Temple upsets No. 23 UConn on Brown’s jumper
HARTFORD, CONN. >> Josh Brown hit a spinning jumper in the lane with 2.5 seconds left and Temple upset No. 23 UConn 55-53 on Tuesday night.
The Owls (7-6, 2-1 American Athletic Conference) led by as many as eight points in the second half, but were tied after two free throws from UConn’s Daniel Hamilton.
Coach Fran Dunphy called a timeout with 14 seconds left to set up a final shot that was supposed to go to leading scorer Quenton DeCosey. But Brown took a pass from Jaylen Bond and made his move over UConn’s Sterling Gibbs.
A desperation 3-pointer Gibbs at the buzzer was well the mark.
DeCosey scored 15 points to lead the Owls and made all three of his attempts from 3-point range. Devin Coleman added 14 points, while Brown and Jaylen Bond each had 11.
Shonn Miller scored 18 points to lead the Huskies (10-4, 1-1), who had won five straight. Rodney Purvis added 11 points.
The win was the 200th at Temple for Dunphy and the Owls’ second in three games against a ranked team.
Temple led by three points at halftime and extended that to 4032 on a jumper by Jaylen Bond.
Hamilton, who missed his first nine shots and was 2 of 13 from the field, made a jumper to cut the Temple lead to 46-45. Two free throws by Miller gave UConn its first lead of the half at 47-46 with 8 minutes left.
But DeCosey put Temple back in front with his third 3-pointer, by off and the teams struggled to score the rest of the way.
UConn shot just 31.6 percent from the field, almost 19 percentage points under the team’s season average.
Temple shot 39 outrebounded the 34.
The Owls were 7 of 18 from 3-point range after going just 3 for 23 from beyond the arc in a 77-50 loss to Houston at home on Saturday.
But that was the largest lead the Huskies would have in the half. Temple’s defense forced seven first-half turnovers and held UConn to 10 baskets on 31 shots (32 percent). The Huskies came into the game shooting better than 50 percent.
The Owls were 10 of 31 from the field, but took a 15-13 lead on a 3-pointer by DeCosey and led 30-27 at halftime.
Dunphy became one of five Division I coaches to get 200 or more wins at two different schools and take both schools to at least six NCAA Tournaments. He was 310-163 during his 17 years at Penn.
Dunphy ranks fourth on Temple’s all-time wins list, and can pass James Usilton, Sr. with five more wins. John Chaney leads the list with 516 wins.
UConn was playing its fifth straight game without center Amida Brimah.
TIP-INS
percent, Huskies but 40-
Temple: Temple is 2-3 this season against ranked opponents. The Owls played three ranked teams in their first four games, losing to all of them. Their other win against a ranked team was 77-70 at Cincinnati on Dec. 29. ... Temple was averaging just under nine turnovers a game coming into the contest, the second-best mark in the nation. UConn forced 12 Owl turnovers on Tuesday.
UP NEXT:
Temple: The Owls Carolina on Saturday. VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH 85, SAINT JOSEPH’S 82 >> Melvin Johnson had 25 points and seven rebounds, Mo Alie-Cox made a goahead basket with 1:34 left and VCU (10-5, 2-0) rallied late to beat Saint Joseph’s (11-3, 1-1), snapping the Hawks’ seven-game winning streak.
Saint Joseph’s had a 72-62 lead
host
East with six minutes left but VCU took a 78-77 lead — its first since 38-37 — on Alie-Cox’s make. He scored again for an 80-78 lead and JeQuan Lewis’ layup gave VCU a four-point lead with 22 seconds left.
James Demery’s dunk cut Saint Joseph’s deficit to 84-82. Johnson made just 1 of 2 free throws for VCU and DeAndre Bembry’s 3-pointer was off the mark at the buzzer.
Isaiah Miles led Saint Joseph’s with 31 points.
Saint Joseph’s started the second half with an 11-0 run for a 10-point lead, with five points from Miles.