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Hootin' and hollerin' Streaking Owls rout Gators, head to Sweet 16
Updated: Monday March 19, 2001 7:33 AM
NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Temple players freely admit it takes them years to figure out head coach John Chaney's favorite defense. With only one day to prepare for something it had never seen, Florida stood no chance. Temple frustrated the Gators with its renowned matchup zone and, behind the shooting of Quincy Wadley and Lynn Greer, won 75-54 Sunday in the second round of the NCAA South Regional. It was a familiar Philadelphia story for the 11th-seeded Owls as their defense added yet another top opponent to their list of tournament victims. "It pretty much demoralized them," Wadley said. Temple shut down Florida's up-tempo shooters and shut off its passing lanes. With six minutes left, the third-seeded Gators had only 13 baskets but 11 turnovers. The 54 points matched the fewest in head coach Billy Donovan's five years at the school. "Coach Chaney says a lot of things, and some of them I may not remember. The main thing was that we had to play good defense," Greer said. Coming off Friday's 79-65 win against Texas, the Owls advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 1999.
"We've been walking a tight wire for the last 4-to-5 weeks," Chaney said. "With what they've accomplished, I've got to applaud them." The Gators fell behind by 20 at halftime, and never had a chance to make a return trip to the NCAA title game, where they lost 89-76 to Michigan State last season. At times, Florida (24-7) looked like it was facing a 2-3-2 defense, rather than one with only five players. "They've got a really active zone," Donovan said. "We took some long, ill-advised 3s." Florida sharpshooter Brett Nelson hit three early 3-pointers, then Temple switched up and stopped him. He wasn't exactly sure what the Owls did. "They used a box-and-one or a triangle-and-two," he said. "It was tough to get off shots."
The signs of frustration were obvious, and so were the statistics. Players were shaking their heads, coaches were shouting and Florida shot only 18-for-50 overall, including 8-for-29 on 3-pointers. Wadley had 24 points and 10 rebounds. Scoreless for the opening 11 minutes, he sparked a 14-0 run late in the first half that put Temple ahead for good. Wadley punctuated the win with a 3-pointer with three seconds left, and pointed at the Temple fans. "It's too hard to comeback against a team like us that practices ball control," he said. The previous day, Wadley was asked about Temple's defense. He said that even after five years studying under Chaney, he still got confused by some of the coverages. Greer had 20 points and nine assists. Alex Wesby added 13 points and Kevin Lyde had 11 for Temple. Udonis Haslem had 16 points for Florida, Matt Bonner had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Nelson had 12 points. A day earlier, Chaney -- the first Division I head coach to recruit Donovan when he was a high school star -- said this game would come down to two different styles. He was right. Florida had not faced Temple in eight years, and Donovan had never coached against Chaney. And as in most every other sport, a great defense stopped a good offense. Wadley hit four 3-pointers during the big run late in the first half that turned Temple's one-point deficit into a double-digit lead. The Owls kept extending the lead, and got a huge break when Greer was fouled on an off-balance 3-pointer with nine-tenths of a second left in the half. Greer hit all three free throws for a 45-25 lead. "We knew we had a good team and could play with anybody in the country," Greer said. By then, Bonner had thrown up his arms after a teammate's poor pass, Nelson had tersely yelled out a play and point guard Teddy Dupay had rushed 3-point shots. It was the ninth consecutive win for Temple, a team on the tournament bubble late in the season. Chaney followed his usual script, not making a substitution for the first 12 minutes. He was relatively calm for such a big game, while Donovan constantly worked the officials. While Donovan's instructions to his players did not help too much, his words for the officials at least did some good. "They're hand-checking. Call it at the other end!" he shouted midway through the first half. On Florida's next trip downcourt, Temple was called for two such fouls. The Owls made all 10 of their foul shots in the final three minutes. The Gators left the Superdome much like their football team, which lost the Sugar Bowl at the same site in early January.
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