pointers. The Explorers love to shoot the 3-pointer; they rank fifth in the nation at 41.2 percent. Jerrell Wright is averaging 13.5 points and is shooting 61.4 percent (43 for 70) from the floor in his last six games. Tyreek Duren (13.7) has made 30 of his last 32 from the line and had made 81.6 percent of his shots.
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1. La Salle is 16-3 when scoring 70 or more points.
2. A win would give Temple its longest winning streak in 12 years.
3. La Salle has been outrebounded in five of its last six games and was outrebounded by nine in the first meeting with Temple.
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