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After beating both SMU and Tulane, that Temple had previously lost to, next up was UConn that had at also beaten Temple in their first meeting by 15-points, 78-63. Temple had only scored 21 points in the first half, and Scott had playing only 10 minutes, had not scored, as he had not shot the ball.

Would Mckie play small ball that had been so successful in Temple’s two prior conference games? Would he play small ball in the first half so Temple would not find itself trailing at half-time?

Temple was facing off a UConn team that was arguably the best team in the AAC, having won three out of it’s last four conference games, including a 16-point victory over Tulsa that had beaten Temple by 26-points, had an overtime win over Cincinnati, and a 3-point victory over Memphis, the later two teams having also beaten Temple. After playing Temple in their second match-up, UConn went on to run the table, winning their last five conference games that included beating powerhouse Houston.

Moorman and Perry had recovered from their injuries, and both were now now prepared to play.

McKie decided he wanted both Forrester and undersized Moorman to man the center position, and for Rose to play the PF position, thus allowing hot shooting Scott to come off the bench and play significant minutes.

McKie recognized that Temple played best when Alani, NPL, Scott, and Rose played significant minutes together. All four players created fits UConn’s defense.

It still remained to be seen whether Temple playing small ball could keep UConn’s from scoring less than the 78-points UcConn had scored against Temple in it’s first match.

Both teams played mostly a man to man defense.

In both halves, Scott came off the bench and played till the end of each half. He was not shuttled in and out.

Temple started the game with both 6’10” Forrester and 6’11” Hamilton upfront along with A. Moore, NPL, and Rose. After three minutes of play, 6’7” Moorman and 6’7” Perry subbed in for Forrester and Hamilton.

Temple was now playing small ball with Alani, Nate, Rose, Perry, Moorman on the court. Moorman was Temple’s center.

Scott subbed in 6 minutes (14 minute mark) into the half with Temple trailing by 5-points. McKie had Scott sub-in for Alani Moore.

Three minutes later, at the 11 minute mark, Temple was trailing by 4-points, when Mckie subbed-in Alani along with Forrester and JPL, in place of Moorman, Perry, and Nate.

At the 9-minute mark, UConn had extended it’s lead to 10-points, 23-13. Temple had scored but 13-points in the first 11-minutes played, but it’s small ball defense was playing well as it gave up but 13-points. Scott had scored 4 of Temple’s 13-points.

Mckie then pulled Josh and Forrester, and inserted Moorman and Perry again. They were playing with Alani, Rose, and Scott.

Rose having started subbed out at the 8-minute mark. Less than two-minutes later, Rose subbed back in.

So, Temple’s line-up is now Alani, Nate, Scott, Rose and Forrester.

In 6 minutes of play, Temple’s small line-up had erased the 10-point deficit as at the 5-minute mark the score was tied 27-27.

Scott had scored 11 points in 9 minutes of playing time, shooting a torrid 5-6 on two’s, 0-1 on three’s, 1-1 at the foul line, having been fouled on one of his made 2’s.

The half ended with Temple up 36-33. Temple had scored 9-points in the last 5 minutes of the half to close out the half.

Nate had scored four points on foul shots.

Rose had scored 4-points in 18-minutes of play, shooting 0-3 on two’s, 0-1 on three’s, and shot 4-4 from the foul line, had one block, 1-assist, and
1 turnover.

In the second-half, Hamilton started upfront again with Forrester.

Three minutes into the second-half, Temple had extended it’s lead to 40-35 with Hamilton on the court. UConn had only scored 2-points in those three minutes. Mckie then subbed-in in Moorman for Hamilton, even though Temple had extended it’s lead and UConn had scored but 2-points.

Hamilton did not return. Forrester and Moorman’s were playing together upfront.

Scott subbed in for Forrester four minutes into the second-half when Temple was up 4-points.

During the next 3-minutes with Moorman playing center, Temple lost it’s lead and found itself down a point, 33-32, with 14:32 remaining in the half.

At the 14-minute mark Forrester subbed in for Moorman and he remained on the court for 10 minutes till the 4 minute mark. During those ten minutes, Scott shot 3-3 on two’s, and Temple regained the lead and was up six points, 63-57 with four minutes to play in the second half.

With four minutes to play, Moorman then subbed-in for Forrester. This was a huge mistake as Temple’s six point lead quickly vanished as Moorman did a terrible job of defending the paint.as UConn on five straight possessions scored on lay-ups. UConn scored 12-points in 4-minutes to close-out regulation with both teams tied at 69-69.

James Scott led Temple to scoring 16 more points than Temple did in the first game playing UConn, and holding UConn to scoring 7 fewer points than they had in it’s first game playing Temple.

During regulation, Temple’s bench led by Scott’s 17-points outscored UConn 24-14, a huge reversal from the first game when UConn’s bench outscored Temple by 14-points, 20-points to 6.

The game then moved into the the first 5-minute overtime.

Temple and UConn traded baskets in the first overtime. Temple trailed by three points with 25-seconds remaining in the first overtime, and Mckie called time-out. In the huddle, the team implored McKie to have Scott take a three even though he had missed two already. The HC agreed.

Alani Moore advanced the ball across the half-court line and passed the ball to Scott who was standing with his back to the basket beyond the three-point line. Scott was confronted by two UConn defenders, Scott pumped fake, whirled around, went up, put a nice arc on the ball and watched the ball slice thru them net tying the game, and sending into double overtime with the score tied 80-80.

In the first overtime, Scott scored 5 of Temple’s 11 first-overtime points, on 2-2 shooting, including his 3-point basket.

In the second overtime,Temple outscored UConn 13-9 and beat UConn 93-89 in double-overtime. Temple was led by Alani Moore who scored six of Temple’s 13-points as he made a lay-up, and shot 4-4 at the foul-line. Scott scored 3-points shooting 3-4 from the foul-line. Rose scored no points, on 0-1 fga’s, and had two turnovers.

In two 5-minute overtime periods, Temple scored 24-points. Scott had scored 8-points in 10 minutes of overtime.

In the first game, UConn outscored Temple by 16-points in the paint, In this game, Temple playing small ball, limited UConn to only outscoring Temple by 6-points in the paint.

In a post-game press interview, Scott was asked about his three-point shot and he replied that he practices that shot and was confident he would make it. NPL jumped in and said Scott makes it all the time.

UConn’s HC Hurley who had recruited Scott, at his post-game conference, called Scott a “dangerous” player.

Scott, Alani Moore, and NPL, and Rose each played 40 plus minutes of the 50 minute UConn game. Most of the time they were on the court together.

Scott was high scorer with 25 points, shooting a whopping 9-11 on two’s, 1-4 on three’s, 4-6 at the foul-line, had 1-assists, 4-rebounds, and two steals. He scored 25 points taking only 15 FGA’s. This is way above his ultimate average of 8 ppg.

NPL scored 23 points on 8-14 shooting, 5-8 on two’s 2-3 on three’s, 6-6 at the foulline, 4 assists, and 13 rebounds. This is way above his conference average of 10 ppg. NPL making half his two’s was his third conference game rown he had done so, and only his fifth time in conference play.

Alani Moore scored 14-points on 4-8 shooting, including 2-4 on three’s, and was 6-6 at the foul-line. His 14-points exceeded his his conference average of 10 ppg.

As PF, Rose guarded the rim and had 4-blocked shots.NPL came down from his guard position and garnered 13-defensive rebounds.

Rose scored 16-points on 3-15 shooting, 3-11 on two’s, , 0-4 on three’s, 9-13 at the foul-line, had 4-assists, 6-turnovers, and 4 blocked shots. The 4-blocked shot attested to how well he played at PF. In two straight games playing small ball Rose had taken double-digit foul-shots. His 13- foul shots were to second most he had taken all season.

Moorman played 27-minutes at the Center position in Temple’s small line-up, along with Alani, NPL, Scott, and Rose. and scored but 4-points, on 1-3 shooting, 2-2 from the foul-line.

Scott guarded this year’s 1st round lottery pick (10th) James Bouknight and limited him to scoring just 16-points on 6-17 shooting.

Temple made 11 steals to UConn’s 7 steals.

UConn took 87 FGA’s, and Temple just 62 FGA’s. Part of the reason is that Temple got to foul line more than UConn.

Temple committed 6-less fouls than UConn did. Temple playing small ball kept Temple’s fouls down asTemple were playing bigs, who foul at a higher rate, very little.

In 50 minutes of playing time, Temple committed 17-fouls compared to UConn’s 23. Guard Alani Moore playing 45 minutes committed but one foul. Rose committed 2-fouls playing 47 minutes. Scott committed 2 fouls playing 40 minutes. All three players keeping their fouls down demonstrated discipline.

In regulation, Temple had taken 27 foul-shots to UConn’s 14 foul-shots. Playing SMU, Temple had taken 29 foul shots when Temple beat amount in one overtime. Playing Tulane, Temple took 26 foul-shots. In prior conference games when Temple played bigger, In prior games when Temple did not play small ball, Temple only averaged 18 foul shots per conference game.

Temple taking 27 foul-shot against HConn in regulation was huge. Taking more foul shots than opponents do is important, as teams shoot a much higher percentage at the foul line-than they do on fga’’s. Teams usually average shooting 70 percent plus at the foul-line, but a far lower percentage on two’s and three’s.

Thru double overtime, Temple took 35 foul shots to UConn’s 20. It’s safe to conclude that playing small board with good drivers to the hoop was responsible in Temple taking so many foul shots. Temple did so in three straight games.

Temple scored 9 more points at the foul-line than UConn did. Since Temple took more foul shots than Temple, Temple’s advantage at the foul-line, more than offset UConn taking far more fga’s than Temple, as Temple made more foul shots, and shot a higher shooting percent on fga’s. UConn only outscored Temple by 4-points on fga’s.

Taking Temple’s 9 more points scored at the foul line, and subtracting both the 4-points UConn made more than Temple on 2’s, and UConn’s one point advantage on made three’s for a total of 5-points, from Temple’s 9 more points scored at the foul line, explains Temple’s beating UConn by 4-points, 93-89.

In UConn’s prior 15-point win over Temple, 78-63, Uconn took 30 foul shots due to Temple’s bigs fouling a lot, compared to Temple’s 17 foul shots, and outscored Temple by 14 points at the foul-line.

Rose shot 9-13 on foul-shot. Alani Moore shot 6-6 from the foul-line. James Scott was 4-6 from the foul-line, Moorman Forrester and we’re all 2-2 from the foul line. In Temple’s win over Tulane game he took 13 foul shots.

Temple also shot better than UConn on two’s. As Temple shot 48-percent to UConn’s 43 percent. The reason Temple is Scott shot 9-11 on two’s, and NPL improved his two-point shooting. As Nate shot 54 percent (6-11) on two-pointers. He had not made half his two’s in any prior conference games.

Temple shooting 48 percent (24-58) on 2’s is a far higher percentage than when Temple shot 39.5 percent (19-48) in it’s first game with UConn. Temple’s smaller agrsssive line-up, line-up improved Temple’s shooting.

Temple shot slightly better taking a few more 3’s as Temple shot 35 percent (6-17) on three’s, compared to the first match-up when Temple shot 33 percent 4-12 on three’s.

Interesting, even tough UConn was facing a far Temple team they faced in their previous game with Temple, UConn shot almost the same percentage on two’s and three’s in both game they played Temple.

As UConn shot 43.1 (25-58) on 2’s and in the first game, and shot 43.2 percent (16-37) on two’s in the second game. UConn shot poorly on three’s in both games as well. As UConn in the second game, only shot only 29 percent (7-24) on three’s. and in the first game UConn shot 28 percent ( 7-25) on three’s.


For the third straight conference game, Temple playing Scott, Alani Moore, NPL and Rose together was Temple’s strongest line-up.

Prior to those games, Temple was shooting only 42 percent on 2’s in conference play. But in those three conference games, Temple shot a whopping 54 percent on two’s (69-127), with Scott leading the pack shooting an astounding 82.6 percent (19-23).

Scott playing significant minutes greatly increased his two-point shooting percentages and scoring, and helped improved NPL’s 2-point shooting percentage, and Rose!s trips to foul-line. Resulted in Temple beating three straight conference opponents they previously lost to.,