Thursday Night Tussle With Tulsa For Temple

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Temple Owls play their first game in February on Thursday night as they welcome Tulsa to the Liacouras Center.

The Owls are 12-8 this season (6-3 in the American Athletic Conference) after a Sunday road win at South Florida, 70-63.

"I thought we played fairly well defensively," Temple head coach Fran Dunphy tells KYW Newsradio. "Although our defensive numbers weren't great, I thought our positioning was good. Obviously, Quenton DeCosey came up with a big scoring game for us and we made timely shots to stem the tide when they made their run at the end of the game."

Listen to the entire interview with Temple's Fran Dunphy:

DeCosey poured in a career high 30 points in the win. The senior guard hit 6 of 11 shots from the field (4-7 from 3), but he really did most of his damage from the foul line, sinking 14 of 17 free throws. This was the fourth time this season that DeCosey reached double-digit free throw attempts in a game.

"He's got a real good feel for when he can get gaps to drive into," Dunphy says. "I think we always ask our guys to sort of create that contact when they get in there and he's pretty good at seeking the contact to get himself to the line."

DeCosey leads the Owls in scoring at 16.4 points per game.

Tulsa will bring a 14-7 record (6-3 in the AAC) into Thursday night's game. The Golden Hurricane are coming off a win over Tulane last time out on January 30th, 62-48.

"They have probably the most experienced team in the NCAA," Dunphy says. "They have nine seniors, they all know what they're doing."

Two of those seniors are guards James Woodard and Shaquille Harrison, who combine to score about 31 points a game (Woodard 16.2, Harrison 15.1).

"Those two guys are probably as good a guard combination as there is around," Dunphy says.

Last season, Tulsa beat the Owls twice. In fact, Temple is 0-4 all-time against the Golden Hurricane.

Thursday night's game at the Liacouras Center will tip-off at 7:00 p.m.