Anonymous
December 10th, 2004, 10:59 PM
YOUNG PLAYERS POWER OWLS TO STRONG START
Andover MD-- Temple ran it's record to 2-0 in this young season with a 80-73 squeaker over Georgetown Friday night. This win followed a 9 point victory over Auburn in the season opener. The Owls have been given and early Christmas present with the emergence of sophmores Dustin Salisbery and Wayne Marshall. Salisbery a guard from Lancaster, PA has been hitting from the outside and the inside en routhe to a 25 ppg average while the 6'11" Marshall, a center when practice for the season started, has moved into the starting PF role and averaged 10 points, 9 boards, and 2.5 blocks per game. Combine that with the steady play of junior guard Mardy Collins and the Owls seemingly have found the recipe for success.
However, the Owls now face a tough stretch in the schedule with away games at #22 South Carolina, # 7 Wake Forest, # 4 Maryland, and#2 Duke. Temple will need thier young players to keep producing to even stay competitive in these coming weeks. Coach Dillard remarked. "I know our guys have been playing extremely well but we are about to see how we match up against the nation's elite. We're going to be well prepared and defend as Temple always does and hopefully steal some of these games. We need some forward momentum heading into the long conference schedule."
Temple will undoubtably try to slow the games down against the teams that are more highly rated as fast break offense and high scores are not in the Owls vocabulary. A lot depends on the players executing the game plan that Coach Dillard lays out for them. "Coach always has us prepared, that's why we practice at 5 am every day in the Liacouras Center. All that hard work will pay off eventually and I think you've seen that in our early games" remarked junior center Keith Butler.
While beating Auburn and Goergetown may not impress national voters or certain writers at this paper, it's certainly better that 0-2. "We need to keep this thing rolling. Right now we feel like we can play with anyone if we force them to play our game" said Butler. In the next few weeks we will see just what kind of team Temple has this year.
Andover MD-- Temple ran it's record to 2-0 in this young season with a 80-73 squeaker over Georgetown Friday night. This win followed a 9 point victory over Auburn in the season opener. The Owls have been given and early Christmas present with the emergence of sophmores Dustin Salisbery and Wayne Marshall. Salisbery a guard from Lancaster, PA has been hitting from the outside and the inside en routhe to a 25 ppg average while the 6'11" Marshall, a center when practice for the season started, has moved into the starting PF role and averaged 10 points, 9 boards, and 2.5 blocks per game. Combine that with the steady play of junior guard Mardy Collins and the Owls seemingly have found the recipe for success.
However, the Owls now face a tough stretch in the schedule with away games at #22 South Carolina, # 7 Wake Forest, # 4 Maryland, and#2 Duke. Temple will need thier young players to keep producing to even stay competitive in these coming weeks. Coach Dillard remarked. "I know our guys have been playing extremely well but we are about to see how we match up against the nation's elite. We're going to be well prepared and defend as Temple always does and hopefully steal some of these games. We need some forward momentum heading into the long conference schedule."
Temple will undoubtably try to slow the games down against the teams that are more highly rated as fast break offense and high scores are not in the Owls vocabulary. A lot depends on the players executing the game plan that Coach Dillard lays out for them. "Coach always has us prepared, that's why we practice at 5 am every day in the Liacouras Center. All that hard work will pay off eventually and I think you've seen that in our early games" remarked junior center Keith Butler.
While beating Auburn and Goergetown may not impress national voters or certain writers at this paper, it's certainly better that 0-2. "We need to keep this thing rolling. Right now we feel like we can play with anyone if we force them to play our game" said Butler. In the next few weeks we will see just what kind of team Temple has this year.