Gameday Preview: no. 21 UConn at Temple

Temple University Owls

KenPom: Overall 106 (71st Offense, 265th Defense)

2013-'14 Record: 7-17

Head Coach: Fran Dunphy

Preview

How fun is winning?

Following their thrilling overtime victory over Memphis on Saturday, the Huskies will now ride a three-game win streak into Philadelphia tonight for their second meeting of 2014 with Temple. Shabazz Napier dropped a career-best 34 points on the Tigers last weekend, as Ryan Boatright poured in a season-high 21.

Meanwhile, the Owls knocked off then-no. 23 SMU in their own building on Saturday, but overall have lost 12 of their last 13. One of those defeats included a 90-66 UConn-dealt demolishing at the XL Center, a game that Boatright missed to attend the funeral of his cousin. Napier dropped a grand total of 27 points in his stead, four shy of DeAndre Daniels' ridiculous 31.

Explosive offense could once again steal the show tonight given that Temple is indisputably amongst the worst defensive teams (77.4 allowed points/game) in the country. Offensively, their best asset is the ability to limit turnovers, which come at a rate of just 14.8 miscues per contest. This figures to limit the Huskies ability to get out in transition. However, they should be able to feed Daniels once again, since there is no good individual matchup for him on the Owl bench.

Senior guard Dalton Pepper leads Temple in scoring at 17.3 points per game, though he managed just a dozen against UConn back in January. Junior Will Cummings, who notched a team-high 20 points that night at the XL Center, trails by just over a point at an average of 16.2 points per contest. Containing this backcourt will be paramount for the Huskies.

Injury Report: Owls forward Anthony Lee has been deemed "questionable" by his head coach Fran Dunphy due to a left knee injury sustained last Friday against Louisville. Lee did not play against SMU. He is also the AAC's leading rebounder at 8.9 boards per game.

Prediction: UConn wins 79-65