#19 Temple Prepares for the Minutemen

After two days of rest from defeating city rival Penn, the Temple Owls will return to the Liacouras Center to welcome the UMass Minutemen

The Owls' Nest will give you an in-depth look at Saturday afternoon's outing for the Temple Men's Basketball team.

#19 Temple Owls vs. Massachusetts Minutemen
Liacouras Center (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Television: (TV) N/A | (RADIO) 1210 WPHT
Tip-off: 2:00 PM

The head to head matchup has Temple leading 40-20. The latest matchup came last year UMass earned the victory, 79-75.

Massachusetts Minutemen

Overall Record: (7-9)(1-2)
2008 Record: (12-18)(7-9)
Last Game: (70-63 OT loss to Richmond)

Key Losses: (G) Chris Lowe, (C) Tony Gaffney
Key Returns: (G) Ricky Harris, (G) Anthony Gurley,

The UMass Minutemen have done quite well this year given the fact that the team lost three starters from last year's squad. Ricky Harris and Anthony Gurley hope the right the ship after the Minutemen's heartbreaking overtime loss to the Richmond Spiders. UMass will travel to Philadelphia in hopes of knocking off the Owls.

Senior guard Ricky Harris is the team's leading scorer and assist man at 17 points 3 assists per outing. He is a dynamic scorer, with the ability to beat you to the rack, or settle for the jumper. He has also been the team's most consistent scorer, piling up 10 or more points in every game he has played in.

Behind him, though, is no drop off. Anthony Gurley scores the Minutemen another 15 points, and grabs 5 boards per game. In last year's game, Harris and Gaffney combined for 40 of Massachusetts' 79 points.

Freshman Freddie Riley has contributed early in his young college career as UMass's third leading scorer with 11 points. In his last two outing against La Salle and Richmond, Riley has averaged a team high 21 points per game.

Here's an idea of Massachusetts' scoring, as we refer to their statistics from their previous game against Richmond:

Freddie Riley (20 points, 2 rebounds)
Ricky Harris (18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists)
Sampson Carter (7 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist)
Javorn Farrell (7 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assist)

There are a number of productive players on this team, and any one of them can go off on the opponent. Temple fans hope that Ricky Harris does not shoot the lights out the way he did against them last year.

Getting Harris and Gurley scoring early, and possibly contributions from Freddie Riley will definitely be a key for UMass to keep this game close early on.

Please be sure to visit the following Massachusetts sites for more on the Rams:

UMassAthletics.com | MassLive.com | UMass Hoops
#19 Temple Owls

Overall Record: (14-3)(2-0)
2008 Record (20-12)(11-5)
Last Game: (60-45 win over Penn)

Key Losses: (G) Dionte Christmas, (G) Semaj Inge, (C) Sergio Olmos
Key Returns: (G) Ryan Brooks, (F) Lavoy Allen, (G) Juan Fernandez

After taking care of Big Five rival Penn on Wednesday afternoon, the Temple Owls will now return to conference play against UMass.

The Owls have seen much more production from their post game in the past few games-- Micheal Eric and Lavoy Allen have become more and more effective for this team, both with scoring and rebounding. This has allowed for a more diverse offensive attack from the 19th ranked team in the country.

Leading the Owls in scoring is senior guard Ryan Brooks. He is more of a jump shooter, but isn't hesitant to take the ball to the rack for the score. He averages 15 points and almost 6 rebounds per outing thus far, and has been very reliable through the entire season.

Lavoy Allen is the team's third leading scorer, averaging 11 points. He compliments this with a double-double with 10 boards per game as well. Micheal Eric's production has increased drastically; he is now averaging about 5 points and 3 rebounds per game for the Owls.

Another deadly scorer for this team is Juan Fernandez. Fernandez is the team's true point guard, but shares the floor in the starting lineup with Luis Guzman. He has taken more of a scoring roll, but consistently flashes signs of his unbelievable ball handling abilities. Juan averages 13 points with close to 4 assists for Temple.

Here's Temple's last top performers in their game against St. Joe's:

Ryan Brooks (15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists)
Juan Fernandez (12 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists)
Micheal Eric (9 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals)
Lavoy Allen (6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks)

The Owls get scoring and defensive efforts from Craig Williams, Ramone Moore, and Rahlir Jefferson. Williams and Moore are the shooters of the three, while Jefferson has been known for his defensive tenacity and pressure.

Predicted Starting 5

Here's our prediction of Saturday's starting five for the Temple Owls:

(G) Juan Fernandez
(G) Ryan Brooks
(G) Luis Guzman
(F) Lavoy Allen
(C) Micheal Eric

Key Players (TEM): If Temple is able to create post play opportunities for the bigs, they can be even more dangerous than they already are. Having two 6'9+ players on the court who can consistently score and rebound on both ends will only make this team better than it already has been. Temple's defense will also need to keep eyes on the three headed scoring attack of Harris, Gurley, and Riley.

Key Players (UMASS): Ricky Harris and Anthony Gurley will be going up against one of the best half court defenses in the country. They will need to find their strokes early on in this game to provide efficient scoring outlets. It has not been easy for teams that have fallen behind against the Owls to make comebacks when the Temple defense is lock down.

We'll have more in store for Sunday's meeting with the Rams as the week progresses!