Temple fans rush the court after the Owls' 88-81 upset victory over No. 18-ranked Memphis on Thursday night. (Photo: Aaron Bracy)
By AARON BRACY
January 16, 2025
PHILADELPHIA – Much like the city it calls home, Temple University prides itself on toughness.
Travel up Broad Street, stop at the Liacouras Center, cup your ears, and you might hear:
Temple Made and Temple Proud.
Look around and you might see:
#TempleTUFF
Toughness embodies what the school is all about, something John Chaney famously displayed year in and year out, game in and game out, during his legendary career as Temple’s men’s basketball coach.
Toughness and Temple just kind of go together.
It has been a point of emphasis for second-year coach Adam Fisher, too, something that was obvious earlier this season when a steaming Fisher talked about how the Owls got their butts kicked at La Salle.
On Wednesday night at an energetic Liacouras Center, blanketed with white T-shirts for a whiteout game, excited fans and alumni watched one tough team go on to a victory. This time, it was Temple asserting its force. This time, it wasn’t Fisher but Memphis coach Penny Hardaway bemoaning his team’s fortitude after the Owls upset the 18th-ranked Tigers 88-81.
“We weren’t tough enough,” Hardway said. “Tonight, they were the tougher team.”
The statistics bear it out, as the Owls owned the rebounding battle, outmuscling Memphis 49-25 on the glass, including 22-10 in offensive rebounds.
“That’s got to be our identity,” Fisher said. “Our grittiness, our toughness was awesome.”
There was plenty of skill to go with that toughness, too.
The Owls led by as many as 15 points in the second half, getting contributions from up and down their lineup. Five players, led by Jamal Mashburn Jr.’s 21 points, reached double figures. Shane Dezonie had a monster game with 15 points and 13 rebounds, including a whopping eight offensive rebounds. Quante Berry contributed 19 points, three rebounds, and three assists; Steve Settle III added 11 points and six rebounds; Mashburn chipped in five boards and four assists; and Temple even got an important and needed lift from little-used 7-footer Mohamed Keita, who gave them three points and a rebound in 10 minutes after entering without a point or rebound in 14 total minutes this season.
“We just looked focused,” Fisher said. “Just energy and communication.”
The Owls minimized the damage that Memphis’s PJ Haggerty can cause. Entering averaging 22.4 points as the nation’s third-leading scorer, Haggerty had just two points on 1 of 4 shooting before the break. He did finish with 21 points but needed 13 field-goal attempts and 13 free-throw attempts to get there.
Dezonie said the Owls mixed up a lot of looks against Haggerty and the Tigers. It worked well, too, as the nation’s ninth-ranked three-point shooting team went just 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc.
“Guys coming together, gelling on the court, off the court,” Dezonie said.
The victory is the biggest in Fisher’s two-year tenure. Memphis has been tested this season, entering with the top-ranked strength of schedule in the country. The Tigers have wins over high-major teams Missouri, UConn, Clemson, Virginia, and Mississippi.
So, what made Temple so good?
“They were united, bonded together, crashed the glass, and stayed in attack mode,” Hardaway said.
“Toughest team won.”
–Lynn Greer III update: Temple once again was without Lynn Greer III, who sat for the second straight game after being suspended for conduct detrimental to the team prior to Saturday’s win at Rice. Greer was not on the bench on in sight in the arena. Nothing has changed as far as his status, though his picture was removed from Temple’s roster on its website and clicking on his name brought a dead link.
To recap, Greer missed Temple’s first nine games due to an NCAA-sanctioned suspension, returned for the next four, sat for one due to “personal reasons,” played one more, and then was suspended by the team.
Also missing from Temple’s bench was Greer’s father, Lynn Greer, Temple’s second all-time leading scorer who is the program’s chief of staff. However, the elder Greer’s absence was due to an unrelated matter and he remains part of the program.
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Aaron Bracy has been covering Philadelphia sports since 1996. Follow Bracy on X: @Aaron_Bracy and like his Facebook and Instagram pages. His book on the 2003-04 Saint Joseph’s men’s basketball team is expected to be published on March 1, 2025. Read a summary and preorder it by clicking HERE. Contact him at aaron@big5hoops.com.