Temple's offense stumbles during loss to Duke

BROOKLYN – From the opening minutes of the brisk, Friday night clash with No. 4 Duke at the Barclays Center, nothing was going Temple's way.

Junior Quenton DeCosey violently chucked a basketball at Duke freshman Justise Winslow following an unfavorable call. Will Cummings had three early fouls and largely added to Temple's 10 first half turnovers. Plus, the Owls shot an abysmal 25 percent from the field and an even worse 14.3 clip from deep.

If anything, it was Duke's game to lose more than it was Temple's to win. The star-studded Blue Devils rebounded from a poor shooting first half to accrue a 22-point second half lead and a 74-54 win in Brooklyn in the semifinals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.

And for Cummings, there wasn't much to take away from the loss.

"We will definitely take more bad than good from this game," Cummings said.

"Will mentioned he's not an eight-turnover guy," head coach Fran Dunphy added. "A lot of it is their defensive toughness and their mindset. One play, [Quinn] Cook stole that ball after a nice read. They're pretty good at what they do. We need to be more careful."

Duke (4-0) shot 39.1 percent from the field on 64 shots. The Owls (2-1) played suffocating defense, specifically on star freshman Jahlil Okafor, forcing him to a poor 7-for-20 from the floor. And though his play was sloppy, Cummings led Temple with 18 points.

And the Blue Devils did look rusty. They played their fourth game in 7 days and what followed was a slow first half. Duke then jumped out to a large lead on 38 second-half points on 52 percent shooting from the field.

But if anything, the legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski was disheartened that he had to play his "good buddy" Dunphy. They've known each other since the 1970s.

"Playing Dunph's team is always a challenge, he's one of the best coaches. Temple with their tradition, it's always a honor to play them," Coach K said. "Playing against Temple for me is a real honor. Playing against my buddy, I don't like that.

"The word genuine isn't used much when talking about coaches," he continued. "But Dunph is as genuine as can be. He's won 10 Ivy League titles [as Penn's coach] … He's a salt-of-the-earth guy. I love Dunph. He's one of the best."

There was also a challenge for Duke's freshmen. But in the backcourt, Coach K claimed that it was a good thing for young Tyus Jones to matchup with a player such as Cummings.

"That was a real good game for Tyus, because Cummings is a good player," he said. "It was good for him to play a veteran guy like that, who's good with the ball."

The Owls will close out the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic Saturday night at 7 against UNLV, which lost, 89-60, to Stanford. The Blue Devils and Cardinal will follow in the championship game.