Temple coach and Hall of Famer John Chaney boasts an impressive 20-3 record against Penn. However, those three losses to the Quakers have come in the past five seasons.
Nearly a decade after his first matchup with the Owls, Penn coach Fran Dunphy broke through on Nov. 23, 1998, with a 73-70 overtime win. His current squad has won the last two over its city rivals.
The Quakers (7-5, 1-2 Big 5) are looking to continue that streak and spoil Chaney's 72nd birthday in their final non-conference game of the season.
"It's our last big game before we head off to Ivy League play," senior Adam Chubb said. "It's one final good test for us to really let us know where we are going into Ivy."
In his 22nd year on the sidelines for the Cherry and White (5-8, 0-1), Chaney is facing a slow start for the second straight season.
After starting off 0-5 and 3-11 last year, the Owls rebounded to finish one win shy of making the NCAA Tournament -- losing 79-72 in the Atlantic-10 Tournament final to Dayton.
After another slow start this season, the Owls are again looking to avoid Chaney's first losing season since his initial campaign on Broad Street in 1982-83.
The legendary coach has 17 NCAA Tournament appearances to his credit, including five trips to the Elite Eight, but the Owls' last trip to the Big Dance came back in 2001.
The Owls' head man is renown for his matchup zone defense -- a mix of zone and man-to-man defenses.
The unique defense encompasses Temple defenders occupying space as they would in a zone, but when opponents fill those spaces the Owls come up and guard them like they would in a man-to-man defense. When the opposition leaves that space, the defenders do not follow them but stay in their respective zone.
With a week of practice since its last game, Penn has prepared for the matchup zone that it will see tonight.
"Of course we've tried to simulate their matchup, but it's tough to do," freshman forward Mark Zoller said.
Senior guard David Hawkins is Temple's leading scorer, averaging 23.2 points per game. The Washington native has taken 58 more shots than any one of his teammates.
The Quakers are looking to force the ball out of the standout guard's hands.
"We're going to try and limit his shots, make him get the ball out of his hands and try and make the rest of the team beat us," Zoller said.
The Owls' only other player who is averaging double-digit points is sophomore guard Mardy Collins, who averages 12.9 points per contest.
Penn hopes to limit Temple's top tandem as it did in the nightcap of last season's Big 5 Classic. Hawkins and Collins combined for just nine points on 1-of-18 from the field in a 71-46 Penn win.
News and Notes
With a win over Temple, Penn will have its eighth non-conference victory on the season. Since 1963, no Quakers squad has won eight non-conference games and lost the Ivy League championship. In this time, Penn has won eight non-Ivy games 14 times, winning Ancient Eight titles all 14 times.
After a week between today's game and Penn's last contest -- a 71-47 rout of La Salle -- the Quakers will have to wait nine more days until their next game, their Ivy League opener with Yale.
Chaney has a mark of 4-3 on his birthday.
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